Supernatural Friends Make the Best Friends

You may have heard some of the online chatter about an action-packed, fun-filled, craaazy week in New York City, also known as the 2011 Romance Writers of America conference. It was five full days of mingling, meetings, workshops, sightseeing, eating, drinking and general overall socializing, as well as talking business, business, business.  One of my favorite aspects of the conference was that I got to spend some quality time with many of my fellow authors from right here in the Supernatural Underground, from dinners, publishing meetings, book signings, and cocktail parties, so I thought that today, I'd share a few pics of those highlights with you!

 

The very first night kicked off with a bang, as I joined eight of my fellow HarperCollins authors and blogmates for a wonderful Italian dinner.  While there there were lots of pictures taken on lots of different cellphones, I particularly like this one with Colleen Gleason and Vicki Pettersson.  (A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead who write books that go bump in the night... what more can I say?)  We had a great time sharing our "The first time I read one of your books" moments - yes, we're all fan girls of each other! There with us during dinner were Pamela Palmer, Juliana Stone, Karina Cooper, Amanda Arista, Amanda Alvarez and Amanda Vynes (a/k/a the Three Amandas).

The next morning I joined about 40 of my fellow HarperCollins authors at a "Digital Day" presentation led by Carolyn Pittis, Senior VP of Global Marketing and Operations.  We were fed great food and fabulous information regarding recent, sweeping changes within the publishing industry, and what HarperCollins is doing to keep up with them.  It was all very interesting and innovative, so much so that if I told you, I'd have to kill you, so I'll just keep those industry secrets to myself!  :)  Yes, dear readers, in the building behind me is where the magic happens - all those books you know and love, written by the authors of this particular blog, are edited, copyedited, and turned from dreams into reality.  It was pretty cool!

After that came sightseeing, and then a quiet meeting with my fabulous editor, Erika Tsang, during which we chatted about life and future story ideas.  Erika also edits the fabulous Jeaniene Frost, so if you're a Cat and Bones fan, you need to send her a virtual high five!  Here she is on the right with Jeaniene at the Avon Open House book signing.


That night, we all took part in a giant Literacy for Life signing with over 400 authors  and hundreds upon hundreds of book lovers at the Marriott Marquis - it was a total mob scene, and tons of fun!  Afterward, for a late dinner, I went back to the Italian place (What can I say? I like Italian!) with frabjulous New York Times bestsellers Jeaniene Frost and Pamela Palmer, where we solved the publishing world's problems over pasta and conversation.

On Wednesday, the day was a blur, and before I knew it, it was time to run off and get ready for the Avon Cocktail Party at the Central Park Boathouse.  It was a beautiful venue in the heart of Central Park, complete with great food, champagne, and great company.

 
Here I am giggling away on the outside patio with authors Colleen Gleason and Kerrelyn Sparks, along with bookseller extraordinaire, Maureen Downey, who had us in stitches!  I met so many people that night that I couldn't begin to list them, but want to say a special thank you to Pam Spengler-Jaffee for organizing such a great evening!

Here's Kerrelyn Sparks, Pam Palmer and Colleen Gleason posing for the camera - check out Colleen's shoes!  :)

One of the hits of the party were these giant size cover cutouts, where you could stick your head in and become a part of history... check out Pam Palmer as the virgin in Kerrelyn's Vampire and the Virgin cover!  :)

The next morning, we were up bright and early for 8:30am workshop on Light vs. Dark Paranormal fiction with fellow authors Karina Cooper, Pam Palmer and Kerry Sparks, where we talked for over an hour about plot, characterization, tone, and setting to a surprisingly large group of aspiring paranormal authors. 

We barely had time to put down the microphones before darting down two floors to take part in the Avon Open House signing, where we chatted and signed, then signed some more!  More mingling, lunch, lots of books and lots of laughing.

Then, that evening, the conference culminated in the glittering RITA and Golden Heart Award dinner and ceremony.  (I don't normally post pictures of my husband, but he looked so handsome that night that I can't resist!)  :)  Some of my dearest friends were up for Golden Heart necklaces and golden RITA statues, so many that I found it hard to know who to cheer for, as some of them were competing with each other in the same categories!  Our emcee for the evening was NYT best-selling author of The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot, who was an absolute riot, and quite glamorous besides!

All in all, it was exhausting, fun, fabulous and already seems too long ago.  I can hardly wait for next year's conference in Anaheim, California to do it all again!

And best of all, guess what I came home with?  Tons and tons of books!  While doing a random check of all my goodies, I discovered a FULL set of the lovely and talented Vicki Pettersson's ZODIAC series (books 3 and 5 are signed), and thought I'd give them away in celebration of the great time I had being with my friends in NY.

How do you get them?  Simple - leave me a comment telling me about one of your bffs, and why they're your friend, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win!  Winner will be chosen next Friday, July 22nd, by Randomizer.org.  Good luck!