(Warning: long post ahead.  The fun stuff is in bold below for those who want to skip to that.)

Fabulous time.

That about sums up my RWA 2009 experience.  Got off to a slightly rocky start, with flight delays, the hotel forgetting my wake-up call the first morning, and dropping and breaking the stupid hair dryer I had lugged in my suitcase (I hate those tiny hotel hair dryers). But after that, things really got rolling.

Wednesday night of the conference kicked off with the literacy signing.

Me at the signing

Confession: I stole this photo from Sharon Lathan (thanks Sharon!), who I ran into right before the signing.  Sharon is the author of The Darcy Saga, the sigh-worthy story of what happens to Elizabeth and Darcy after Pride & Prejudice ends.  I read the first book in the series, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy, earlier this year and enjoyed it very much.  Not to mention, Sharon is such a warm, wonderful person and I’m so glad we got a chance to meet.  Here she is at the signing:

Another picture from the signing, me with two lovely ladies, Susan and Colleen, who I met last year at RWA.  So glad we could connect again this year!

Finished off Wednesday evening by having dinner with my editor where we discussed Book 3 (more on that below).

The workshops started on Thursday (yes, I actually attended several of them), and from thereon the rest of the conference was all about workshops, meeting up with fantastic, fun women (both new and old acquaintances), and generally having a blast.  Now when I first started this blog, I wanted to talk about all the incredible women I met–authors, bloggers, and readers alike), but I quickly realized that if I tried to do that, I would forget someone and that would just be horrible.  So I’m not going to try to name names–there were so many great women at this conference I wouldn’t even know where to start.  That being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t say something about the Kati(e)s– Kati Dancy and Katiebabs.  These two are just too much fun to hang out with–whether we’re talking about books, writing, Ryan Reynolds, inappropriate use of food in sex scenes, and anything in between.

Kati Dancy and myself

And here’s me with Katiebabs

I also have to throw shout-outs to Elizabeth/Anime June of Gossamer Obsessions and  Amy/Aymless of Rambling About Books, who I had some great conversations with, and the illustrious Jane, for her hospitality.

Time for more pictures…

Joanna Bourne, Elizabeth/Anime June, and myself

Gannon and P.J. (from Romance Novel TV) and Katiebabs

Lots o’ people at the bar (who is that mystery woman, front left, I wonder…?)

Susan Elizabeth Phillips and myself

Like bloggers and readers, I couldn’t begin to tell you about all the incredible authors I met (I mean, look at these pictures alone, right– Joanne Bourne and SEP!).  But again, I have to at least mention two in particular, Shiloh Walker and Colleen Gleason.  Shiloh is smart, sassy, a straight-shooter, and just flat-out a blast to hang-out with.  She’s also a great writer– have I told you how much I enjoyed Fragile?  With all that, I guess I can excuse the fact that she wouldn’t let me take her darn picture. 😉

And then there’s Colleen Gleason, who I met for the first time at this conference and instantly hit it off with.  Also smart, engaging, uber-friendly, and just plain cool as all hell (psst– she snuck a bottle of wine into the RITAs for us– how many levels of fun is that?).  I haven’t read her books yet, but have heard incredible things about the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, which I’m going to buy, like, tomorrow.  For some weird reason, I don’t have any pictures of us together (probably chatting too much to think to take one), but I snagged this one off her twitter page (hope you don’t mind, Colleen).

Colleen Gleason

So that’s the nutshell version of my RWA 2009 experience.  And then when I got home and walked in the door, my two year-old son came running up to hug me and the first thing he shouted was, “Mommy–author!”  If that’s not just a priceless moment for any writer, I don’t know what is.

Alert–random digression ahead: Boy, you know you miss your family a ton when you come home after five days and the house is a total friggin’ disaster and you don’t care one bit.  Pay attention ladies, because in all seriousness I think there’s a lesson to be learned from men here.  After five days of having primary care-taking responsibilities, my husband accepted and had no problem embracing the fact that he simply couldn’t do it all.  Why do women, on the other hand, think we must achieve this?  Note to self: adopt husband’s philosophy in this vein. Although who am I kidding?  If the house became a total disaster, so would I.  😉

Okay– now here comes the fun part. At dinner, my editor and I discussed Book 3, which I had turned in last week.  She loves it!  Hooray!!  For those of you who’ve been following this blog, you know that I’ve been going crazy, working ’round the clock on that book.  So now I’m in the mood to celebrate.

