RWA 2010 Conference Highlights

Pre-conference Trip to Hogwarts

I spent $80 dollars to spend three hours in line and went on only one ride — AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT! I must do a separate post on this, but I just wanted to show you my favorite moment.

It was sweaty, sticky hot and we were in a ginormous line that wound around the park just to get into Harry Potter world. But the moment we passed the arch into Hogsmead/Diagon Alley and you saw the snow-covered rooftops, for a moment I actually thought I felt a burst of cold and I believed.

The best part of the experience was walking down the street and being immersed in the world. I took a gazillion pictures there, so I’ll organize them into a post later this week.

hogsmead


hp_snowtop_roof

Met a Favorite Author (and didn’t burst into tears like last time)

I’m always torn about going to RWA and actually meeting authors I love. I was always afraid it might ruin that fourth wall and the fantasy. I want the stories and books to live in their own space and not be linked in my head to the person who wrote them.

The literacy signing was crazy this year! The room was huge and there were people everywhere. Bria Quinlan and I started from “A” and went alphabetically down the aisle, but after Tessa Dare sold out before Bria could get a book, we rushed straight over to Sherry Thomas. I managed to procure the second to last copy of His at Night. I was so giddy that Not Quite a Husband won the RITA for Best Historical Romance and I loved her acceptance speech.

Sherry told me she cried a bucket of tears while writing that book. I must have cried another bucket reading it. I haven’t felt so taken in by a story in a long time and I still have scenes from that book haunting me. We also got to chat a little bit about wuxia and Jin Yong. I was pleased. 🙂

Good Eats

I haven’t perfected Cindy Pon’s talent for photographing yummy food, but there was definitely plenty of it at the conference. Luckily, my personal trainer isn’t around. *looks left, looks right*

First up, I had afternoon tea at the Floridian with the Harlequin Historical authors and the editors from the UK. One look at the lobby told me that we were in the low-end Disney resort for the conference. The Dolphin is beautiful, but just take a look at the Floridian.

floridian

Anyone who knows me, knows that one of my favorite past times is afternoon tea. For this alone, I think I landed in the perfect publishing spot with Harlequin Historical!

tea_tray

I wish I took more pictures of the finger sandwiches and the little scones with cream, but I was sitting with my fellow authors and the HMB editors, so I tried to behave. Plus I was spending a lot of time eating.

Meet Ups

It’s hard to capture the spirit of all the random meet ups that are so special about conference. The main meeting place was the fountain in the lobby. I like this picture even though it’s fuzzy because it shows a couple of us all converging there, unplanned, unposed, all with probably different places to go. It also has some of my closest and long-time writing buddies Gwen Hayes and Bria Quinlan as well as romance divas December Gephart and Victoria Janssen.

meetup_at_fountain

For A Shy Gal, I Really Like an Audience

I was able to use my teaching background and share my lessons learned about querying and submission in “Selling the Hard Sell”. This was my first time presenting this particular talk, so I feel it went well based on the audience response. I was going up in the same time slot with Donald Maass and Brenda Novak, so I was grateful to have a decent showing. Big thanks to my CP Kristi for snapping this photo from the back.

hard_sell_workshop

The Dress for Historical Success costume workshop was pure fun. I learned so much about costuming throughout the many popular periods in historical romance and I got to strut my stuff in Tang Dynasty costume, a fantasy of mine since childhood. I’ve decided to offer the twin swords used in the workshop as a prize as part of my Sept/Oct release celebration.

I’m still gathering the photos and editing the video from the workshop, so this one is also going to have it’s own post. Just a preview of me in the lobby with swords in hand (sheathed) after the workshop:

tang_costume

Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood Rules!

One of the huge highlights of conference was catching up with the Ruby Sisters. In my excitement, I baked ruby slipper cookies the weekend before heading to Orlando:

ruby_slipper_cookies

Dinner was at Kouzzina on the Boardwalk. I showed up a bit late coming from the literacy signing, so I missed the group photo in the lobby. Doesn’t everyone look fabulous?

2010Ruby+Sisters_dinner3

And the gratuitous food shot. Kouzzina is Iron Chef Cat Cora’s restaurant. One entree would have been enough, but I had to go for the sampler: Greek lasagna, lamb burger and a spiced chicken with orzo. Every bite was fabulous! My drink was a special martini made with ouzo, also delicious.

kouzzinas_meal

So many great moments: Liz Talley and Addison Fox were signing for the first time. Jamie Michele was absolutely sweet, reminding us during rehearsal to give the envelope to the winner after announcing. She was the one who grabbed my envelope and gave it to me last year. Darynda Jones and Sara Ramsey and I sat at the same table for the GH/RITA awards and sipped champagne together while we cheered for this year’s finalists. And two more sisters, CJ Eernisse Chase and Elisa Beatty took home Golden Heart awards this year!

