Authors After Dark Aftermath
It's taken days to recover from the excitement and energy of Authors After Dark 2011 in Philly. I gotta say, that was some event. Even though I was a bit involved in the behind the scenes working, I was pleasantly surprised by the awesome welcome bags for every attendee and the incredible giveaways presented by groups throughout the convention. While I didn't win anything, I came away from the convention with many happy memories having met lots of wonderful readers and fab authors.
I had the opportunity to speak on 5 panels this year.
When the Ending Isn't HEA
This was my first panel of the convention and I sat in great company with Jae Lynne Davies, Jennifer Armintrout and Yvette Hines. My fellow authors gave me great insights on why their titles were or weren't happily ever afters. Many questions posed by the audience also gave me food for thought. It was interesting for me sitting on this panel because Hunting Kat doesn't have a HEA. While all the books in the Terra's Guardians series and Drowning Tides in Love's Immortal Pantheon V do.
eBook Authors
I had great fun on this panel discussing being an ebook author and how it might differ from the more traditional paper publishing route. It's the first panel I've presented alongside Robert C Roman and I loved meeting Jean Murray, Brynn Paulin, Crymsyn Hart and Melissa Schroeder.
One of the interesting points for me was learning from readers how many converted completely to eReaders and never bought paper books anymore.
Guess the Book bythe Sex Scene
Funniest panel ever! Props to Nicole Peeler for her masterful readings even under pressure of camera crew and raucous laughter. Carolyn Crane and Dakota Cassidy were fabulous. Seriously, I thought I was going to fall out of my chair several times as we read hot sex scenes from various books.
Details: Food and Clothing in Romance
Tilly Greene, RA Vaughn, Rita Sawyer, Jean Murray, Nancy Holzner, and Leanna Renee Hieber were wonderful panelists to join for this fun discussion on details in romance. Our audience joined in on this in a sort of round table discussion, sharing preferences and opinions, personal quirks and pet peeves.
Author Blog Fail
Great fun here with fellow panelists Robert C Roman and Theresa Meyers. Our discussion rambled through several points of view, from the author to the reader to the blogger reviewer and back again. It was a learning experience for us all, those with failed blogs and those with successful blogs looking to improve even more.
And then there was the Book Signing. Can I say [squee!] ?
This was by far the largest book signing I've been a part of and I have to thank the wonderful readers/authors/bloggers who stopped by and asked for my signature and bought my books.
Many people came out of that looking extremely happy. 
Yes, there were a lot of unfortunate issues throughout the convention due to last minute rescheduling and SNAFUs by the hotel.
I have a lot of admiration and warm fuzzies for the people who took away the positive aspects from the convention experience. Personally, I took away some incredible memories in addition to the lessons learned on the panels.
The Mythos Masquerade was a beautiful night and I loved all the gorgeous outfits everyone put together. The Steam Ball took a step off the main stream and provided a chance for attendees to experience steampunk in a fun way.
And of course, I do love the chance to dress for the occassion. 
Considering the enthusiasm and big plans many shared regarding their outfits for both balls in the weeks before AAD, Stella had the forethought to get a professional photographer for both evenings. The idea was to be sure everyone had the chance to get a great picture of themselves in the outfits they'd worked so hard on for each evening.
All in all, huge thanks to the readers, authors, bloggers and industry people I met and made me feel welcome. I hope you all had a great time. I know I did.
And I've promised several people that I'd get back to writing like the wind. I'm on it.
