I’m baaaack and still book two is unfinished guh – I really intended to do some writing on the plane to and from Los Angeles, but I upgraded my seat and I got free movies so I umm got suckered into watching Love and Other Drugs and Gnomeo & Juliet (don’t judge me) on the way to LA and Tron: Legacy (again no judging) and Unstoppable on the way home – of all the movies I have to admit I enjoyed them all.

I travelled on Virgin America – what a nice plane (even before the upgrade LOL).  Friendly staff and a nice plane – I highly recommend it – I wish they flew to NYC, they’d be my new go-to airline.

Soooo … I got to LA and upon exiting the airport my first impression was “Holy Crap!”  It was colder than I expected – yes I got there during a cold snap LOL. 

We got to the Westin Bonaventure hotel early Wednesday and I will admit that the hotel was gorgeous, our room had a view of the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory in the distance.  Umm that’s about all the good I will say, the hotel was an older one so the rooms were smaller than at some of the new Westins (and with 5 of us in 1 room it was really crowded – thank goodness I love my roomies) the food inside the hotel was OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive – I had a quesedilla for lunch … JUST 1 and it was $16 … the hotel was in the middle of the financial district which meant that everything closed down after 5 and was closed on the weekend.  I won’t even talk about the drinks in the bars, oy!  Luckily we found a rite-aid that sold liquor and we brought it back to the room LOL 🙂

I finally got to meet my publisher and some of the other LSB authors, what a fantastic bunch (although I got lost going to the spotlight and was late – hotel was pretty but confusing and I have the worst sense of direction)  I have to say I found a good house (whoot)

I was also lucky enough to be a part of a Circle of Seven mixer where I gave away a basket of Dark Moon Rising stuff including a teeshirt, some temp tats, trading cards and a free copy of the book 🙂 and I feel like a twit because I didn’t get the name of the reader who won *duh* but I have her email LOL.  I also had a reader approach me after the party and she bought my book via her phone right there – so I want to say thank you again to her, it was one of the bigger highlights of the con. for me.

The signing was a lot of fun.  I sat next to author Cat Johnson – who writes about bull riders (my kind of guys) and she chatted with me.  She explained that I probably wouldn’t get any sales (I didn’t) but it was good to give out promo & chat up potential readers – which I did :).  I arrived at the signing early and I will admit to getting choked up seeing my name plate on the table.  It’s really a cool feeling and I’m a sap 🙂

At the Saturday book fair I got to be a fan – I had several authors sign my nook 🙂 and I jumped up and down when I saw my trailer play on the big screen.  Sat. night we also went to Griffith Observatory (where part of Rebel Without a Cause was filmed) and we got to see Saturn and the moon through telescopes.  It was fun, but cold.

The other highlight of my trip happened Sunday.  I was bummed that two of my friends left for home, but I found out that the GLAAD Media Awards were going to be held at the hotel that night.  My other friend found out tickets were $450 each, and that was waaay out of our price range.  So she suggested we try to volunteer, after all rumor had it that Colin Firth would be there.  So we walked into the volunteer room and offered ourselves up.  They were more than happy to take us and handed us tees, we were IN.  We manned one of the silent auction tables and got to see a LOT of familiar faces, some I immediately recognized and some I knew but couldn’t remember how.  It was loads of fun and we probably wouldn’t have seen half the celebrities we had if we’d gone out sight seeing :).  BTW Colin Firth was not there … but Colin Farrell was 🙂

This is just a taste of what my week was like, I hadn’t even touched on the parties OR the Mr. Romance Contestants or the other celebrities I got to meet (ahhhh!).  As always RT is amazing fun, but also exhausting.  And I can’t wait to do it again in Chicago next year!

Until Next Time!