The Harlequin Party

harlequin_party_drink

I got in, got a ridiculously girly-looking martini glass, sat down, and looked around the beautiful room. Then I turned to Victoria Janssen and gushed, “It’s pretty awesome being a Harlequin author!” (See previous note about Jeannie not being able to play it cool.) Victoria replied in the fashion of, “Ah, young grasshopper…”

victoria_janssen

Fellow Ruby Sister Liz Talley (below), who writes for Superromance looked fabulous.

liz_and_jeannie_hqn_party

And I quite like this rather artistic photo of me with chaptermate Megan Kelly behind the roses. It’s actually the beginning of the night, so that’s not me passing out from exhaustion. I just always blink in photos.

jeannie_megan

My roomie and plus one, MG Braden, posed with Diva Dude Mike Myers for a photo.

mg_and_mike

I made a vow to try every dessert at the Harlequin party. I fulfilled that vow. I showed two of the most photogenic here, the Yule log style cake and the sorbet bar.

log_cake

sorbet_bar

We danced for hours and I nearly lost my voice from singing and shouting. (The source of my sultry microphone voice at the RITAs, if anyone was wondering.) Amanda Berry didn’t let recent hip surgery or a cane stop her from hitting the dance floor. And I must say, I think her electric slide was still better than mine. (That dance was the electric slide, right?)  I’d be in indebted to anyone who has a picture of Amanda dancing with her cane, by the way. Can’t keep a party girl down.

At the end of the night, I was a very happy, very sore grasshopper. My hip still hurts from dancing — maybe I’m doing it wrong?

RITA/Golden Heart Awards Ceremony

All dressed up….and I forgot my camera!! I presented the Golden Heart for Best Historical Romance this year and once again Kristi came through with a shot of me on the jumbotron.

jumbotron

The highlight of the ceremony had to be when bottles of Clicquot (get that? multiple bottles of champagne…the good stuff) appeared magically on the table, compliments of the general manager. The reason, of course, was that Roxanne St. Claire and Kresley Cole were sitting with us. Roxanne and Kresley are charming, gorgeous, talented and they must practice voodoo and possess magical powers.

champagne_at_rita

Kresley won the RITA for best paranormal romance for her book, Kiss of a Demon King. I asked to touch her RITA statue for good luck because I’m a dork like that. The photo here doesn’t do it justice. Sara was able to get a better one. The RITA really is so shiny and pretty. Maybe one day, if I work really, really hard…

rita_statue

After the ceremony, the Tuesday critique group was able to get together for a photo. Dawn had gone back to her room since she had a drive early the next morning, but here’s Shawntelle, me, Kristi, and Amanda.

after_awards

So that is it. Until New York, my friends!

23 Comments

  1. Victoria Janssen
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 06:37:27

    Met a Favorite Author (and didn’t burst into tears like last time)

    My favorite heading from this entire post.

  2. Tweets that mention Jeannie Lin | Award-winning historical romance author -- Topsy.com
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 06:51:54

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by victoriajanssen, Jeannie Lin. Jeannie Lin said: Finally got my conference highlights up on the blog. Wow, these are time consuming. http://tinyurl.com/27e9ap7 #rwa10 […]

  3. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 06:55:55

    LOL. It was last year after I got “The Call” Wednesday morning. I went up to Jade Lee at the lit signing to tell her how her books gave me the cajones to try to write a historical romance in China. When we took a picture together, I realized it was so hard to smile because I was shaking and trying not to cry.

  4. jodi
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 07:07:23

    Very cool post. I’ll see you again next year. 🙂

  5. mima
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 07:14:35

    jeannie, you are so gorgeously joyous in all these pics but my fav is the tang dynasty shot. wowza, girl!
    thanks for sharing your details, it was great to read.

  6. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 07:32:03

    Jodi – Looking forward to it!

    Mima – Needless to say, I has a GREAT time. 🙂

    I do love the costume. I may have paraded around my living room with it a few times when i was alone at home.

  7. Dara
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 07:35:04

    That looks like so much fun!! And the costume is lovely!

    I really, really, really want to go next year but it’s in the heart of NYC and I doubt I’ll have sufficient funds to cover for a hotel room. But I can dream and hope and possibly plan for it, right? 🙂

  8. Pamela Cayne
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 07:59:05

    What a wonderful post! And even more wonderful conference for you! I was so delighted to meet you and cannot wait to get my hands on Butterfly Swords when it comes out! Here’s to your best first book Rita in NYC!!!

  9. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 08:16:54

    It was great meeting you too Pamela! Sorry we didn’t get to chat more.

    Dara, there must be some other writing conference closer to home. But NY is so tempting, isn’t it?

  10. Jesi O'Connell
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 08:40:51

    Wow. I had no idea it was so fun! (Yes, you may now say “duh.”) I’d attend for the food alone, yum. Guess I need to be a member first, lol.

