Checking in from RWA National!

You Go Girls!!!

give my best to Susan - tell her I'm sorry not to be there to heckle her...



keep on having fun, everyone!!!

Hi, Cathy! I'm sorry I missed you yesterday...my stupid flight was delayed, and then had to stop off for gas in Louisville (I wish I was kidding). So no literacy signing for me. But I'll keep ye olde eyez peeled.

Cathy C said:

Our book, CAPTIVE MOON WON the Book Buyer's Best Award from the Orange County Chapter last night! Woo! It's a gorgeous acrylic statue with engraving.

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CONGRATS, CATHY!!!

Hey. Haven't seen either of you guys or anyone else from AW. Then again, I've been hiding a lot.

Anybody know why we had to evacuate around lunchtime? I was in the middle of my pitch with an editor and we had to do it walking outside.

We're having fun (hubby and I). Sleeping a lot.

I'm trying to imagine a wild, out -of-control Harlequin party.

and can't.

please, vivid descriptions along with embarassing moments!

I got to go to the Harlequin party last night. Those people know how to party!

Glad all had fun. We left Sat. am. Computer troble tonite.

Cathy, I was at the Harlequin party, but I didn't see you! Of course, no one was really name-tagged at that point. We shut the place down, and I woke up the next morning sore from all the dancing. Hope you had fun too--that party's a blast every year.

And a small horn-toot for me--one of my authors won a RITA!

I'm still sore - and I had to leave early in order to catch the train home.

Crinklish: Congrats to your author!

Crinklish, it was so great to finally meet you in person! I'm wishing you all the best with your upcoming wedding next week! Try to relax and enjoy it.

I didn't see you OR Cathy at the HQ party. Sheesh. It was a fantastic party -- one of the best, I think. The room was large enough that we weren't all mashed, the DJ played some great tunes, and the CHOCOLATE was amazing. <G> I even danced. <G> I left around 11:00.

I can't tell you about a lunchtime evacuation, but I had my own evacuation fun at the hotel. Thursday night, 12:20 AM, my roommate and I are sound asleep, and I'm awakened by this noise. My first thought was my cell phone was doing something weird. Then full consciousness returned, and I could hear and comprehend -- there was an alarm going off. It would make a noise, then a voice would say: "There has been an emergency reported! Please evacuate the building immediately via the firestairs!" BLAT! Repeat.

Well, in this day and age, you ignore something like that to your own peril. We jumped into our sneakers, grabbed our purses and cell phones and room keys, and evacuated via the fire stairs. Some other Super author friends of mine were just down the hall, and one came out with her laptop in her arms. "Hey, I have three chapters on this thing!" she said. "Save the WIP!"

So, down the firestairs we go. And down. And down. One would presume eventually we will end up at ground level. So we descend until we can descend no more. Go out a door. Where the heck are we? We are on the ROOF of the parking garage! Okay, that's not a cool place to be if the hotel is on fire. So we find the next set of stairs. These are dark, HOT (we're outside now) and STINK to high heavens like someone has been using these stairs as a toilet. (They probably had been.) So, down we go some more.

What happens now? We end up trapped in a lower level of the parking garage (the gates had been pulled down for the night) like rats on a burning (or so we thought) ship. Someone finally found an open door, we went through it, climbed a couple stairs, and emerged outside in the SHRUBBERY! (I swear, I am NOT making this up.) So we push through the bushes, find a sidewalk, and tromp around the block, back to the front of the hotel. A departing firetruck passes us on the way. We, in our pajamas and sneakers, come up to the front of the hotel, where well-dressed people are getting out of taxis and limos. <Sigh>

A good time was NOT had by all. <G>

However, the rest of the conference was great. I enjoyed it very much. It had a much more laid back feel to it than many conferences I've attended in the past. Some of us speculated that it was because the hotel had so many well-spread-out gathering places that we didn't feel like we were all mashed on top of each other.

I'm going to hope to get my pics uploaded today, but there is this MOUNTAIN of laundry to attend to. Ugh. Actually, I think there will be laundry lessons given today. I shouldn't have to do all that when there are 2 perfectly capable teenagers in the house. (The other man in the house...well... <G> )

Susan G.

Ooo, wait, one more fun story before I head to tackle the laundry mountain...

Saturday morning the hotel slips preliminary bills under the doors just to give us a heads' up. I was still in bed and my roommate said something was wrong, there were 3 bills, she didn't understand what they'd messed up, but she was leaving them in the bathroom and going down to breakfast.

I wasn't feeling great, so I just grabbed them and tucked them into my bag. I finally looked at them at about 2:30.

Uhhhhhhhhh...according to the hotel, there were THREE people staying in our room. My roommate Jen, the "real me" Susan Guadagno, and my penname alter ego, Susan Gable, who got her very own bill.

AAAGGGHHH! All I asked them to do (and I've had other hotels successfully manage this) was list my penname so people who know me that way could find me.

So, I go to the front desk to get it straightened out. The dude there tells me it was a mistake to ask them to list penname. Ummm, no, the mistake was yours. I told him this is what happens when dealing with authors who have alter egos -- not only criminals have alter egos.

So then he wants to know which name to keep. Well, maybe the LEGAL NAME, the one on the CREDIT CARD, might be a good idea, right? LOL. Sheesh. <sigh>

Susan G.

should have told them the real name was Janet Evanovich.

that'll show them.

Somehow, we missed the midnight evacuation call. Shows how efficient the system is--my husband and I both slept through it.

