Julie Anne Long

The RWA Conference: highlights, and a pictorial of sorts. Also: Vote for your favorite JAL title at AAR!

Hello, darlings. How are things?? I'm still giddy and hoarse, a result of being conference-lagged (a term I've newly coined). And by that I mean...well, as you might have guessed from the big, shiny photos of the unusually well-groomed authors below, I've just returned from the San Francisco RWA conference. Well, I say "just returned," but it was just downtown—it's not like I needed a passport to get there or anything, just a $1.50 for MUNI or a twenty for cab fare. But the conference is always like spending a week on another planet populated entirely by women, every single one of us wearing brand new shoes, every single one of us sporting about five flaming blisters a piece by the end of the week. This is a quick and incomplete pictorial of events, so far mostly courtesy of my buddy and Rita nominee Toni Blake, who has developed the highly useful habit of always having a camera. 

Highlights were my incomparable agent Steve Axelrod's 25th Anniversary cocktail party, where I had a wonderful time talking to (but like a nimrod, did not have anyone take photos of me grinning with) some of my all-time favorite authors, including Jayne Anne Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Julia Quinn and Christine Feehan; the Literacy Signing, where I met Diana! Our dear blogger friend Diana!! Yay!! (see the photo below of the two of us laughing hard -- you can see my molars and right up my nostrils); the presentation I did with Agent Steve on Thursday on Why Publishing is Making You Crazy—and What You Can Do About it, which was, according to feedback, both fun and a roaring success, much to our immense, immense relief; drinking margaritas and chowing on empanadas at the cocktail party introducing the new Avon website (it's going to rock), and trading fashion tips, admiring the polished toenails of, and exchanging body hair removal advice with the Avon/HarperCollins girls Julie Blattberg and Rachel (and we also, of course brainstormed brilliantly about how to sell millions of books); the fabulous lunch at Chez Papa Resto with a very entertaining group of authors hostessed by my charming and hilarious editor May Chen (after I first accidentally lead 12 some-odd authors in precisely the opposite direction of the restaurant for a few minutes); the Avon dinner at the Mandarin Hotel, which was delicious and lively and classy, a very generous evening, indeed, and where I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and chatting with Kerrelyn Sparks (on my left, and who was a bit alarmed at how fast this San Francisco girl talks) and local TV producer (KRON-4) Stacy Tiffin, who is a lot of fun and well-informed on a variety of very useful topics, including local media, movies, and Facebook games; meeting and hanging out with the lovely and very sharp and fun Kim Castillo, who is truly an Author's Best Friend; getting to see and hang out again with the always-foxy and hilarious Megan Crane, Michelle Rowen, Liza Palmer, Candice Hern, and many of my other author friends; and the Ritas!!

Toni was nominated for a Rita for her fabulous book Tempt Me Tonight! We sat in the front row of the auditorium during the ceremony, shivering from anticipation and aggressive air conditioning. Everyone looked GORGEOUS. She didn't take home a Rita, but now she joins the very esteemed ranks of those of us who have been nominated and who have departed the award auditorium sans statuettes. It's an exclusive club. :) (and a foxy one.)

Below we have a couple of photos of 1 and 2) me and Toni on Rita night; 3) a photo of me and Julianne Maclean at the Avon dinner (anyone with a "julie" in their name rocks, as far as I'm concerned); 4) me and Diana at the Literacy signing; 5) the funny and delightful Anna Campbell, Jenna Petersen, and me at the Avon dinner, taken by Sophia Nash (also funny and delightful, and in the throes of revisions during the conference); 6)  Toni, me, two-time Golden heart winner Jackie Floyd and Lindsey Faber, the producer of the marvelously hilarious Rita Trash Talk video, on Rita night. I'll post more photos as they show up in my inbox. :)

And last but definitely not least: All About Romance tells me they're featuring me in their annual Favorite Books by Favorite Authors poll! Isn't that lovely? What an honor! Eleven other authors are part of it. I have to tell you, I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be included in a poll with the likes of Jayne Anne Krentz. Click here

<="link)<" romance="Romance">to vote for your favorite book written by moi up until August 15th.

Most importantly: How are you all???

Bread Worship and Party-Crashing: a pictorial journey of the conference

As promised (or threatened?) here's a cavalcade of photos from the conference, all courtesy of the marvelous Michelle Rowen.  Shall we begin?

This is me, Liza Palmer, Megan Crane and Susan Crandall camped out at the hotel's Atrium Express, home of the famous Yogurt Parfait (you can see mine melting in a cup on the table there. I ate about a dozen of them while I was there.) From all the paper on the table, you might think we were working. Actually, moments before, I think we were discussing euphemisms for male genitalia. For a romance author, this is tantamount to working. I love the look on Liza's face. Like she's never seen a camera before, and is purely astonished to have one pointed at her.

