The Chronicles of an RT Virgin Day 2 by Leslile Soule

Day Two: Books & Bollywood

At 9AM, my roommate and I were able to sign in at registration. We were handed our RT convention passes, along with cards for book bags and the Book Room. The Book Room is a room that you can walk around in, with books piled high on the tables. Participants in the convention get to walk into the room and select a designated number of books to take with them and keep. I was surprised to learn that this year, participants were allowed to select nine books from this room. Then, we went to the seminar for RT virgins, hosted by Amanda McIntyre and Sahara Kelly. Our hosts managed to make this presentation both lively and entertaining, which is a feat. If I was hosting the RT Virgins seminar, it would have been a complete snoozefest.

After the seminar, the workshops and seminars began, and we were free to pick and choose which ones we wanted to attend (the RT Virgins seminar wasn’t required, but was definitely helpful). We attended a “Western Reader Roundup” in which we got to meet a whole table of friendly authors, who autographed free books for us. There was also line dancing, and I think I did alright at it. Not knowing any line dancing prior, I was a bit nervous. The dance leader informed me that we would be doing “kicks” and this delighted me, since I’m a martial artist. A little voice within said “Yes – kicks! I can do kicks!”

Then we went to a pirate workshop, held by three pirates, one of which was our own Maureen O. Betita from Decadent Publishing. Upon entering, a free book was on my chair, waiting for me. Argh! Free booty! This workshop was great – we had to come up with our own pirate and ship names. The girl sitting next to me was “Stink Eye” the pirate. I nearly died laughing.

I met up with my friend Colleen, and together we went grocery shopping, to by supplies for the Decadent Publishing author party. This party was one of the big highlights of my trip, since I finally got to meet so many authors who I’d only known by name or author photo before. The night ended with the Ellora’s Cave Bollywood party. 

The saris that attendants wore were gorgeous. The ballroom was decorated beautifully and I was delighted to find a hip scarf and finger cymbals waiting for me. I watched the Bollywood dancers and was reminded of the time I’d spent in India about five years ago. 

Day two of RT was amazing, and though I was thoroughly exhausted, I definitely looked forward to more positive experiences that would be sure to come with day three.