It’s about time I finished writing about this since I want to do my write-up of the Lori Foster Get Together. 🙂 So, without further ado… the rest of my RT Con experience.
Thursday, 17 April 2008
From 9:30am – 10:30am, I sat at the Samhain Club RT table, which was fun. I had my laptop out playing my book trailer and chatted with people who stopped by. From there is a was a mad dash to make a panel I wanted to attend.
I’d like to mention that part of registration for RT Con is listing which panels you think you’ll attend. I chose randomly but wasn’t sure how hectic stuff would be. Well, over the course of the convention, I made it to ONE panel out of the many I picked. Yup, ONE. That was Samhain Publishing’s publisher spotlight. It was mostly a regurgitation of information I already knew, though the in perpetuity clause was a new one on me. I have to check my contracts for that.
Stephanie “Flash” Burke insisted on being at the African-American Authors panel, because she was a speaker. So Dennis and I were left to mill around. I took that opportunity to work my way through promotion lane grabbing three of everything for contests and such later.
Once Flash got out of the panel, we grabbed food and went back to our respective rooms so we could rest. By this time, the stress of the convention was really getting to her and it was only the second day. So Dennis wanted her to get some sleep.
That night was the Under the Sea Faery Ball. It was fun to get ready for since Dennis and Flash were determined to squeeze the stuffing out of me with my corset. 🙂 There’s a short video on YouTube of the event (I’m #118 near the beginning). Though I didn’t win, I was a finalist. I’m pretty sure if I had stuck with the theme, I would have won. But the night was fun regardless.
Due to the tightness of my corset and the discomfort of my thigh-high boots (yes, thigh-high), there wasn’t much dancing. Besides, Flash’s wings made dancing an impossibility anyhow — they were too wide. We chilled out in the common room letting people take pictures of us. The guy from GQ magazine was obsessed with Flash. I’ve checked the site, but haven’t seen the pictures so maybe they were for his own personal collection. ;P
Not sure what time we left but it was great to get out of that corset.
Friday, 18 April 2008
The night before Pat Simmons, the RT Con PR coordinator, tagged Flash and me for an early morning live TV spot on KDKA. Pat wanted people in costume since CBS Pittsburgh live were doing a spot on the RT Con and the highlight was the Faery Ball of the night before.
So, Flash and I got back into our costumes and headed for the lobby where we would meet everyone else. Pat said she talked to everyone who wore a costume but not that many showed up. Flash called Eve Vaughn to come down, so she was with us at least.
It was freezing! They had us outside for three teaser spots and then the actual spot. Poor Flash was shivering and cuddling up to Lady Burrows (owner of RT mag) for warmth. I called everyone I could think of to let them know I was on television. The spot was on the KDKA site, not sure if it’s there any longer. And Pat is waiting for the KDKA people to send her a copy so she can distribute it to those who participated. When she gets it to me, I’ll spread it around. 🙂
My original plan was to do the morning spot, go change, then do another sit for the Samhain table at Club RT. Well, the spot ran longer than I anticipated. I had to rush to my room, grab my promo bag, then rush to the Club RT room. So, I was there in my costume, which I think either scared people away or got them to come to the table.
Robert Quill took the opportunity to take lots of pictures, which he sent to me.
During my Club RT session, my mother arrived. She loved the outfit and insisted on taking pictures. Once I got her registered, I insisted on changing. That corset was fun but I like breathing. A change into comfortable clothing later and we were off so I could introduce her to Flash, Dennis and Camille Anthony. They loved her.
After that we went back to the goody room (free books) so my mom could get her free books. I had already gone the day before, but wanted to make sure mom got hers. Well, she forgot her goody room ticket and had to go back to the room and get it. While I was waiting around I asked to just snoop and see what was left. The person manning the door said not only could I look around but I could take more books since they were planning on opening the room up after lunch.
Wendi, me, and mom grabbed BOXES and stuffed them full. Those got taken back to the room for safe keeping. Then, we all had to troop down to the big room for the RT Con awards ceremony and lunch. I only remember one thing from that awards’ ceremony — the crappy attitude of the head waiter.
We all got seated and were being served the first course. I saw Savannah Chase standing around looking a little depressed. When I asked her what was wrong, she said there were no more seats. She was ultra-busy with interviews with her blog so was getting to places too late for door prizes and such and it was starting to annoy her.
I had the whole end of the table to myself, so I scooted over and told her to pull up a seat. A nearby waiter was about to give her a chair to use when the head waiter (guy with the walki-talkie) stopped him. He was very rude, saying we couldn’t use the excess chair sitting against the wall that no one else was using. When asked why, he got all flustered and let her use it but not before saying she wouldn’t be served since there wasn’t supposed to be a chair there.
By this time, everyone at my table is pissed. Savannah didn’t want to eat, she just wanted to sit down. To our surprise, a server brought out a place setting for her and she did eat. Maybe someone talked to that guy and told him his attitude wasn’t appreciated. Whatever the case, she did eat.
After the awards ceremony was game workshop hosted by Eve Vaughn, Selena Illyria, Adrienne Kama, Shara Cooper, Bridget Midway, and Liz Andrews. It was hilarious. We played Dirty Minds and Pin the Junk on the Hunk. I won a giant chocolate bar that I gave to my mom. When she won, she picked up the t-shirt I wanted. Flash got a HUGE gift basket.
One of the clues for Dirty Minds (rules of the game are to guess the mundane word not the dirty one) was “I’m supposed to be straight”. I raised my hand with a mischievous grin and, once chosen, said in a nice loud voice, “The EC Cavemen!”. Everyone fell out laughing. I got a few weird looks from some PR people but it was hilarious.
That night was the vampire ball. Not my best costume but I did dress up. The Vampire Ball is dinner theater hosted by Heather Graham and her entourage. The show was hard to hear, the acting was non-existent, the singing was bad, and the food sucked. The highlight of the night (besides leaving) was when one of the actors sand Hotel California. Dennis held up his lighter and started waving it back and forth. Flash and I held up our cell phones. When we looked around, people were following suit. One person was even using their table centerpiece. It was too funny.
After a dessert I couldn’t eat since it was chocolate, we all beat a hasty retreat.
The last of the RT fun is in the next post.