RT Day 5 April 28th, the silver lining
As rotten as our Friday was at the Romantic Times convention, day 5 ended up a lot better. First, authors actively sought Laura out to ask for her promotional items to put on their tables at the book signing. This was especially important as Laura was specifically told on Friday to make sure she didn’t have any risque items on display.
We had a quick breakfast with Jeff Buick, then ran to our tables in the book fair. Laura’s books didn’t show up (a coincidence???) but her table was filled with her very tastefully done postcards and mini-CD’s. A bonus was that all those items ended up on about ten other tables spread throughout the room giving her even more exposure. The irony? Romantic Times ran book trailers…and believe me several were very, very risque, far past the items we picked up on the promotional lane.
I autographed my very first book with the pen Jay Poupard gave me years and years ago and I got my picture taken with the lady, Tina, who purchased the book. How cool is that??? It was also exciting to have people come up to me and say, “I have your book.” Again, how cool is that? About 60% of my books sold…yeah! Lizzie sold all of her Midnight Showcase consignments and most of her copies of Struck by Lightning.
I checked on Laura and Lizzie a couple of times just to make sure they didn’t need anything, but between RT staff in the book room and Loose Id, they were pretty well covered. Lizze sold out her Midnight Showcase anthology, but she had to hang around and wait after the book fair to check out because they were consignment books (books she’d brought in herself). There were lots of awful stories about checking out and people just throwing their weight around. Some authors had their bags checked for stolen books more than once, etc.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through that, but Jeff had brought in a bunch of books and I stopped by to see if he needed any help. Chris Keeslar stopped by as well as Jeff is published with Dorchester. Chris said I looked familiar and I reminded him of a time when he visited Denver and I drove him around town. He thought I was funny…imagine that! and wanted to know if I wrote comedy. Alas, I still prefer killing people in my stories and I readily admit writing comedy is a difficult task that I have not mastered. Chris is still looking for sexy romantic comedies.
After the fair, Loose Id presented us with a yummy dessert bar. There were a lot of authors there, and the desserts were delicious! I had the most unusual experience of my writing life when I introduced myself at a table.   Lacey Savage yelled, “Lucynda Storey! I loved Simply Irresistible!” Lacey dear, you made my day, especially since Friday was sooo awful.
Laura decided to get a rental car later and we took a cab to Hobby airport to pick up the Kia. We got a little lost because the highway exits are a bit different in Houston, but eventually made it back to the hotel. She took Lizzie and I out to Benihana’s to celebrate a successful day for us. It was very sweet of her and we enjoyed our dinner.
Afterwards we yakked in the bar a bit and then collapsed into bed. Saturday was ever so much better than Friday.