Here's moi at the Warner signing, poised for the crowd waiting outside, my entire published body of work  in front of me. This photo is noteworthy in that my hair actually looks tidy.

Here's me, Michelle Rowen, Warner 5 Spot Publicist Ellie Weisenberg, and Karen Rose at the Warner dinner at Morton's of Chicago. As you can see, I'm already buckling with laughter, and we are clearly primed to misbehave. It only got worse from there. Next, we'll be worshipping the bread.

  What did I tell you? Bread worship. Well, it was either worship, or we were trying to establish communication with it. I can't recall precisely now. Anyway, the bread at the dinner was glossy and bright orange and big and round, like a brain. A brain on Star Trek, that is. This is Megan Crane and Liza Palmer consulting the bread. I don't know whose fingers those are. They don't quite look like mine, but I did have a pale pink manicure, so I wouldn't rule it out.

More Warner dinner photos, and as you can see, we did manage to tear into the bread, its brainlike appearance notwithstanding. From top left, we have Emily Hixon from Levy Home Entertainment (we love her), Megan Crane, Liza Palmer, and me cheek-to-cheek with Ellie Weisenberg.

Me and Megan Crane outside of Morton's of Chicago, right before we all headed to the Harlequin party, to which we were all invited via engraved invitations. (Ahem.)

At the Ritz, at the piano, at the Harlequin party. That's Toni Blake and Stephanie Rowe in the back, and me and Robin Popp in the front. We took requests from customers all night and jammed into the wee hours of the—well, no, we didn't, but  wouldn't that have made a good story? I like how you can see our reflections in the piano.

I'll add more photos later, if I get some fun ones!

EARTHQUAKE!!! Well, just a little one. Plus: back from summer camp, er, the conference...

EEK! Just a moment ago we had a wee earthquake.  It began a little indecisively with a deep rumble, as if a giant truck was rolling by. But of course, here in San Francisco it doesn't take much to arouse suspicions and instincts—especially since 1989, the year of the big one—and I just knew what was happening. Sure enough, a moment later, that rumble picked up momentum and gave the house a good shake. 

Ahem. Well, then. That little dose of adrenaline ought to get me through the night. It was only 4.4 on the Richter and centered in the North Bay, but boy, you really feel even the little ones in my neighborhood, which is built on what was once, a hundred years ago or so, beach. And now my cat is slinking from room to room with  his belly low to the ground and peering under furniture as if in search of the culprit, and casting accusing looks at me over his (bald-ish) shoulders.

Ah, the conference. I swear, it's like summer camp, because it becomes t his little world where you see your friends all the time, which is kind of everyone's fantasy when you're in fifth grade, isn't it? It was in the elegant and wildly circular Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, which had those swift-moving see-through elevators (thank God the elevator floors weren't also glass, because I wore skirts a lot). Five days of talking and laughing myself hoarse and two to three hours of sleep per night in a hotel bed (because I can't bloody sleep in a hotel bed, and I was all keyed up, usually, like a three year old, half the time). Though, granted, it was better than the usual hotel bed and featured lots and lots of pillows of myriad sizes, all of which I used. I actually had two beds in my room, one for my suitcase and one for sleeping.  When I got home on Sunday it was like I had narcolepsy. I would sit down...and wake up a few minutes later with a start. I did that a couple of times, actually. And later that night I went to bed, apparently, because I woke up with my glasses on and the light on, but, I don't quite remember getting into bed. I think I've caught up on rest now.

Photos have begun showing up in my inbox from the conference, and I look at most of them, and I'm thinking... what is the matter with me? LOL. For instance, there's this photo of me, Toni Blake, Julianne Maclean, and Michelle Buonfiglio, and everyone looks all lovely and sweet and groomed—except for me, of course. I'm doing God knows what with my mouth, but it's shaped like a big rectangle, like I'm growling.  Candice Hern took it. I'm always the one making a face, or closing my eyes, or scratching, or something, in photos. Up above is a halfway decent one of me and Toni, my date for the Ritas (I didn't win!! Not a damn thing!! But the ceremony was glorious, and everyone looked beautiful.) To the right is a photo reader Pamela Eva took when she stopped by to meet me at the Literacy Conference.  Isn't she cute? Anyway, I'll share the good ones with you. :) Or at least the non-humiliating ones.

The Warner dinner was a blast and we were rather rambunctious and possibly, um, vulgar, but it's hard to be otherwise when you're sitting with Michelle Rowen, Megan Crane, and Liza Palmer.  Once again, I had salmon. I think I'll make that my yearly conference tradition, if possible.

For now, kittens, nighty night, and don't forget to take a peek at the excerpt from WAYS TO BE WICKED I just put up on my website. :)