Thursday at RWA

It’s hot in Dallas. Although not much hotter than when I left NJ. Not that the heat really matters much. I haven’t left the hotel since I arrived yesterday at four. I did make it however which is better than I can say for a lot of others leaving out of the NY area. Apparently there were storms somewhere that caused the cancellation of flights. It sounds like I was lucky.

So far things are as busy as I expected them to be. Immediately upon my arrival to the hotel (it took a lot longer than I had expected) I had just enough time to change shoes and rush to a meeting with one of my clients. My real goal at conferences like this are to spend face time with each of my clients. So far I met with one client yesterday and four this morning. I really like the opportunity to sit down face-to-face and really talk about writing, the business, fears, goals and ideas. I think all of the meetings were productive and, more importantly, really enjoyable. This face time reminds me how much I sincerely like my clients as people and as writers. It’s fun to hear their ideas and let them get me excited about what’s coming next.

An aside here…but have you ever noticed how weird it is to write on someone else’s computer? I didn’t bring my laptop, but instead chose to use the business center. Is it me or is my writing different from a different place?

Okay, back to news…

Last night I made a pass through the literacy booksigning. What an event! I’m sure you can get the figures on the RWA web site, but there were hundreds of authors and thousands of readers. I refused to wait in the long lines to pay, but was excited to see a number of clients with long lines. I thought of my grandma who would have been tripping over her credit card to get signatures from some of her favorites.

From there I attended the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal gathering and PRISM award ceremony where our own Kate Douglas was a finalist. I also heard a number of agents as well as a TOR editor talk about what they are looking for. As many of you know, TOR publishes one paranormal/futuristic romance a month and have just this month expanded to romantic suspense with Sue Kearny’s book. They are planning to publish two more romantic suspense titles next year and hopefully grow from there. Note that this is straight romantic suspense and not necessarily paranormal. With paranormal they, like the rest of us, are looking for different and unique ideas and concepts. And TOR, unlike many other houses, does accept unagented material.

I finished off my Wednesday with champagne and fondue (can you think of anything better?)at the OCC Book Buyers Best awards where Sally MacKenzie was a finalist and at around 11 pm I finally stumbled up to my room.

This afternoon will be spent meeting with more clients and after tonight’s events (more cocktails and chocolate of course)I hope to have even more publishing news for you.

If you’re here I hope to see you at some point this weekend and for those who couldn’t make it I plan to keep you updated with any news I get. I’m following my own advice this year and taking lots of notes.

–Jessica