So I thought I’d share a little more about the RAW event. I’d never been to Huntington before, and I thought it was a cool college town. There’s lots of Marshall green everywhere.
After checking into the hotel, Wheezly and I walked around for a bit and got something to eat. The hotel is on the main downtown street, and there were lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance (i.e., right across the street), which was really convenient. Seriously, I thought the location could not have been better.
After that, I went down to the ballroom for that night’s dinner/mixer. Over the weekend, I talked to some folks I knew like Tina, a bookseller who now works for Sherrilyn Kenyon, Krista, a reader that I met at another event last year, and lots of other people I’ve seen at various events. I also met a lot of new people, including some folks who’d driven down from Toronto for the event.
Among the authors I got to talk to was Nalini Singh, who flew in from New Zealand and has a gorgeous accent. If you like a healthy dose of sci-fi in your romance, you should check out Nalini’s Psy-Changeling series. She’s also writing a new urban fantasy series and had some excerpt booklets at RAW. I picked up one of those and am looking forward to reading that. And that was about it for Friday night.
Saturday, of course, was the big booksigning. It was crazy, but in a good way. I don’t know how many books were sold at RAW, but I’m willing to bet it was up in the hundreds. J.R. Ward was there for the Saturday signing, and her line was looong. (I wanted to meet her, but it just didn’t happen). So were the lines for Lora Leigh and Jacquelyn Frank. Eventually, the three lines intersected in the middle of the room, forming a mass of readers.
Of course, my line was not nearly as long, but traffic was pretty steady. Lots of folks had me sign trade copies of Karma Girl and Hot Mama, and lots of other folks told me they were looking forward to trying the Bigtime books. So it was all good. 😎
Things finally started slowing down around 2:30/3 p.m., so I was able to go around and talk to some of the other authors, like Shirley Damsgaard, a very funny lady I met at an event last year. Shirley writes the Ophelia and Abby mysteries. I was also sitting next to Delilah Devlin, who writes westerns. I love me some westerns, and I’m definitely going to have to check out her books.
After the Saturday booksigning, there was a masquerade party/dinner. More food, more drinks, more conversation, more fun. Sunday was a bit quiet. Lots of folks left Sunday morning. I stuck around for part of the booksigning that afternoon and signed some more Bigtime books, including one for a lady who works with my aunt and was up in the area visiting friends/family. So that was nice that she came to the signing to get the latest Bigtime book.Â
And that was a wrap for RAW. Overall, a very fun event with lots of folks who just love books and reading. I definitely plan to go back. :ww:
