Isabelle Drake

Okay, I exaggerated. RT wasn't all surprises. Thursday there was only one surprise. Except that the EC lunch location was moved, then moved again. Lucky for me I ran into some other people on their way there, so I just ducked in. The lunch was wonderful and EC gave us all gorgeous fleece blankets with the EC logo. Very nice. After the lunch I sent to a couple talks about graphic novels. Very interesting. I'm intrigued by them but haven't done much more than think "hmmm...interesting." After those talks, I went to the agent/editor panels. Most of that was the usual stuff. One thing that did stand out to me was the intense interest in Steam Punk. Message: If you have a steam punk story tucked in a file somewhere GET IT OUT there. Seems like pretty much all the editors are interested. RT ended for me on Thursday as I received the final surprise. Bronchitis. Yuck. And so not fair. My mom, who is awesome, drove me home and put me to bed. RT in LA next year will...

Pretty much everything about this year's RT Booklovers Convention was a surprise. First off, I hadn't planned on going, but thanks to a last minute twist of fate I found myself on the registration list and off shopping for a red dress for the EC party on Wed. That was exciting and fun, but I didn't find a dress. My sister did though, while she was shopping for a dress for her daughter's graduation, so that was great. Because I live in Michigan and RT was in Columbus I drove. My mom came with me; she's also a writer and always happy to go to a different city and see what's going on there. We followed a google map--which is always a bit iffy--and found ourselves weaving through a really weird place outside of Columbus. The sights were interesting (lots of confusing streets and oddly placed stores) but the roads were in really bad condition. I dodged the pot holes as best as I could but eventually one got the best of us and bamm! Flat tire. I pulled over in...