|
Musing about the RT Convention 2005
By Jessica Trapp
I am no longer an RT virgin. For those
that don’t know RT = Romantic Times, a large supporter of the romance
industry and the publisher of the Romantic Times BOOKclub magazine. The
convention—about 900 people, was comprised of writers, aspiring writers,
readers, editors, booksellers and cover models.
It was fun and fabulous. Definitely an
eye-opener.
The good:
I sat in at the book signing even though my
debut book isn’t out until June. Here I met readers, aspiring writers and
booksellers. Several booksellers came up to me who had read an ARC and
said they LOOOOOOVED it. Wow! What a rush! If that was a dream, don’t
wake me.
The bad:
Bad—as in B.A.D.—bad boys. Lots of
tall, beefcake cover models walking around in jeans and black t-shirts
with “GOT SEX?” in large white lettering. Kinky. Disconcerting. There
are definitely worse jobs than being a romance author.
The ugly:
As we checked out at the UPS mailing
center, stacks and stacks of books piled behind the counter. A half-dozen
women sat cross-legged on the floor meticulously ripping covers off unsold
novels. It made me queasy. I wanted to leap across the counter, grab
someone by the collar and scream “That’s someone’s soul you are
shredding!”
But it’s
just business, so I moved up quietly to the counter and paid my $47.85 to
have three boxes of conference goodies shipped home.
Cheers to the coordinators of RT 2005! Thanks for the great time.
On arriving home, I
posted photos of the next Mr. Romance from the convention’s competition to
a local writer’s loop. Within hours, I was asked to remove it because the
moderator said it wasn’t related to the writing business. LOL!
Considering that my life mostly consists of being hunched in a chair over
the computer, it’s fun to be doing things considered wild enough to be
taboo. To see the sizzling censored photo and have a sneak peek about who
will grace the cover of this year’s books, please click here:
COVER MODELS
|
