As you can see, I’m very late with getting my RT16 post done.  I had an absolute blast at my second RT Convention.  I’m glad it wasn’t my first time because Las Vegas was crazy busy.  I had my suspicions that it would be bigger than Dallas, but it exceeded all my expectations.  My days were jam packed from sun up to sun down.

What did I get up to?

My family and I were lucky because this year’s convention was being held just a short road trip away and that it was during my son’s spring break.  So we decided to head to Vegas a few days early so we could have a quick family vacation before I “went to work”.

Monday

Technically, the convention doesn’t start until Tuesday, but since I was already in town, as was my friend and RT Buddy, Christine, we decided to watch some hunky men take their clothes off.  That’s right, we went to the Chippendales.

 

Tuesday

Even though the convention starts on Tuesday, there’s not a great deal on and getting through Registration is the most important part of the day.  After I was done with that, I headed on over to the Pre-Con Blogger Symposium hosted by Smart Bitches Trashy Books.  I had just enough time to make it to the Make Us Swoon! The Romantic Times Cover Model Contest, where five cover model virgins duked it out for a chance to be the model on an upcoming novel.

  

 

Wednesday

After popping in to the RT Welcome Party for some breakfast, I headed on over to the Meet The Authors From Down Under event.  From there I went to the Heroes With Handcuffs:  Beyond The Badge event, followed by a quick lunch before hitting up the Erotic’s Eleven: Plan Your Heist event. Contemporary Romance: Booze & Books X’s 2 came next, then the Robyn Carr & Susan Mallery Reader Appreciation.  The long day came to an end with the Vintage Vegas Romance Casino event.

Contemporary Romance: Booze & Books X’s 2

  
Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.

 
Vintage Vegas Romance Casino.

Thursday

After being so busy on Wednesday, I wanted to have an easy day on Thursday.  Yeah, that didn’t happen.  First off the bat was the First Base With An Author event.  Then it was time to line up for the Shayla & Lexi Present The Perfect Party event, quickly followed by the Sin City Murder Mystery! event, where I won an awesome prize from Audra North.  Next was the hilarious Sports Romance Jeopardy! event where I had so much fun, before ending the night at the Kensington’s Chapel Of Love event.

Friday

Friday was a relatively quiet day, at least in regards to the number of events I went to.  As we got closer to the weekend, the more people arrive at the convention, so by the time Friday rolled around, you really had to pick what events you really wanted to go to and get in line early for them.  I started my day at the highly anticipated Entangled’s Candy & Spoons! event.  I went to this event last year and it was by far my favourite, so I made sure to hit this one up again.  Then I headed over to the Sweet, Sassy, Spicy Author/Reader Meet & Greet event, where I won a Kindle Fire.  I followed this up with the We <3 Romance: Harlequin Reader Party event.  After a short break, I attended the Berkley Blogger Buzz, a blogger only event.  After a busy day, I needed to relax and unwind.  So my RT buddy, Christine, and I went to see the Thunder From Down Under.  What a way to end the day.

 

Saturday

Saturday, my final day at the convention.  While I only had four events on my schedule, this was by far the longest, busiest and hectic day of the entire week.  The first event of the day was the Giant Book Fair.  Although the doors didn’t open until 10.30 am, I started lining up at 6.15 am.  Some of my friends had already been there for an hour at that stage and kindly saved me a spot up the front.  After running around chasing author autographs, I headed over to the Welcome To Fabulous Berkley Romance event, immediately followed by the Shop ‘Til You Drop: Free Book Signing With Random House Authors & Friends! event.  The final event of the day was the FAN-tastic Day Party hosted by Dreamspinner Press. Because our little group had been waiting in line since 12.30 pm, we were first in line and were able to get a sneak peek into the room during setup.

After four hours of waiting for the Giant Book Fair.

Sneak peek into the FAN-tastic Day Party room.

Our little group waiting at the front of the line for the FAN-tastic Day Party.

Who did I meet?

What did I come back with?

