Author's After Dark - Thursday Recap

Yesterday was the first day of Authors After Dark and it was amazing! Just before the Welcome Event, I met William Cooper, who turned out to be a lot of fun. The workshops were fun and informative. I went to one titled "You Don't Know Dick" - a GLBT panel about keeping sex fresh through out a series with Mia Watts, James Buchanan, William Neale, Arial Tachna, and Ally Blue, which was informative and absolutely hilarious. There was lunch and hanging out in the ARe Digital Cafe with Carol Lynne and Ethan Day and everyone who wandered through. My roomie went on the Scavenger Hunt and had an absolute blast.

The ARe Reception was a great chance to meet people and talk with them and see the vendors and publishers. Spent several minutes talking with Andrew Grey and Arial Tachna from Dreamspinner Press. It was great being able to put faces to names of people I 'see' and talk to online.

Dinner was at the Second Floor Restaurant in the Hotel - had a burger, fries and a Coke because there was no way I could eat a whole Philly Cheesesteak.

After a short rest, there was Resplendence Publishing's Karaoke Party - which was an absolute blast. They gave away an i-Pad and books and stuff. There was alcohol, but not everyone was drinking, but everyone there was having fun. The hosts - Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Greene, Jen Armintrout/Abigail Barnett, Jess Jarman, Gwendolyn Cease, and Mia Watts - sang and did back up dancing. And over the half time everyone was singing along with the people who were brave enough to sing in front of everyone. I did not sing, I can't sing. I did however, pull ticket duty.

Talked with Mia, Brynn, and Bronwyn and others until way late into the night. The night ended on a higher note with some cool emails.

On the phone with Sister By Another Mother because my niece is in labor. I can't wait to see pictures of her. Either way, my brain is now engaged with other thoughts.

Author's After Dark - Wednesday Recap

We left Michigan at 1am in order to make it to the hotel by 3pm. It's a 12 1/2 hour drive and well, you have to stop and eat, walk around and do the restroom thing.

There are workshops, panels, and editor/agent interviews, but it's also pretty much a big party for readers. This is my first conference as an author, and I'm super geeked.

For the record - the Appalachians or whatever mountain range we crossed was absolutely beautiful and I'm freaking thrilled to death I did not have to make that trip on horseback, foot, or covered wagon before 'civilization' crawled through. Beautiful though, stunning. Camera was safely in the trunk - not a smart place for it to be.

After walking through Philly for about an hour, we ended up having dinner at Tavern On Broad - I had the Philly Cheesesteak - was good - huge - good price too. I live in a city, not a big city by any means, what I've seen in Philly would never happen in either of the cities I've lived in Michigan. Right next to upscale restaurants, Starbucks and miscellaneous stores are adult 'gift' stores and a BDSM Leather shop. I counted 3 adult stores within a two block walk from the hotel. The traffic sucks though. Couldn't drive in a city like this, I'd probably develop road rage. :)

I haven't seen a lot of Philly, but I LOVE the old architecture of the buildings. The majority of the streets I've seen so far are narrow and one way with bike lanes.

I've met some great people and had dinner with Crymsyn Hart, Shannan Albright, Laura from Topaz Promotions, a wonderful reader named Jill, Bronwyn Green, and Brynn Paulin. I'm looking forward to meeting more great people today.