A wild time in New Orleans

Wow – what a week it’s been.

Along with some fellow authors from Choc Lit, I’ve been in New Orleans for the Romantic Times Booklovers convention.

Something in the vicinity of 3,000 readers and authors and librarians and booksellers all in party mode – sorry, I meant to say all working very hard.

On arrival at the hotel and convention centre – it wasn’t hard to figure out there was something afoot…

But just in case I wasn’t looking at the room key….

But it wasn’t all about a handsome hero.

There were talks and workshops and author signings…  I led a workshop on interview techniques for radio and television.

Choc Lit treated our US friends to an English High tea – which was a lot of fun – but we were so busy I forgot to take any photos.

Of course – the event is all about books – and books there were – by the thousands. A lot of them free. Which brings me to swag – the freebies that everyone collected… There were books and pens and notepads and chocolates — did I mention the books. Because I had to think about luggage for the flight home, I was restrained – but there were some who brought empty suitcases which they will take home full of books.

There were also goodies that were not free – although equally as irresistible as the books.

Back to the books – and even more importantly – the readers, because that was what made the whole event such fun for me. There’s nothing an author likes more than to hear those four magic words – “I love your books.” That’s why we do this.

It was an exciting experience to be here for the convention – next year it’s in Dallas Texas – and being somewhat fond of cowboys, I may just wander over this side of the pond again…

Despite how busy I was at the convention – there was some time to explore New Orleans…  which really does live up to its reputation.

More about that next week.