They screwed up our bill too. Saturday morning, I checked out, then got a call that my credit card didn't cover the bill. Well, I went to the desk and they'd already charged the amount to the card (I called the card company), but they kept showing it as not being credited, though the card company said it had been authorized. Plus, they were trying to charge me for the next night after we'd already checked out. May have been the same guy.

All in all, I had a good time, but wasn't overly impressed by the hotel. I hope SF is better next year. I expect a lot from hotels, especially for the prices they charge.

I heard the midnight evacuation was only on a few floors.

I was there at the lunchtime evacuation. It wasn't any big deal. We were outside maybe two minutes before they called us back in.

So what did you guys think of the RITA ceremony? I don't know whether to be pleased that it was so short, or bummed because they skipped the usual cheesy skits that accompany the event. (Of course, the first RITA ceremony I ever attended was the infamous Reno debacle, so really nothing could live up to that year.)

Crinklish said:

So what did you guys think of the RITA ceremony? I don't know whether to be pleased that it was so short, or bummed because they skipped the usual cheesy skits that accompany the event. (Of course, the first RITA ceremony I ever attended was the infamous Reno debacle, so really nothing could live up to that year.)

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Fortunately I MISSED the Reno debacle, so...

I was actually very happy that the ceremony moved so quickly, but then I'm a cut-to-the-chase kinda girl, and I know what it's like to be sitting in those chairs, waiting for them to get to your category. <G> I thought the little bits of "entertainment" were just a nice balance, a nice break, but not too much.

There have been some very funny skits in the past -- but I liked that they kept it moving right along.

Susan G.

JulieB said:

I heard the midnight evacuation was only on a few floors.
.

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Yep. Floors 10-12 in the Skyline tower.

The sad part of it is, one of my friends, who was in another section of Skyline, and is in a wheelchair, was very scared. Because she'd never thought about it before. And there she was, out in the hallway with her cousin who accompanies her to all of the conferences, wondering what she was supposed to do if she couldn't use the elevator. (Two choices: Wait for a fireman to come and rescue you and hope he gets there in time, or get someone else (or several someones) to help carry you out. She's a tiny lady. I told her if I'd been there with her, I'd have slung her over my own back.)

Lesson she learned: Ask for a very low floor room in the future, so if something like that actually happens, she doesn't have that many flights of stairs to get down.

Susan G.

Cathy C said:

As for weird, slightly embarrassing things to happen, Sunday morning Anne and I had just woken up and were chatting about the RITA awards (again, didn't attend because I was sick.) Just about then, a car alarm started screaming and Anne and I discussed at length after it was shut off how alarms weren't really all that useful anymore, because people simply yell for the owner to shut it off rather than actually look outside to watch for a burglar. Twenty minutes later, the phone rings. It was hotel security asking if we'd seen . . . the attempted car theft right outside our window. Had to tell the truth and tell the guy that no, we hadn't even bothered to stand up and look out the drapes.

Oops...

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LOLOL! Oops is right! <G>

Sorry to hear you were under the weather, Cathy. You know, I think part of that scratchy throat thing is just because we all talk way too much at conference. <G> Far more than we're used to. LOL.

Susan G.

Susan G.

Glad you are all back safe and sound.

Since we don't attend anything, the closest thing my husband and I had to a 'social' event at the conference was wandering through the bazzar Thursday night.

We did have an interesting 'Stepford'-esque experience Friday night while looking for food. Apparently no one in Dallas eats except in one particular section of the metro-Dallas area. We drove for miles and miles without the first restaurant in sight except for the rare J'box. We finally saw high-rises and a lovely country club, plus several beautiful condos ... and no people whatsoever. It was a beautiful ghost town. There were also lots of buildings that looked like they were being renovated so they were dark and empty and spooky. To make the mood even better, we were listening to a classical station and "The Planets" was playing. It was the perfect soundtrack. We finally escaped the twilight zone and found some place to eat ... about an hour later.

But for me, the whole thing was a success because the editor i was scheduled to meet with was late so they asked me if I wanted to meet another editor who was volunteering to take more meetings on the fly. Everyone around me was yelling, "Say YES!!" while foolish me was asking, "Do they do fantasy/paranormal romance?" I mean, I'd researched my editor appointment and had no clue about this new person. Bowing to the wisdom of my peers, I said, sure and went to meet her. She was super-nice and I told her it was my first time. She asked about my project and after I told her the premise, she said, "OK, you've hooked me! God, I hope you can write!" As I told her the plot, she was writing things down and asking questions, and kept saying, "Oh, I hope you can write!" She asked for the full ms. It may disappoint her, but at least it gave me a lift to know my premise wasn't unsellable.

So, now I'm going through and making sure I've got it as good as I can get it and will send it in this weekend.

And the other editor, my original one, met with me too and asked for a partial and synopsis, so I figure the trip to Dallas was worth it.

Hi, everyone! I hope you all had a great time in Dallas. I sure did! Since I wrote about it on my blog, I'll spare you the details.

Okay -- now the hard part...

I'm leaving AW. I might drop in from time to time to see how you are all doing, but I cannot continue to post on this website. I am a horribly loyal person, and right now, I owe my loyalty to my agent. AW has allowed a thread to continue where some of the clients she wasn't able to sell basically attacked her. Lots of nasty comments that I just can't condone. It's one thing to talk about an experience you had with an agent. No agent is loved by everyone, and I'm sure all of them have pissed off a client or two. It's another thing entirely to slander her. And that's what I believe that thread is. Slander.

So, I'm stepping to the sidelines. I thank you all for your support and kindness.
Best wishes for all you do!
Sandy