RWA Day One Continued - It Was Free! I Had No Choice.

It's 5:12AM and I'm under the covers and blogging. That's a Dave Matthews Band song, right? Day one observations continued.

So I arrived RWA and quickly met Alys and Miranda Kenneally. We semi-crashed the Heartbeat RWA chapter for lunch at St. Andrews. Elicit penne pasta is the best penne paste.

After Alys and I came back to the hotel and took a shower. Together, of course. Because we're environmentalists.

We went to the Literacy Signing where FIVE HUNDRED authors gathered in a single room signed copies of their books. My dear friend Gina Scalera, the romance novel guru at Joseph-Beth Lexington, died two months ago. So it was bittersweet for me visiting some of her favorite authors she'd befriended at the store and through email. Toni Blake and I commiserated for a long time together. Sydney Croft who is both Larissa Ione and Stephenie Tyler combined signed copies for me of their book that released today TAKEN BY FIRE. If you have a copy, look inside. It's dedicated to Gina.

But the signing was a wall of noise so we got outta there fast. Next year, I'm bringing earplugs.

Next stop? The Nelson Literary Agency Party at the rooftop gardens at 230 5th Street, which was blast. Why was it a blast?

I got blasted.

Okay, in my defense the alcohol here in NYC is apparently spun from gold. Drinks in the hotel are about $15 each (I've heard tell). And the alcohol at the Nelson Literary Agency Party was on the house for those of us special enough to get the white wristband.

So I walk in my red Joan from Mad Men dress with the exquisite Alys on my arm and there's, you know, TRAYS of wine and champagne and all that jazz. I had a glass of jazz. Well, four glasses of jazz. Maybe five. It's all a blur.

Anywho, observations from the party.

#1 - Yup. Steve Vera's a babe. Mr. Vera is my agent, Sara Megibow's, urban fantasy writer client. Someday you will know his name. I looked him up shortly after I became a member of Team Megibow and found his pic on his website. I think I said, "Damn" and then immediately emailed the poor man. We've stayed in sporadic contact since, but when I heard he would be at the NLA party and that free booze was going to be served, I put on my RWA itinerary "Get drunk and flirt with Steve Vera." By drink #3, Steve's ass and my right hand were good friends. By drink four, we'd kissed about three times. But ONLY because he was helping me with my to do list which said I HAD to flirt with him. He's nice like that.

For the record, Alys kissed him too.

For the other record, my agent, Sara Megibow also kissed me.

#2 - Sarah Skilton (@sarah_skilton) and Roni Loren? Also, babes. Sarah's about eight feet tall, leggy, and looks like a model. Roni, who is totes cute in her Twitter pic, is smoking hot in real life. And both are amazingly nice ladies who are sweet to a Kentucky drunky like me.

#3 - Andrew Shaffer of the Romantic Times can pull off leather in the summer. I thought Steve Vera had a badass jacket on (pinstrips) but Shaffer sported a sweet leather blazer that had me envying both his dress sense and his ability to not pass out in the New York heat.

That's all I remember from the party. Everything else is a blur.

Or is it? What happens at the NLA party stays at the NLA party.

Love,

Tiffany

PS Thank you for the great party, Kristin Nelson. Anita's also a babe.