Romance Writers of America Conference Round Up

It's conference season again, so our posts are likely to be punctuated with pictures of slightly inebriated writers having lots of fun!

This year I was lucky enough to attend the Romance Writers America Conference in San Diego- a mere 16 hour journey that was well worth squishing into a small plane seat and watching hours and hours of films for.

It was my first visit to San Diego and hopefully it won't be my last. What a lovely place! The temperature was around 25C during the day with a lovely refreshing sea breeze that meant it never got too hot. As we arrived a few days before conference my roomie (Elizabeth King) and I spent some time sight seeing.

We had planned a trip over the border to Mexico, but that was cancelled, so Elizabeth and I took a trolley tour round the city, over to Coronado and into Old Town which is the original site of the first settlement there.

We tried 'swamp pop floats' (sarsaparilla and ice cream)- yum!

There were lots of opportunities to try authentic Mexican food... (YUM!!!!)

And Mexican drinks... (we weren't sure about these so we had to try a lot of them to make sure...)

We took a trip to San Diego zoo which is one of the best and most famous zoos in USA. We made some friends...

We were able to pick up our conference programme, badges and goody bags on Tuesday... one of the best things about conference...

Conference started for some people on Wednesday. My day was mostly meetings, but I was lucky to be a guest at the Beaumonde (Regency Historical) soiree where I learned three Regency dances and felt a little underdressed...

Thursday was a blur of workshops,  but I did get a chance for lunch with good friend and M&B Romance/Medical author Scarlet Wilson who had been nominated for not one, but two, RITAs... look who we met on our walk... (only in America, right?)

On Thursday evening I went to a very illuminating (and hilarious) workshop on cover shoots. A photographer and a model showed us the process they use to shoot different covers/poses in one day. Starting with clothes on (Amish style), to tops off... to kilts! And there was some audience participation...

After the Friday workshops (and a very interesting speaker who talked about Imposter Syndrome- which I may recap on here another time) there was the famous Harlequin Party where I bumped into another of our Lovecats, Kandy! Here we are tired and with aching feet from dancing, just about to head home to our hotel.

Saturday was another round of workshops (although none as hilarious as the cover shoot one, sadly). Then the glittery amazingness of the RITA/Golden Heart Awards Ceremony. I was lucky enough to be VIP guest to Elizabeth, who was up for TWO Golden Hearts in the historical category. We took the afternoon off and had our hair and make-up done, then headed to the event. I was in her shoes last year with my RITA nom, so I know how nervous she was; it's a very auspicious night, just like the Oscars! But she won!!! And made a lovely speech and we're all very proud of her! Here she is with her Golden Heart necklace.

It was late by the time we got to bed after all the celebrating. Heads were sore the next morning and we faced another long flight home. But I had the best time (as always), learnt a lot, laughed a lot and spent good times with my tribe. 

Are you looking forward to a conference/ work related fun? If so, what, where and when?  What's the best part for you?