The keynote speaker yesterday (after a lunch which consisted of a salad with barely any dressing,very dry chicken with yellow rice, terrible iced tea, and a dessert I really didn’t even try) was the wonderful Ms. Sylvia Day.  From my point of view., Ms. Day talked about her journey in becoming an author and how an author’s biggest obstacle is their own fear.  Fear of rejection, fear of not being good enough, fear of no one liking their work.  If you can get past your fear, the world is your oyster.  I did not attend her Q&A session after lunch, but I heard she was awsome.  A fact is not hard to believe.I attended a few panels yesterday.  One was run by the fabulous Cat Johnson.  She is sooooo amazeballs.  Without her, I wouldn’t be making a newsletter to begin with.  Two other panel were fun games:

Romance Cards Against Humanity – Presented by  Christi Barth, Stephanie Dray, Eliza Knight, Lea Nolan & Kate Quinn (similar to Apples to Apples); and the other was Romance Scattagories  – Presented by  Elisabeth Staab, Jennifer Armentrout & Cat Johnson.  After lunch I went to Who’s Cover is This Anyway? – Presented by  Taria Reed, Valerie Tibbs & Carole Fiorillo, where we separated into two groups and actually mocked up book covers and what making a beautiful cover entails.   An author mixer was  my next stop.  We got to mingle with all the fabulous authors in attendance.  I met some really wonderful authors that a new to me, and caught up with some I already knew.  I got to hang out with authors like, Sylvia Day, Cat Johnson, Damon Suade, Sara Humphreys, and Roz Lee.  I was such a fan girl.  It is hard to keep your cool when you meet people you admire.  They are my rock stars.

After the mixer was the public book signing.  I loved going around and meeting even more of the authors and introducing myself.  LOL poor authors being harassed by me and my pitch about my blog.  I am so excited that I got to hand out my pretty new business cards.  A copy of which should be at the left of this article somewhere.

After the signing, I decided to head back to my room with my hubby and son.  We hung out a while (napped after getting up at 5am and chipping ice off my car from the 4 inches of snow and ice Long Island received the night before).  Then we met up with the other Book Obsessed Chicks and had dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Kim Rocha, the founder of the club. (I lover her to extreme) learned not to fuck with me….I scarey.  We ordered and didn’t get our food for like an hour.  Now I am not talking just main course, but the appetisers too!  It all came together, at the same time mind you, after I went to see what the fuck was going on….Twice!  The whole reason we didn’t got outside the hotel for dinner was because we all needed to change for the PJ Party last night we were hosting.  There was only like an hour and a half for us to eat.  I was not happy.

After I changed (Did you know Vera Wang sells PJs at Kohls?), I attended the PJ Party, which Was a total Blast!  I mean where else can you find your favorite authors in their night clothes.  Poor Cat Johnson had to listen to me the whole night as we laughed and had fun.  Then after it was done, I went back and totally crashed.  Thank the Lord I was already in my PJs.

This morning it was breakfast of eggs (which looked like powered but after complaining to the hotel I found out were 100% not powdered) fatty bacon, bland potatoes, OJ, Water, and Coffee (just leave the whole carafe there people) and a bread basket.  The speaker was author, Maria V. Snyder.  She talked about her writing habits and a slew of other things.   Then I got to go to another panel entitled Chocolate & Romance 101 – Presented by  Christi Barth, Stephanie Dray, Eliza Knight & Lea Nolan where we compared today’s romance to the bodice-rippers of old.  It was fun and hey, we got chocolate.

Unfortunately, I was not able to stay for any other panels because hubby wanted to go home.  The next time I go to a convention, it will have to be somewhere where my boys will be better entertained without me, or I go with the BOC girls and leave them home.

Over all, I had a great time.  I can’t wait for the next event, which I think with be Philly Fest this fall.  I will keep you informed.