I’m going to RT. Whew. It gives me a butterfly or two. You see, I’ve never been to a writer’s conference of any kind. Of course, I’ve only officially been a novelist for a few months, since my first book, Genetic Attraction, a M/M/F menage, came out from Loose Id in January. 
It’s funny to say I’m a convention virgin, because I literally made a living doing presentations for conventions and trade shows for many years right out of college. I started out standing up in front of crowds with a microphone extolling the virtues of some new computer system and, in later years as a PR person, dragged the poor members of the press into my client’s booth for interviews. But RT will all be new. Just getting ready for this conference, however, I’ve already learned a bunch of important facts:
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It’s all about the bar –If all the people who say they are going to meet me in the bar meet me in the bar, there will be no one left in the sessions.
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Swag R Us — At my first trade show years ago I was dressed as a rabbit, a singing and dancing one, and I ran around between performances collecting candy –it was the National Confectioners Association. At RT, we writers are the candy givers. I now have a stack of postcards, magnets, little mirror compacts and such to hand out. It should be fun.
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  Build the Back List, baby – At RT, I’ll be in the less than ideal position of having only one ebook available. My next release isn’t until May, then June and beyond. Under ordinary circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have picked RT for my first conference, but it’s in my backyard so I couldn’t resist. I realize with some delight that by this time next year I should have seven or eight books in the backlist including a few in print.
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Workshopaholics Anonymous – I adore workshops. It’s how I trained myself to be a novel writer after a lifetime writing nonfiction. At RT, I will go crazy because at any given half hour there are multiple events I want to attend. And, of course, there’s the bar!
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Ready for the Pitch – There are so many great opportunities to pitch publishers and agents at RT, I wish I had a manuscript to present. All my work this year, however, is spoken for and I’m not complaining. It’s a great problem to have.
I’m looking forward to the Conference and will be reporting back during the week with details as i learn lots more things. I’ll be signing at the ebook Fair on Friday afternoon, so come see me there. Anything you know i shouldn’t miss? Leave me a comment.  :  )