So this is what I’ve been doing this week at RT 2015:

• I had a good editor pitch and a spectacular agent pitch (when the agent’s eyes get wider and wider as you go through the pitch, you know you’re on to something). Behind the Iron Cross will be sent off next week with fingers crossed.
• Got to have a handful of meals with the delightful J. Kathleen Cheney and Diana Pharaoh Francis. Diana and I are both into rocks and gems, and I was thisclose to dragging her off to the Rock Barrell for a rummage.
• FINALLY got a chance to chat with Tiffany Reisz, who is as warm, funny, and down to earth in person as she is online and in podcast interviews. And her husband Andrew truly does have spectacular hair.
• Also got to spend some time with the spectacular and award-winning Cecilia Tan, who gave me my start in publishing (thank you, Cecilia!).
• Cover models. All over the con. Charming, flirty, gorgeous cover models. And FRIENDLY. And they smell good. Be still my beating heart.
• Got to meet a variety of movers and shakers in the romance field, which is awesome. I’m coming from the SF/fantasy field, so it’s a whole different world in romance and learning the lay of the land is very useful.
• I’ve been handing out business cards like candy, as well as copies of Storm Season. I’ve also been ASKED for bookmarks. Got to make those and postcards for the next convention I do.
• Speaking of Storm Season, I met the woman who arranged the cover shoot of the model! Apparently his name is Andrew and he’s a Swedish football player. God bless the Swedes.
• I’m getting used to answering to Nicola. True story: a number of years ago I had an account for research purposes (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) on a small gay porn site that is now sadly defunct. I used the screen name Nicholas Cameron for the forum section because I didn’t want to freak out the other subscribers, and when I started writing erotic romance I decided I liked the name and just feminized the first name to Nicola. For future reference, it’s pronounced the same way as Nicholas, only without the terminal s (NIK-ola, not ni-KOH-la).