Romancing the Capital 2016 – the Truth Behind All the Smiles #RTC2016
Romance is indeed alive and well in Ottawa, Canada, home of one of the world’s hottest politicians. Uh-huh, you know who I mean! Here’s a little reminder should you need one.
So, with a prime minister who looks like this, Canadian romance writers are bound to be getting a few ideas. And they certainly didn’t disappoint. This was my second year attending the Romancing the Capital conference. Last year, I attended as a reader, but this year, I snagged one of 50 coveted spots for authors. I arrived in Ottawa on Thursday evening and met my roommates: Angie, Charlotte and Tricia (she’s an author too). These ladies quickly made me one of their own and the insanity began! After drinks at the bar, we watched the hockey game that would not end (Sharks vs Predators). I mean, seriously? 3 periods of overtime? Really? Didn’t they know we had to get up early?!
Friday began with a 9:00 am panel called The Many Shades of LGBT Romance with Nathan Burgoine, Angela Stone, Kayleigh Malcom, Elizabeth Lister, and myself. We covered a lot of ground discussing our works and answering questions from the audience regarding publishing, self-publishing, and our favorite and least favorite tropes. We also talked about the gay-for-you trope, which happens to be one of my favorites, but it also often done in a way that is, shall we say, a bit unbelievable. We discussed bisexuality and how it is often under-represented in LGBTQ romances. I talked about how Hollywood, one of the heroes in Lover on Top is bisexual, and that it’s this very bisexuality that kept him from really understanding the duality of his desires. Kayleigh and Angela both talked about some of their stories, which include menage and some F/F.
Following the panel, I attended Angela Stone’s The Science of Sex workshop. I think this was one of the most informative workshops I’ve ever attended. In her other life, Angela is a registered nurse who specializes in sexual education for teens and adults with disabilities and, if I recall correctly, she also works with people in the LGBTQ community. Angela opened the discussion by quickly setting everyone at ease and handing out sex toys to anyone who asked a question. Seconds later, all hands were up! I asked a question about whether women with spinal cord injuries could achieve orgasm and what were the best positions for them. Anyone know why I asked this question? Think of the characters in my Deadly Vices series. Yes, some day I will write her story. My gift for asking a question: this awesome vibrator. Yes, of course, it’s for RESEARCH!
Next, I attended the 50 Shades of Fun workshop, hosted by Opal Crew and Sharon Page, where we played games with a cowboy, a biker, a private investigator, and a doctor. Meet our heroes! We sure tied that private dic up tight! I’m thinking we had an ex-sailor or two in our group.
I had a ton of fun at this workshop and looked like a perfect fool doing so, as can be seen in these photos. The first photo is from a game where the hosts called out pirate, damsel, or vampire. For each, we had some action to do and something to say. Can you guess what’s happening in this shot of me and Angela Stone? I made it to the last four, at which point they stopped the game because the other two ladies knocked each other to the floor in their enthusiasm. We all got a prize. 
The second photo is a game like “musical chairs” but instead, when the music stops, we had to touch one of our heroes.
Afterward, I was up for more fun and games, so I went to Cynthia St. Aubin and Shana Gray’s Perfectly Perverted workshop. Here, we played games that involved hitting things with our balls, penetrating each other’s toilet paper rolls with a plunger (get your minds out of the gutter!) and popping unpoppable balloons with our asses. Sadly, the balloon won. On the bright side, I won one of Cynthia’s books, so all’s well that ends well.
Finally, I went to Susan Stoker’s Test Your Military Knowledge workshop. Being the daughter of a Canadian Forces officer and having lived in the US for many years, I thought that I could beat this game. Oh yeah. Well… Susan is a mean one. With her best-friend Google, she found questions that only the most savvy military fanatic could answer. “How many full generals are there in Canada?” We guessed nine. Good answer, right? Fuck no. There’s one. Yeah. One. LOL! Susan was a good sport though and made sure everyone got a prize. (Yay! Participation.) I got one of her books, so I’m stoked! (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
That evening was the Cowboys night. I didn’t do costumes, but my fab roommates did!
After dinner and dancing, we returned to our room, where with the help of my roommates, I selected about 50 BDSM and erotic words for my lucky peeps to draw on small whiteboards at 9:00 in the morning. ‘Cause nothing says fun like trying to draw blow job at the ass crack of dawn!
The next morning after a half cup of coffee, I went to my own workshop Whip Up a Picture. Here I am talking about my books with these fabulous people who came to my workshop. Some had read my books before and some were knew. I think a few might have even been shocked. That was fun.
Jeez, I even look like a teacher! LOL Tricia helped me moderate because we split peeps up into two groups so everyone had a chance to draw.
We had a ball! I handed out T-shirts and charm bookmarks to the six attendees with the dirtiest minds. And one person, Dania, won my Six-Alarm Sexy basket.
Can you guess what Chris (second photo) is trying to draw?
Following my workshop, I dashed off to Kali Willows and Kacey Hammell’s Author Speed Dating event. Now this was some serious reader-author face time! The authors sat at chairs in a U-shape, while readers sat across a table from us. Every two minutes, the readers moved one seat down. We were 25 authors and 50 or so readers. Let me tell you something, two minutes is REALLY short! I was lucky to be sitting at one end of the U, so I only had one author beside me, the wonderful ‘Nathan Burgoine. Every now and then, he’d shout, “Welcome to the gay table!” It was awesome. At the end, a ton of baskets were handed out, including my romantic suspense basket.
After a quick lunch of Hawaiian pizza, I went down to the ballroom to set up for the big book signing! I always look like a goon in these photos. Goon or not, I had copies of this very pretty print version of Aftershocks to hand out (for free) to my visitors. If you come see me at my next signing, maybe you’ll get one too! That gorgeous banner beside me is Kayleigh Malcom’s. Just seeing it makes me want to read her books. Yummy!
After all that work, it was time to relax with an 80s and prom night dinner and dancing. The photo at the top of this post is one we took there. The hosting authors provided this really fun “photo booth” that produced some really great images. The first is me and Kali Willows, followed by Eve Langlais (the crazy organizer of this mad-cap event) with her minion, and Tricia with the blues brothers. To see even more photos (and find your favorite authors), check out the RTC2016 pics page: http://orc.evelanglais.com/wordpress/rtc2016-pics/
All in all, this was a fabulous event for readers and authors. Giving in to much pressure from all the happy attendees, Eve has agreed to host RTC again next year (2017) in August, this time. I can’t wait!!
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