RT Roundup...In Pictures!

For years I have heard that I needed to attend RT.  "It's the best author event ever," they said.  "It's so much fun!" they said.  But no one ever could tell me why it was the best event ever.  So I'm going to try to explain, mostly in pictures, why attending RT this past weekend was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

The Romance Times Booklovers Convention, or RT 2015 as most people call it, was held in Dallas this year.  Since that's only a 4 hour drive for me, I thought, why not?  At least one of my kids didn't like my nonchalant attitude.

That look pretty much says, "You're gonna let DAD cook for us all weekend?"

Any who......

RT is a week long event that includes every genre of writing you could ever imagine.  From romance to young adult to paranormal...indie author, trade pub authors, aspiring authors...editors, formatters, cover designers, librarians.  It.  Was.  Massive.  The first thing I noticed when I got there was all the banners.  They literally covered every wall and column in the lobby.

Including the elevator doors!

Cool, right?  The event took over the entire hotel for a whole week.  And it was a Hyatt Regency, so the hotel itself was massive.  That should give you an idea of how big this whole thing really was.

I, myself, didn't go to any of the panels.  Being that it was my first time, I wanted to sit back and observe what goes on without feeling too overwhelmed.  I'm pretty sure I stayed overwhelmed anyway, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Saturday morning started out pretty chill.  Ate the best breakfast buffet you will ever have in your life and ran into some friends before the giant book fair started.

On the left, you see my friend Karen, who is also beta reader extraordinaire.  On my right, author Erin Noelle.  Remember her?  She wrote the fabulous book "Spark" that I reviewed a couple weeks ago.  She also says she's the godmother to my unborn child.  Until he's born.  Then she's out.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

The book fair itself was as massive everyone kept saying.  Over 600 authors were all in the same room!!!!  And yet, it was still completely organized chaos.  I was wildly impressed.  Here are a few highlights of the authors I met while at the book fair:

Kresley Cole, who I haven't read yet.  But I have been threatened within an inch of my life by some book "friends" if I don't get on that soon, so she's been bumped up on my TBR.

Rachel Hollis, who wrote "Party Girl".  I love that book.  I picked up her last copy of "Sweet Girl" (YES!) on Saturday.  I cannot wait to dive in!!!

Colleen Hoover who released "Never, Never Part Two" later that night.  (P.S. I'll be giving away a signed copy of NNP2 tomorrow on the blog, so stay tuned!)

That's Becca Fitzpatrick.  I picked up her book "Hush, Hush" right before this picture was taken because a friend recommended it.  On our way out, when I was purchasing the book, the cashier actually stopped to gush over my choice.  Apparently I need to read it soon!!

But here is the creme de la creme of the giant book fair:

DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT IS???????  That is Charlaine Harris, people!!!  You know, Sookie's mom?!?!  Yeah....I met, talked to and got a signed book from her.  *faint*

So as you can see, this moment in itself was worth it.  And a completely unexpected part of my day.  It was almost as good as this moment:

Yeah.  Just getting a little love from my favorite blogger, Vilma.

After the book fair was over, everyone just sort of reconvened in the lobby and bar area, chatting with each other and making new friends.  This is where Daisy Prescott found me.  You might remember how much I enjoyed her book "Confessions of a Reformed Tom Cat"  Yeah.  So then when she recognized me, I may have frozen up just a bit.

Oh, and she brought a spoon with her because she recognized that, as a super pregnant woman,  I may need to eat any sweets that fall on the floor Joey Tribiani style.  (Please refer to one of the best "Friends" episodes ever for more information.)

Probably the funniest incident was when I was sitting around in the lounge area with a few other people.  A woman I didn't recognize started chatting with us and introduced herself.  She was really nice and really funny.  It wasn't until someone else finally asked her that I realized who she was.

Recognize her?  That's SC Stephens.  Yeah.  She wrote "Thoughtless" and is a NY Times Bestseller.  Someone smack me.  I apparently recognize no one.

This wasn't the only time I didn't realize who I was talking to.  I also chatted up Leisa Rayven for about 20 minutes before someone told me who I was talking to.  *face palm*  But she was so, so funny.  We had a great time!

Later that night, after seeing the movie "Pitch Perfect 2" with some friends, we headed back to the lounge area.  I went in my jammies because, well, I was tired.

And of course, that's when the magic happened.

Picture this...I had seen this woman around several times.  She didn't tell anyone she was coming, just showed up to hang out with her favorite author and reader friends who also didn't know she was coming.  I randomly ended up talking to her several times over a couple of days about normal every day things, which was cool enough.  But I was too much of a weinie to ever ask for a picture.  Instead, I wimped out and let a friend ask for me.  And that's when this moment happened:

Notice the deer in the headlights look?  That is what happens when you run into EL Freaking James while wearing your jammies and have no make up on.  But then....this happened:

OMG EL JAMES TOUCHED MY BABY BUMP!!!!!!!!!!

I apparently enjoyed the moment way too much.  And it will forever be seared in my brain.  Because EL James "Christianed" my belly.  Get it?  She "Christened" it??  HAHAHA!  (Ok, I can't take credit for that joke.  It was all blogger Mollie Harper.  But it cracks me up so I'm going to use it whenever I tell this story.)

Needless to say, I didn't sleep Saturday night and it was a busy day Sunday.

What most people don't realize, is Sunday after the giant book fair is still jam packed full of events!  There were panels where people like my editor/cover designer got to speak about her job.

She will probably kill me for posting that picture, but too bad.  Murphy is the bomb.  If you ever need an editor or cover designer, you need to contact her at http://www.murphyrae.net.  She's the best.  For real.

There was also a smaller book fair where I ran into the always beautiful and friendly JB Salsbury.

She remembered my review on her book "Fighting for Flight".  I almost passed out!!  (Oh hey...check that out.  "Fighting for Flight" is on sale for $2!  You need to snatch that sucker up while you can!

I also ran into this lady:

That's Whitney Barbetti.  She wrote a little book called "Ten Below Zero" that my blogging partner Kristin calls her top read for this year.  So of course I had to pick up my own copy!!

The only real downside to RT, besides the elevators that always closed before I could waddle my way to the open door, was the lack of service on all our cell phones.  Seriously.  The internet was spotty.  Data was even worse.  Texts were hit or miss.  When someone would finally find service, we all ended up like this:

But overall, I am SO glad I went.  I mean, where else would I have a moment like this....

I know I already posted that picture.  But come on, people!  That's big news!!

I'm looking forward to RT 2016 in Vegas.  And if you can find a way there, I highly, highly recommend it!  And not just because this guy showed up to guide me home....