Hey kids! Got some things in the works this week, but wanted to repost my review from a few years back of the one and only writing convention I’ve ever been to: The Romantic Times Convention. This is the first of a, shall we say, three part series. Enjoy!!
RT Day One: From Immodium to Extreme Confusion Current
Ahhh….sooo….well, things did not go particularly well to start out with. For starters, I was ill this morning. I secretly think that our crappy waitress last night at the Big BE (Bob Evans, yo) poisoned us. My mom thinks it was nerves. I’m pretty darn sure it was nerves, but I made an Immodium run anyway. And if you’ve ever traveled with me, you know that’s how I roll.
Anyway, so that didn’t bode well for the morning. Things boded even worse when I got to the hotel and found a lack of, well, direction. But I’m bold, so I strolled up to a girl with red and white striped arm…ah…arm warmers? I was pointed in the right direction. Got my bag. Got my name badge. Took seat on couch. Immediately panicked. There was map. No obvious listing of agendas. There seemed to be a listing of workshops and times, but no actual connection to said map. Sooooo not good. So, I followed a group of people that seemed to know what they were doing. This leads me to a conference room where a workshop was about to start. Good, I must be in the right place.
I realized I was in the wrong place, however, when the leader threw her arms in the air and screamed, “So who here is a virgin??!?!” Ooops, wrong workshop.
It turned out to be a workshop for first time conventioneers–one I was going to take on Thursday–but, unfortunately not the one I was signed up for. So, off to a bad start. Things got progressively worse when I signed up for an agent/editor interview that turned out to be an agent that places people with self publishers. Uhh. No. I do that.
Needless to say, this did not make me happy. But, things took a turn for the better with the afternoon workshops. They were really, REALLY good. I learned a ton about promotions and emarketing. In fact, I learned I need a website. So, that’s on my to-do list. Website.
I also loaded up on mass quantities of freebies. I currently have nine million pens and a fun assortment of random stuff, like lip gloss and two mouse pads. And awesome pins that say things like, “I’m a Naked Reader” and “Hell yeah.” Fun times! Oh, and a pirate eye-patch. Everyone needs a pirate eye-patch.
So, day two should be better. Especially because now I have a better grasp of where to go. That’s a good thing. We’ll see what I learn tomorrow.
Ah, and how could I forget???! I got a condom on a stick as a freebie. I thought it was a lollypop…they were calling them lollypops and I glanced at it and thought, sure. Purple. Stick. Lollypop. Verity poked it with her finger and declared, “Nope. Condom.” Yeah, I’m dumb sometimes. LOL.
