Day Four in New Orleans

I’m a little distracted by Cyndi yelling at her books as she categorizes them so excuse me if this is somehow less coherent than my other posts this week. We spent the morning at another long-lined event but we had breakfast beside a cover model

Shut up, Cyndi, I’m trying to blog about you!

So we had breakfast with this cover model named Jeremy who was really sweet and we all got our picture taken with him and it was awesome. I personally attended three more panels on craft (writing concise novels, writing urban fantasy, and writing high intensity scenes) before getting in line for the Krewe of Muses Book Event.

This is a big event hosted by Avon in which a bunch of their authors get in a room with a bajillion of their books and just sign for hours. It’s awesome and crowded and extremely loud but there were tons of free books, we got to talk to some awesome authors (I fangirled a little because Cora Carmack remembered doing a blog post on my blog). I came back with way too many books but man, was it awesome.

The real story comes from the lineup waiting to get into the event. I sat for 3 hours in line and I was not the first person, either. There were several of us lined up for 3 hours. And we talked and laughed and discussed some pretty random things. Everything from tips and tricks of managing the RT madness to the Disney Vacation Club (or whatever it’s called) to The Mummy Returns and how the only thing not awesome about it is the inaccuracy of the fight scene between Nefertiti and Ankh-su-na-mun. I will say this: I have met some amazing people in lines.

That’s one of my favourite parts of RT. Connecting with authors and readers from all sort of genres and locations (some from Alberta, even) who are just obsessed with what they do: books. It’s incredibly inspiring. I haven’t been outside enough to absorb the wander of New Orleans for its richness but these people, I tell you, they’re incredible.

And they go all out when it comes to parties and costumes. Some of the Mardi Gras costumes were so elaborate they were taking people out when they turned their heads. Cyndi and I both got up and entered the costume contest but we were no match for these Dark and Light characters. I don’t know if it’s the insanity of the written word or just being in New Orleans, but people love their costumes. And they love dark as much as light which is wonderful to see.

Cyndi says she’s neurotic but dedicated. She told me to write that.

We’re both currently preparing for tomorrow’s festivities. I feel like it’s going to be rather underwhelming on a whole but we’ll see what happens. We’re adding a bunch more people (on Day Passes) to the mix so we’ll see how long it takes me to go psycho killer and throw all the bodies down the elevator shaft.

Oh, and Rachel Caine has scarred me for elevators. Look her up.