This is really just a post to let you know where I'll be tomorrow through Saturday, if you need to find me: at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, for the 27th Annual National Conference of the Romance Writers of America. You must respect the list of conference sponsors alone: Random House, William Morrow, Avon and, of course, Harlequin, without whom this probably wouldn't be possible. Me, I'm going to pitch my latest novel, Sugar Daddy -- well, that was the title, till keynote speaker Lisa Kleypas stole it from me. Her book's better anyway: "Every time Gage Travis looked at me, you could tell he wanted to tear me limb from limb. Not in a fury, but in a process of slow and methodical dismemberment."
Lest you think I'm making fun of this, just hang on. What was it Dave Pollard called the genre and its caretakers? Ah, yes -- "an important force in the liberation of women." So there. The shindig kicks off tomorrow night from 5:30 to 7:30, with the “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing session in the Hyatt Regency hotel. It sounds like a potential ripped-bodice throwdown, with more than 450 romance writers jammed into the hotel to sign books for dough, with the money going to various literacy charities -- nice, no joke. Says the RWA, it's raised about $500,000 since it started doing this, so, Mom, bring your checkbook. Oh, and they'll be blogging so we don't have to, which doesn't mean we won't. --Robert Wilonsky
