Saucy Tales From RWA 2013 Part Three
#3 The Case of Mistaken Genre
This happens to be one of my favorite tales coming to you from the pitch lineup prior to the appointment I had with an agent. (I was going to this one alone)
And just so you have the visual here’s one of the flash drives if you haven’t already seen it. I had my website address printed on and this is what I loaded my eBook on for the book signing. With the extras I put excerpts of my other books or my book videos on them. I LOVE them.
There I was standing with a group of women all excited about having the opportunity of sharing their stories with industry professionals, when one woman *waves to Susan* turns to look behind her. There were two women between me and Susan, but my clothes peg flash drives caught her attention and she leaned around these women and said, “Are those ever neat. Clothes pegs.” She pointed. “So do you write small town stories about the local laundry mat and local gossipy stuff?”
Me, *blink, blinking* because this kind of misinterpretation of the flash drives NEVER occurred to me. Scout’s honor. Therefore I was stuck thinking fast with most of the line now gathered around looking at the pegs I had clipped to my tag. At this point, I could have said a number of things, but the truth is always the least complicated. Maybe not the easiest route, but… “Absolutely not. I write exactly the polar opposite.” It was her turn to *blink, blink*, so I added, “I write erotic romance. Mostly BDSM romance.”
Susan didn’t miss a beat. Her face lit up and she practically shouted, “Nippy clamps! How clever!”
Okay, people, if you can image, I now had a whole pile of curious eyes drilling into the area of my chest as if I had no shirt on and I was currently doing a live demonstration. Beautiful! Meh, the whole experience turned out to be beneficial in the end, as I was totally relieved by the time they ushered us in for our appointments. I would have rather faced an agent or editor cold, then stand and answer questions about nipple clamps, that’s for sure. Not that I have anything against them, but I did mention that my daughter was with me, didn’t I? Thankfully, she wasn’t in line with me at the time, but I could hear her laughing her butt off from where she was seated off to the left. Once again, beautiful.
Points that I’ve pondered since being home and writing these posts?
NOTE: If you missed Saucy Tales one (click here) or two (click here)
A riding crop is a game changer on an evening out.
People don’t look like their photos so always ask them for their full name.
Christine Witthohn is made of awesome sauce, but she’s a stickler for rules and she won’t bend them even for me. True story *sigh* I must be losing my touch, but hey, this just makes me love her even more. I feel bad about that because it doesn’t bode well for her. My fixating on a person never pans out well for the fixate-ee. Just sayin’.
Christopher Keeslar listens to EVERYTHING. And, by that, I do mean everything. Freakin’ hell, I think he knew more about the hero we pitched him than we did. But, erm, don’t tell him I said so, okay? That might dampen the dazzle of our first joint pitch. Seriously, I know he was bedazzled because a person’s eyes don’t cross like that just out of the blue.
Rhonda Helms, well I already knew she was wonderful, having worked with her, but what I learned at RWA is that she’s also hilarious! Loved getting to meet her in person at the Passionate Ink party.
KL Grady is absolutely FAB! She’s also tiny. I mean, tiny as in I wanted to fit her into my pocket. Of course, this could spell trouble now that I know I’m bigger and taller than she is. Next edits I get from her where she says, “This isn’t going to work, you’ll need to revise, revise, revise, I may have to pull the height card on her.
Julia Brooks *waves at my twitter buddy* was much younger than I thought she was. Swear. And she looked like Rose from Two and a Half men. I lub Rose and I loved meeting Julia too!
A big shout out to Cristal Ryder! She came by to see me at the Indie book signing and it was so nice to finally meet her!
C.L Wilson? Ah, can you say, FAN CRUSH! I spent Friday afternoon chatting with her and we made some plans. >:)
I could go on and on as I met so many great people! My favorite line of the conference? Well, this was from a new friend (who isn’t online yet – ugh!) who was nervous about her editor appointment. We sat together at lunch and I gave her the old Murphy pep-talk which basically consisted of – be yourself. Seriously this gal was funny and when I heard her pitch she was trying hard not to be. Anyways, I suggested she loosen up a little and have some fun. After all, editors are people too…sort of. So in the late afternoon when we all met up in the bar to share our pitch stories I about fell out of my chair when my new friend says, “Riley you were so right about lightening up. I told the editor I had a wonderful romantic suspense that had absolutely no sex in it. When the young woman did a double take I added. Oh, not that I don’t like sex. I do. In fact I love it. I just can’t write it. Never had the knack for penning the kink.” And she was serious. I LMAO!
Okay, confession time. Cathy Maxwell made me cry. She rocked her speech and I left that ballroom thinking I could do anything!
Kristan Higgins rocked hers as well. So inspiring!
The last thing I can share with you about RWA 2013? The romance community is THE BEST! So many individuals striving with likeminded purpose. It was invigorating and exciting. I can’t wait to get back to the job of writing…and as to that? My “In The Works” will be updated shortly. One item will be added and another book will be moved from my 2013 lineup to spring of 2014. For those of you waiting for that one? Don’t hate me, okay?
