RWA, The Eagle and Me

I got back from San Francisco Sunday after about a 12 hours of flying and waiting in the airport-SOP these days. I’m happy to be home but I admit I had a good time!

During the conference I got to attend a number of panels that were informative and useful. The one the Kensington editors did on cover art was especially good. I had the privilege of being on the first RWA panel about GLBT topics. Cassie Stevens, Lyndi Lamont, ML Rhodes and NY published author Kate Douglas sat on the panel with me. I’ve been submitting this panel to romance conferences for a couple of years. This year RWA accepted it. I was thrilled to have the door to the genre opened a bit by their decision to let it run. That’s a big step for us.

The panel had the non-specific title of The Romance of Alternative Lifestyles. Possibly a better title could have been used but it lowered the resistance to the topic being accepted. Now we’ve opened the door and hopefully next year we’ll be able to do more. It was the first time the five of us had done a panel together and while we had discussed the topics and organized our individual topics, there wasn’t an opportunity to practice together. Hopefully the attendees forgave our missteps. It was impossible to cover all the territory we wanted to cover in the short time we had. Maybe we can make up for it next year.

To the conference inexperienced it may have looked like this one was poorly attended. But speaking from experience, it was a good turnout! One we all appreciated! I want to thank everyone who came and showed their support. You made it a success.

We were scheduled at the end of the day on Friday while one of the several awards ceremonies was being presented. A tough time slot for anyone. Even so, over 40 people showed. I got a count from the number of goodie bags and handouts left over– very few. The discussion covered briefly menage and f/f with a larger focus on the more popular M/M. The main thrust was to show where the genre is and were it can go, and what NY is doing with it. Or not. Yet. One hour is too short a period of time to address everything, but all in all for the first discussion at RWA of it’s kind, it went well.

I’m very encouraged by the response from the attendees after the panel and RWA for accepting the topic. Next year we’ll try it again.

After the panel I meet with blogger girl lisabea. She and I hit it off from the start. Feeling the need to unwind, we agreed to go to TeddyPig’s old haunt The Eagle club and have a drink in his honor! So we did. We spend a delightful evening chatting with a terrific and fun lady named Linda. She was a sweet and funny woman. The place was a hangout that can only be described and appreciated by one who has been there. I’m not kidding! I’m so glad we went.

After a few hours of drinks and chatting, lisabea and I decided to go back to the hotel. Maddie the sweet curly-haired bartender graciously called us a cab. While we were waiting for it, a long black, shiny unmarked car pulled up and tried to get us to get in, offering taxi service. Since we’re both past that ‘want some candy, little girl’ stage, we declined. Then suddenly the drive makes a huge u turn and almost runs us over on the curb, but in the process he hits the Harley parked in front of the bar. Of course, the driver tears out into traffic after crushing the bike, just missing creating another accident, while the guys come out of the bar.

At this point, we tell them what we know and 2 women who also saw the accident as they parked their car hang around to talk about it. Our real cab shows and we leave. Only, part of the way home we realize we aren’t headed the right direction and when the cab stops for a traffic disturbance, two tipsy 20-something young men standing in the road ask to share our cab. We agree. Hey, it’s been that kind of a night! They flirt, tease, chat, laugh and entertain us all the way to our real hotel, then like true gentlemen, drunk or not, they pick up the tab. And believe me, by on it’s a pretty hefty tab. Youth! And I thought my adventurous days were over. lol.

All said and done, I had a very interesting, educational and profitable time at RWA.