Conference Round Up! - Anna Campbell

by Anna Campbell

I'm peering through the thick mists of killer jetlag to write this post!

As most of you know, I've just had a whole month in the U.S. I had a marvellous time and I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome you gave a wandering Aussie.

I started off in Denver for the inaugural RomCon convention at the Crowne Plaza Denver Airport. That was more fun than you can have with a hatful of monkeys!

The conference ran between Friday and Sunday lunchtime on the weekend of 10th July and was geared towards readers. This translated into a lot of fun for everybody where we played games like Build a Hero, Strip the Heroine or Shock the Queen (a quiz on Victorian etiquette that turned into a fabulous Mother May I kerfuffle).

Here's a photo of the winners of the Build a Hero contest - we had a huge (snicker) hit in Sir Rochester De Vale, a tortured hero who accidentally burned down his castle and suffered ever after from a phobia about lit matches! Mind you, then the local vicar's daughter came around and lit his fire! That's Kati Polodna, Cynthia Durichek, me and Elizabeth Boyle with the booty Kati and Cynthia took home. We made a great team, gals!

The picture at the top of this post is from breakfast on Sunday morning when I met up with Jackie Hussein, Joanne Kennedy, Kathy Andrico and Lori Foster. One of the things I loved about RomCon is that everybody mixed freely - readers mixed with reviewers mixed with bloggers mixed with writers. It was incredibly friendly and a lot of fun. They're running it again next year and I'd highly recommend going.

I then did a bit of sightseeing in Colorado which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Took a few days in New York for business, saw a friend in Washington for two days, then hit Orlando for RWA Nationals at the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort.

The conference was huge fun! It started with a signing to benefit literacy charities. This is open to the general public. The photo on the left is of me with Romance Bandit and NYT bestselling author Kate Carlisle.

The picture on the right is also from the signing - you get some idea of the wild party it is from the crowds lined up behind me! That's Avon author Gayle Callen looking at me with fear and trepidation!

Conference is always crazy. I had a ball catching up with a lot of my friends I only see once a year. There are publisher dinners, booksignings, parties, hundreds of workshops (which I never seem to make - I'm always in the bar!) and everything finishes with a big awards night when the winners of the Golden Heart and RITAs are announced.

This year was really exciting for a number of reasons. My Australian friend, Kylie Griffin, won the Golden Heart for best paranormal (yay, Kylie!), my Romance Bandit buddy Beth Andrews won a very well deserved RITA for her short contemporary A NOT-SO-PERFECT PAST and I was sharing a table with Julia Quinn when she not only won a RITA for WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON, but also a RITA for her induction into the hall of fame. How cool is that?

Two more photos to round out the report. The picture above is of four historical types - Courtney Milan, me, Lila DiPasqua and Delilah Marvelle. Nice use of print motifs, don't you think? Snort.

The photo on the right is of three Avon ladies. Me, Julie Anne Long and Toni Blake.

So I've had a pretty eventful month. How about you guys? Any fun/exciting/momentous events in the last month?