While at the conference, I scored some GREAT books.  For you.  I’m so darn happy about the way Book 3 came out, I feel like celebrating.  So in the upcoming days (weeks?), I’m going to be giving away books written by many of the great authors I’ve met these days.  So stayed tuned.  I’ve got six fantastic books to giveaway–ones you won’t want to miss.

Well, on Wednesday, anyway.   But tomorrow I’ll be busy with all the last-minute details, so I thought I’d post now.

Can I say how excited I am?  I attended last year’s conference in San Francisco, but this will be my first time going as a published author.  What a difference a year makes!  Last year I knew pretty much no one, and just had a blast sort of floating around taking it all in.  Now this year I’ll be at the literacy signing, and the Berkley signing, and I’m looking forward to catching up with other authors, bloggers, readers… everyone.  Plus, great speakers and workshops–I think it’s going to be a fantastic time.

So if you’re heading to D.C. (or maybe you’re there already), please make sure to say hello!

Whew.  Just sent off the revisions to Book 3 to my editor last night.  I promised myself I was going to sleep for a week, but who am I kidding with that?  Instead, I’m headed off this evening to meet fellow Chicago author Beth Kery for a drink (or two, more likely).  We’re checking out a new wine bar and celebrating the release of her latest book, Sweet Restraint. And I’m celebrating not having to work until 10pm every night. (Yeah!)  At least, not until I get sucked into Book 4…

In other news, I thought I’d mention that Practice Makes Perfect received an Honorable Mention amongst all genre-based fiction at the Hollywood Book Festival.   The aim of the festival is to “celebrat[e] books that deserve greater recognition from the film, television, game and multimedia communities.”  Very exciting– I’m honored to have PMP included as part of such an event!

So now that I have some breathing room, it’s time to catch up on all my reading and movie-watching. I’m debating whether I can sneak out and see “Star Trek” without my husband.  (Shh… don’t tell him I said that, I’m going to say I saw “The Proposal.”)  On the reading front, I recently started “The Spymaster’s Lady” by Joanna Bourne and am really enjoying it.

Lastly, Book 3 may have a cover and a title… I saw a mock-up just today and while nothing’s final (so I can’t say more yet) I think the art department at Berkley did a fantastic job.  Can’t wait to be able to share it!

Gotta love city living.  Houses close together, merely a few feet apart.  Which means that when our windows are open, we can hear everything going on in our neighbor’s back yard.  They’re having a party tonight, and one guest stepped outside onto the neighbor’s back deck to make a phone call.  Long story short, he was drunk and speaking loudly, and my husband and I heard every word.  Including this exchange:

“Dude, I saw your girl at Mullen’s.  She must’ve been rubbing applesauce on her nipples all night, they were so perky.  No, I’m serious, it was ridiculous.”

Rubbing applesauce on her nipples?  Can’t believe I’ve been missing that trick all these years.  Seriously, has anyone heard this expression before?  Any clue why it would be applesauce instead of, say, ice cubes?

All I know is, I have got to use this in one of my books.

And on another note, for all of you here in the U.S., have a wonderful Independence Day!

Just thought I’d mention that author Nalini Singh is giving away a copy of Just the Sexiest Man Alive on her blog today, part of the countdown to the release of her new book, Branded by Fire.

All you have to do to enter the contest is drop by Nalini’s blog with your answer to this question:  Who do you think is the sexiest man in the world?  And she’s got a picture up of a man who–whew!– is definitely in the running.

As I mentioned on this blog before, Nalini’s Angels’ Blood was my first foray into reading paranormal romance, and I just loved it.  So much so that I rushed out and bought Slave to Sensation, which is also fabulous.  So I, for one, can’t wait for her next release!

Have a happy 4th of July weekend!!