The Chronicles of an RT Virgin Day 3 by Leslie Soule

 Day Three: YA, FBI, Faery Ball

At the start of day three of the convention, I was already feeling a bit exhausted from the whirlwind of events that is the RT convention. 

Since I am a YA Fantasy author, I looked at the RT brochure and was intrigued by a workshop titled “Young Adult: Pretty In Pink: Girl Power, Feminism, and the YA Revolution”. The workshop featured a great panel of authors, and I took copious notes. During the course of the workshop, I was reminded that it is writers who steer the course of public discourse regarding social issues. The next workshop I attended was called “How to Create the Ultimate Female FBI Agent” and afterwards, I felt a strong compulsion to write an FBI/crime novel. However, the entirety of my knowledge on the subject comes from what I learned in the seminar. So I decided to put that idea on the back-burner for now. It was well past noon when the workshop ended, and I felt the pangs of hunger. I called my friend Colleen and we met up for lunch. Soon we were joined by Heather Bennett of Decadent Publishing. Shortly thereafter, Colleen and I spotted fellow Decadent author Robert C. Roman, and welcomed him to our table. Lunch came and went, and it became time to go to the RT Book Reviews Awards Ceremony. After the ceremony, we were each given a bag full of books.

I went up to my room, to change into something vaguely Victorian and to get ready for the Steampunk tea. My day had already been filled with activity, but the main event was yet to come – the Venetian Masquerade Faery Ball. 

To my surprise and enjoyment, I found that my fellow Decadent author Deanna Wadsworth had dressed up as the Beer Fairy, complete with hat of beer boxes, yellow wings, and a tool belt of shot glasses and Bud Light. Another of my fellow authors, Robert C. Roman, dressed up as a Redcap, with edible blood all over his hat – he assured me that it was a tasty mix of cinnamon, corn syrup, chili pepper, and food dye. So of course, I had to taste it, and it was yummy! There was a contest for best costume – and everyone lost to a hot guy holding a puppy with little fairy wings. 

With half of the week over and gone, and the other half still yet to come, I began to reflect on my overall impressions of the RT Convention. It had been a crazy whirlwind of an event – chaotic, insanely fun, and from what I’ve seen and experienced, well-worth attending.

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