A Funny Thing Happened at RWA in Washington, DC

A funny thing happened on the way to the RITA/Golden Heart awards ceremony here in Washington, DC: Exhaustion. I did not attend the awards even though, in my opinion, hostess Anne Stuart is one of the funniest people on the planet--maybe in the entire galaxy. I met other RWA conference attendees who said they weren't going either. So that got me wondering what if… We did the awards on the first evening? Would winners glow longer? Would runners up sob longer?

And what if the Literacy signing were on Saturday night--in place of the awards ceremony? Would that improve local attendance or not? Just a thought on this Sunday morning after a full and tiring week--mostly spent networking.

I really like the idea of having the Annual General Meeting (AGM) mid-morning on day one. Did I attend? No, because I was too busy networking with old friends (Daisy, Alfie, Delores) and meeting new ones (Pat, Karen, Joann and Carla to name a few) while smoking in one of the few places the hotel allows smoking.

Regarding the AGM, I haven't heard much except that the Board is taking e-publishing matters under advisement--again. And they're working on the RITA and Golden Heart rules. Again.

Interesting that no matter how the print-published (read NYC) try to distance themselves from the e-published (read beyond cutting-edge) technology prevailed in the gifts given to selected volunteers and luncheons attendees: E-Readers!

Speaking of volunteers: My personal thanks to all of you who gave me directions as to where to go and brought me lots of water during the Literacy signing. Your warm smiles really made my evening. And a special thanks to Passionate Ink for recovering my cellphone and making sure I got it. Maybe next year I'll actually win a Passionate Plume Award. Thanks for this year's nomination and the great party!