I came back with just over 100 books worth almost $1,000.00.  The luxury with driving is that I could just pack up the car and not have to worry about airline weight restrictions.

  
Signed

Unsigned

 
Swag

What’s next?

I had an absolutely fantastic time at the 2015 RT Convention in Dallas last week.  This was my first book convention and what an amazing convention to be broken in with.  I met lots of authors, aspiring authors, bloggers, readers, assistants and many more. I sat in on panels, played games, chased down signatures, and played more games.  I truly had a wonderful time.  If you’ve been to a previous RT convention, you know what I’m talking about.  If you haven’t, I hope you get to experience one sometime in the future because it’s totally worth it.

The highlights of my trip was meeting Rebecca Yarros and Maya Banks.  While I only got to say a quick hello to Maya, I spent a whole hour playing a truly terrifying game of Spoons with Rebecca.  She has an amazing personality and was a lot of fun to hang with.

Another thrill I had was seeing our name in the RT Convention Guide.

Schedule

My schedule was jam packed from arriving at the hotel on Wednesday afternoon until leaving Sunday morning…for a 6.30 am flight.

Wednesday, May 13 2015
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Beta, Alpha and Alpha-hole Heroes
Take a Walk on the Historical Side!
Taste of Texas Romance Rodeo

Thursday, May 14 2015
Saddle Up & Draw: Pictionary … Texas Style!
Cover Model Karaoke
A Perfect Party
Hot Guy Bingo
Entangled’s Candy and Spoons!
Kensington’s Sweet Heat
Atria Indie Authors Blogger Happy Hour
Wild, Wild West Steampunk Party!

Friday, May 15 2015
How Sweet It Is, Y’all!
Fun and Games with Forever!
Celebrate Contemporary Romance: Booze, Books & More!
1001 Dark Nights Sparkler
Hold ‘Em Like We Do in Texas
Berkley/NAL Blogger Buzz
Avon Presents A Night In Paris…Texas!

Saturday, May 16, 2015
Giant Book Fair
Penguin Random House’s Passport to Romance
FAN-Tastic Day Party

What did I learn from this convention?

Take more gallon-sized Zip Lock Bags.  These came in handy when packing my suitcase as it was storming in Dallas the day I left and having the books and swag in the bags protected them in case my suitcases got wet.  Which they did.  They’re also good for preventing the books from getting creases and folds and from bumping in to each other.  But 19 just wasn’t enough.

Staying at the same hotel as the conference is preferrable than staying at an off-site hotel.  If you need to unload your goodies, it’s very easy just to run upstairs and dump everything in your room before starting again.  Having to walk or cab it to another hotel would waste a lot of time.

Don’t think you’ll have any spare time to read or sleep.  Spare time simply does not exist at an RT Convention.

Bring two suitcases.  This should have been a no-brainer, and if I had two suitcases I would have taken both.  Sadly I only had one and had to cab it to a nearby Macy’s to pick up another one.  The number of free books available is huge, so thinking you can fit them all in one bag is, well, it’s totally crazy.

Talk to the people waiting in line with you, even if you’re not travelling alone.  You never know who you might meet and who you’ll click with.  I found a great group of women by doing this, all of us RT Virgins and all attending solo.

If you’re an author, aspiring author or blogger, take business cards with you.  Sometimes it’s common for people to ask you for your contact information.

On Friday, and especially on Saturday, make sure you line up early for the big events.  Most events have limited goody bags, so if you want to be sure you’ll get one, get in line early.

If you’re attending an event where books are on a table with a signing author, don’t just walk up and take a book (or two or four as some people did).  Those books are for those of us standing in line for signatures, waiting to pay our respects and thank the author for their time and free book.

Take a later flight back home if possible so you can sleep in.

What authors did I meet?

Here are just a few of the authors I was very lucky to meet and smart enough to remember to get photos.

There were so many other authors I had the pleasure of meeting, but I couldn’t get photos with them all, so I’ll give a shout out and hope I have everyone covered:

And let’s not forget the cover models

So how much stuff did I come back with?

Lots!!!  Sixty books in total and a tonne of swag.