Riley
This happens to be one of my favorite tales coming to you from the pitch lineup prior to the appointment I had with an agent. (I was going to this one alone)
And just so you have the visual here’s one of the flash drives if you haven’t already seen it. I had my website address printed on and this is what I loaded my eBook on for the book signing. With the extras I put excerpts of my other books or my book videos on them. I LOVE them.
There I was standing with a group of women all excited about having the opportunity of sharing their stories with industry professionals, when one woman *waves to Susan* turns to look behind her. There were two women between me and Susan, but my clothes peg flash drives caught her attention and she leaned around these women and said, “Are those ever neat. Clothes pegs.” She pointed. “So do you write small town stories about the local laundry mat and local gossipy stuff?”
Me, *blink, blinking* because this kind of misinterpretation of the flash drives NEVER occurred to me. Scout’s honor. Therefore I was stuck thinking fast with most of the line now gathered around looking at the pegs I had clipped to my tag. At this point, I could have said a number of things, but the truth is always the least complicated. Maybe not the easiest route, but… “Absolutely not. I write exactly the polar opposite.” It was her turn to *blink, blink*, so I added, “I write erotic romance. Mostly BDSM romance.”
Susan didn’t miss a beat. Her face lit up and she practically shouted, “Nippy clamps! How clever!”
Okay, people, if you can image, I now had a whole pile of curious eyes drilling into the area of my chest as if I had no shirt on and I was currently doing a live demonstration. Beautiful! Meh, the whole experience turned out to be beneficial in the end, as I was totally relieved by the time they ushered us in for our appointments. I would have rather faced an agent or editor cold, then stand and answer questions about nipple clamps, that’s for sure. Not that I have anything against them, but I did mention that my daughter was with me, didn’t I? Thankfully, she wasn’t in line with me at the time, but I could hear her laughing her butt off from where she was seated off to the left. Once again, beautiful.
Points that I’ve pondered since being home and writing these posts?
NOTE: If you missed Saucy Tales one (click here) or two (click here)
A riding crop is a game changer on an evening out.
People don’t look like their photos so always ask them for their full name.
Christine Witthohn is made of awesome sauce, but she’s a stickler for rules and she won’t bend them even for me. True story *sigh* I must be losing my touch, but hey, this just makes me love her even more. I feel bad about that because it doesn’t bode well for her. My fixating on a person never pans out well for the fixate-ee. Just sayin’.
Christopher Keeslar listens to EVERYTHING. And, by that, I do mean everything. Freakin’ hell, I think he knew more about the hero we pitched him than we did. But, erm, don’t tell him I said so, okay? That might dampen the dazzle of our first joint pitch. Seriously, I know he was bedazzled because a person’s eyes don’t cross like that just out of the blue.
Rhonda Helms, well I already knew she was wonderful, having worked with her, but what I learned at RWA is that she’s also hilarious! Loved getting to meet her in person at the Passionate Ink party.
KL Grady is absolutely FAB! She’s also tiny. I mean, tiny as in I wanted to fit her into my pocket. Of course, this could spell trouble now that I know I’m bigger and taller than she is. Next edits I get from her where she says, “This isn’t going to work, you’ll need to revise, revise, revise, I may have to pull the height card on her.
Julia Brooks *waves at my twitter buddy* was much younger than I thought she was. Swear. And she looked like Rose from Two and a Half men. I lub Rose and I loved meeting Julia too!
A big shout out to Cristal Ryder! She came by to see me at the Indie book signing and it was so nice to finally meet her!
C.L Wilson? Ah, can you say, FAN CRUSH! I spent Friday afternoon chatting with her and we made some plans. >:)
I could go on and on as I met so many great people! My favorite line of the conference? Well, this was from a new friend (who isn’t online yet – ugh!) who was nervous about her editor appointment. We sat together at lunch and I gave her the old Murphy pep-talk which basically consisted of – be yourself. Seriously this gal was funny and when I heard her pitch she was trying hard not to be. Anyways, I suggested she loosen up a little and have some fun. After all, editors are people too…sort of.
So in the late afternoon when we all met up in the bar to share our pitch stories I about fell out of my chair when my new friend says, “Riley you were so right about lightening up. I told the editor I had a wonderful romantic suspense that had absolutely no sex in it. When the young woman did a double take I added. Oh, not that I don’t like sex. I do. In fact I love it. I just can’t write it. Never had the knack for penning the kink.” And she was serious. I LMAO!Okay, confession time. Cathy Maxwell made me cry. She rocked her speech and I left that ballroom thinking I could do anything!
Kristan Higgins rocked hers as well. So inspiring!
The last thing I can share with you about RWA 2013? The romance community is THE BEST! So many individuals striving with likeminded purpose. It was invigorating and exciting. I can’t wait to get back to the job of writing…and as to that? My “In The Works” will be updated shortly. One item will be added and another book will be moved from my 2013 lineup to spring of 2014. For those of you waiting for that one? Don’t hate me, okay?
Riley
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