RT continued

Now, where was I?... Oh, yes! The Urban Fantasy panel. There were two, but the one I have pictures of was Rachel Caine, Jennifer Armintrout, Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Vicki Pettersson, Miriam Kriss, Jeri Smith-Ready, Keri Arthur and Marjorie Liu. Damn that was a lot of linking. This is Keri Arthur, author of the _fabulous_ Riley Jensen series.


I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with her, Rachel, Vicki, Jenna Black and Suzanne Frank, all of whom are wonderful people. I am a huge fan of Keri's work so it was a special thrill to hang out with her. She's very down to earth and seems to have a very practical approach to everything. Let me tell you, practicality was something I needed a great big dose of by the end of the week. I was floating around in what felt like a dream world, knowing full well I was going to come crashing back into reality all too soon. I was complaining to Keri and Jenna about how difficult it was going to be to return to my day job after the convention and Keri said, "Well, you just have to think of that as your second job now." So simple, and yet I've found the shift in perspective to be so profound this week. After all I experienced at the convention, my priorities are clear to me now -- I am a writer. I am a writer who has to work at an insurance company to make ends meet, but I am a writer first. Keri's simple and practical advice is definitely helping me adjust back to my daily life.

Ok, I have to admit something about this next picture. I'm a complete dork. I never thought of myself as someone who lost her mind in the presence of greatness, but I have wholeheartedly proven myself wrong.

There was some mix up and Rachel Caine's name didn't appear in the convention materials as an attending author. On the morning of the Urban Fantasy panels, I went to a breakfast mixer that ended about a half hour prior to the first panel. With nothing better to do, I headed up to the panel room early to get a good seat and began reading the MaryJanice Davidson book I'd just gotten at the mixer (free books! yeah!). A woman came in and sat down at the panel table and I looked up but I didn't recognize her. There was one woman on the panel, Jeri Smith-Ready, who I wasn't familiar with at the time so I assumed that's who this woman was. There were a few other people in the room and they began chatting with the newly arrived panelist. I was sort of half listening to their conversation while reading. Then I heard the words, "Oh, you're that weather woman." I dropped my book. I actually dropped my stupid book in my lap. I got all nervous and stupid and didn't know what to do with myself. How ridiculous!!

You have to understand, I'm not a fangirl. I just don't do the whole fan thing. I generally don't join fan clubs unless they give me some practical advantage, I NEVER write fan letters and I don't approach celebrities for autographs. I just privately admire and enjoy their work and then continue on with my very ordinary existence. But... I wrote Rachel Caine a fan letter. I did. I couldn't help myself. And then I found out that her email system ate it, so she never got the damn thing. And now here she was, sitting two rows in front of me and I was completely unprepared! I managed to fumble my camera out of my bag and approach her. I told her the story I've just told you (LIKE A BIG DORK) about how I never write fan letters, yadda yadda, and she listened very patiently and sweetly. And then I told her how she's my idol because she works full time in the corporate world and writes amazing books and dammit, if she can do it so can I. Oh lord. The whole time my brain was screaming JUST SHUT UP but she was very nice about it. Someone took this great picture of us and I'm embarassed to admit I still get little butterflies when I look at it! Who knew I had such a silly little fangirl hiding inside me??



Ok, here's the last one for tonight. This is a picture of Jim Butcher signing a book for a fan in between the two UF panels (he was on both). He was very funny on the panel but very quiet when I had him sign my book at the book fair. That might have had something to do with the fact that the woman in front of me had him sign 25 books (no, I'm not kidding), so I'm not holding it against him. :)


His wife, Shannon K. Butcher, was also at the convention. I bought her book at the book fair. The Butchers' room was on the same floor as mine and we were all on the elevator together one night. They got off ahead of me and began to walk down the corridor, Shannon with her arm linked in Jim's. I thought that was very sweet to begin with. As they were walking, Shannon's purse slipped down her shoulder (on Jim's side) and she couldn't quite get it to stay. Jim carefully extracted his arm from hers, took her purse from her, transferred it to his other hand, and then put his arm back around her. It was lovely. I don't know too many guys who would walk around carrying their wife's purse to keep it from getting in the way of them holding each other. This was pretty late in the week and I was getting pretty tired of being around so many strangers and so much noise and I was missing my husband. To see such a sincere, caring gesture pass between them was like a little oasis.

Well, that's enough of my babbling for tonight, but we're not done yet! I have a few more panel pictures, a few more stories and lots of writing information still to post.