First of all, I can’t brain– but I am at home.
RT was, as usual, sort of a whirlwind–and I was, as usual, thrilled to be a part of it at the same time it exhausted me.
So a few observations here, and then I’m actually trying to do some work (yes, like writing and editing and such– would you believe that’s my job?) and then I’m going to bed.
* So, I posted this on social media but it’s no less true now: This hotel shower had two settings–My Toes Are Blue and My Ass is on Fire. Chicken couldn’t even figure out how to turn it on–she called me in to wrestle with the spigot and when I asked her for the water temperature, she said, “I want my ass on fire.”
* The small mass market paperbacks were truly beautiful– but the paper wasn’t the hearty glossy stock of the trade paperbacks. Nope–this was good old fashioned wood pulp, and suddenly all my Sharpies were obsolete.
* Also, Chicken teared up at the dedication of Crocus.
* I met and impressed author KM Jackson by saying out loud that all small dogs are assholes. Now, I admit, you’re often trying to meet and impress people at conventions, but I’ve never been so tickled to impress somebody by just swearing at a picture of my dog on the phone. Funny story? After I fell a little in love with her, Chicken went off to buy books at the Giant Book Fair and came back with To Me I Wed— and a story about how awesome KM Jackson was, without ever hearing the “all small dogs are assholes” story. Yes, this writer is that fun/adorable/personable/awesome. Now you know.
* Karen Rose and I went on a yarn crawl– I came back with a color called Phantasm and one called Love is Blind and some serious hopes about a hooded sweatshirt. We sat down to have drinks while I waited for Chicken and she waited for her husband, when Heidi Cullinan tracked me down (I had her bag in my car) and then Sonali Dev came and shared a drink and a story and generally? I had drinks with like AMAZING PEOPLE and am still coming down from the high of just being there. And Chicken arrived and went. “OMG, Sonali Dev? I LOVE YOUR BOOK!” because I brought home BollyWood Affair from RWA two years ago. *sniffle* Yup. RT. It’s a good place.
* Shea Connor, Kate McMurray, Rayna Vause, LaQuette, Elle Brownlee and I all put on a Bar Trivia event, and Keira Andrews won because–in her words–she was hyper-competitive. But Keira OWNS most of our books and is from Canada to boot, so she gave away all the books–even to a couple of girls wandering in from another event.
One of the girls–Christina– was apparently an avid reader of mine, and she wandered in to Bar Trivia to have a stranger hand her a copy of Stand by Your Manny– and her day was made. This made me phenomenally happy for the rest of the con.
* For another event I was supposed to “play a Western Game”. 0.0?????? I found a western card game called Round Up that was a lot like Spoons and a wonderful thing happened. Nobody wanted to play for prizes–they just wanted to sit at my table and play Spoons. I was so ticked–because I don’t have a competitive bone in my body and I managed to find a winning game by thinking like my kids. Yay!
* I took Amelia, Elizabeth, Kate, Rayna, and Ariel to the same yarn store (Jimmy Beans store front) that Karen took me to, (Jimmy Beans Wool— they also have the website at the link) and we closed the place down. Also, I taught Rayna to knit. Seriously– you can’t take me anywhere. The gold and purple is what I got from this buy. The Phantasm and Love is Blind are both oxblood colors.
* As I was leaving right now, I realized I’d been a block away from a place called The Lucky Beaver and hadn’t even known. L.A. Witt and I were both scandalized–they have a hamburger called The Lucky Beaver– we could have eaten a beaver together.
And that’s all I can think of right now– Fish 3 is in edits and Familiar Demon needs words– so much to do.
But gee it’s good to be home!
