RWA Day Two
In which I flash back to a week ago and pretend that the past is the present, just like in a novel.Extra note: The Seattle Times had a nice article on the RWA conference. One of these days journalists will evolve past the "Wow, romances aren't trash!" phase, but not quite yet.
Wednesday, July 26
The conference doesn't officially begin until tomorrow, but the hotel is filling up fast. Everyone is really nice. I'm wearing a pink "First Sale" ribbon on my badge, and complete strangers are coming up and congratulating me. I'm totally wearing the ribbon again next year.
My new friends from the Kiss of Death chapter and I went on a walking tour of the Oakland Cemetery (yes, this is the suspense writers' idea of a good time). In addition to the graves of Margaret Mitchell and other Atlanta luminaries, Oakland contains the remains of 6,000 Civil War soldiers, mostly from the Battle of Atlanta.
The "Lion of Atlanta" statue (click on the link above and scroll down) commemorates the 3,000+ unknown Confederate soldiers buried there. It's very sad to look at. Something about personifying a human quality (in this case, vanquished courage) really brings home the pain and strife of war. If all the graves and bodies weren't enough, here's a dead kitty to reinforce it.
Afterwards we ate at a restaurant called Six Feet Under, which was another awesome Atlanta landmark. I tried a local beer called Sweetwater Blue--a pale ale with a very subtle hint of blueberry. Not too sweet, unlike a lot of fruity beers. Perfect after walking in the hot sun for three hours.
Tonight I went to the Gathering of the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal chapter (FF&P--remember that, because I'm not writing it out again). I sat at a table of really great people, including Cynthia Eden, who writes for Red Sage Publishing. They had a chocolate fountain, but it wasn't big enough to splash around in. I guess the big fountains are reserved for the erotica writers' party.
At the Gathering, a bunch of editors and agents stood up and talked about what they were looking for. The senior editor at Luna Books said wonderful things about the line, then said that they're pretty much just looking for urban fantasy henceforth. Same with everyone else. So the joke's on me for switching from urban to epic. Ha! It's not a very funny joke.
Then they gave out the PRISM awards, and my friend Catherine Asaro's novella won not only Best Novella, but Best of the Best (which is like Best in Show). It beat out all the full-length novels. Unfortunately, she couldn't be there to accept the award. But I cheered like a nutbag for her, anyway.
The novella is called "City of Cries," in Down These Dark Spaceways, an anthology of hard-boiled detective stories with science fiction settings. Unfortunately it's only available through the Science Fiction Book Club right now. It's an excellent story.
Oh, and our other roommate, Julia, showed up. She writes contemporary romances and has a pitch session planned with an editor on Friday. Her book sounds really cool, and so is she. We're all getting along like, uh, like hotcakes? No, that's 'selling like hotcakes.' Gangbusters! We're all getting along like gangbusters. Anyone who's ever busted a gang--that's how compatible we are.
I feel really lucky to have such great roommates. It's like having a slumber party four nights in a row. Okay, boys, don't get too excited. There were no pillow fights in our underwear. But remember that chocolate fountain?
Labels: appearances
4 Comments:
Posted by:
Unknown at 8/03/2006 6:11 AM
I'd imagine paranormal would be a hit with guys, too. The Buffy audience was just as male as it was female.
Bottom line: cool stuff sells to everyone.
Posted by:
Jeri at 8/03/2006 7:21 AM
Posted by:
Unknown at 8/03/2006 8:19 AM
Posted by:
Rob S. at 8/03/2006 11:27 AM
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