    Great pictures and descriptions, Jeannie. Okay, this post made me even more motivated about my own writing now! Thanks. 🙂

  11. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 09:59:17

    Hi Jesi!
    It’s not all fun and parties. That’s just the part that photographs well. There’s a lot of time spent meeting and workshoping and networking too. I wish I could have attended more workshops, but I did get a good handful in that were very enlightening.

    But you definitely do leave conference pumped up to write. A lot of good energy all round.

  12. Michelle (MG) Braden
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 15:20:30

    Is it sad that I totally don’t remember you taking that shot of me and Mike? And it kind of looks like I have pink highlights in my hair. Cool!

    As always, a pleasure to be your roomie and your plus one. 😀 You are awesome!

  13. Carol Shrembek
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 15:23:26

    Jeannie! These are great! Thanks for posting. I see the back of my head in the pic of you teaching! I was in the front row. 😀

  14. Leigh Royals
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 19:05:05

    I gotta say, your enthusiasm is contagious! I got teary reading your post and know that I’ll be one to cry meeting any of my favorite authors, but especially if they’re my diva friends. (That includes you!) I promise, If I ever get to conference, to meet up with you. (That’s more a treat to me, in my eyes, but it would be so cool!)

  15. Karen Erickson
    Aug 04, 2010 @ 21:40:23

    Loved reading your blog post and the photos Jeannie. It was fun to cheer you on at the ceremony and spend time with you & our fellow divas. 😉

  16. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 05, 2010 @ 05:47:56

    MG – That was a great pic of you. Your smile just lights up the room. We must implement a better way to share photos from conference. There are so many pictures I want that are residing in other peoples’ cameras. Oh well, the memories are what counts, right?

    Carol – I’m glad you were able to attend the workshop. I’ll be looking over your pages this weekend. Looking forward to it!

    Leigh – I am so looking forward to meeting you. It’s always special to meet someone you have a connection with online. Originally there was talk of DivaCon…St. Louis is centrally located…

    Karen – Thanks! I remember having drinks at the Cabana bar with you and Loribelle before all the craziness started. That cockroach was HUGE, though I know Loribelle insisted it was some less onerous bug. I can’t wait to hear what happens with your historical!

  17. jeannie
    Aug 05, 2010 @ 11:21:00

    Congrats, Twin! So this is what my other life is doing 🙂 Loved reading it, and the pics are fabulous! Those cookies are awesome! It’s too funny the Potter world had both of us go through within a week of each other – ha! (it’s ok, I made up for your time there, I must have spent 24hrs in that place and rode every ride a few times) We totally have to meet one day and both get in some tang dynasty gear. Can I just tell you how I love that you’re a harlequin writer?

  18. Vivienne Westlake
    Aug 06, 2010 @ 07:21:20

    So much fun!! I’m still not recovered from conference or my conference cold.

    You didn’t tell me you got to sit with Kresley and Roxanne. You know I heart Kresley Cole.

    It was so great to hang out with you at Harry Potter and during conference. I’m only sad that I was too hot and exhausted to go to Olivanders. I really wanted to get a wand. But, if I ever make it to Orlando again…

    I still have to put up my conference pics. I’ll try to put them up this weekend.

    Hopefully I’ll see you and the girls in NYC!

  19. liz talley
    Aug 06, 2010 @ 19:11:53

    Great pics, Jeannie! Loved seeing it all again through your eyes. So glad I got to hang with you several times and dance with you at the Harlequin party. Can’t wait til next year!

  20. Victoria Dixon
    Aug 09, 2010 @ 09:30:18

    Jeannie, you look so stunning in these pictures and yes, joyous. What a great time you had. Thanks for sharing!

  21. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 09, 2010 @ 21:23:29

    Hiya Jeannie! I’m jealous you got to do everything at HP world. I really wanted a wand or at least to go inside Olivander’s. And it would be too funny if we actually met in person one day. Who knows? It’s a small world after all…

    Vivienne – Doesn’t it seem like it all happened so fast? Super glad you were able to make Orlando. Sharing pictures afterwards prolongs the endorphin rush. 🙂

    Liz – It was so awesome that just one year later you and Addison were already signing your first books. Next year will be bigger and better. 🙂

    Victoria – I guess I was happy to 1) not have to pitch 2) have the week off from work 3) and it was Disney after all. RWA really does put on a very informative, very fun event.

  22. Wayne Jordan
    Aug 15, 2010 @ 16:23:39

    Jeannie

    Just a two weeks before I get my hand of BUTTERFLY SWORDS. One of the highlight of the RWA conference was meeting you. Of course, I’ll be downloading your Bite too…

    wj

  23. Jeannie Lin
    Aug 16, 2010 @ 08:29:05

    Wayne – It was wonderful meeting you too! I was so awed by how many Harlequin Historicals you had read!!