It's Not The Heat -

It's the humidity. Yep. I'm back in the City of Brotherly Love. It's 91 degrees F here tonight and it's stifling. I was in Reno for the RWA conference last week and the weather was in the 90's there, also. But it was surprisingly pleasant.

I began my Reno adventure last Tuesday night. I finished packing two suitcases, a backpack and my laptop case and thought it might be a good idea to confirm my flight for Wednesday morning. So, I pop on to the airline website and discover that while I am booked on the flight, I don't have a seat, and all that is available is the dreaded middle seat. Oh-my-God! I was freaking out. 5 hours to Vegas in the middle seat. No way. The only option available to me was to upgrade to first class for a fee. It wasn't cheap. But my darling hubby felt I should go ahead and buy the upgrade. Isn't he great?

Let me tell you first class is the way to go. If you ever have the opportunity - take it. It was wonderful.

I actually met my first author in the Las Vegas airport. Melanie Jackson writes fantasy romance and she was super groovy. I don't even read fantasy and I bought her book at the literacy book signing.

Anyway I arrived in Reno on Wednesday afternoon. After collecting my bags, I headed out to catch the Hilton shuttle. It was me and like 100 of my closest RWA sisters. I figured it would take me close to an hour to even get on the bus, so I shared a cab with Erin from Phoenix. I checked into the hotel (it's not at all what I was expecting - think 1950's Vegas and The Godfather) and found my roommate, Sherice.

Sherice and I hit it off immediately. She is a fantastic person! We went down to the Passionate Ink party and met up with Sasha White and Sylvia Day. Then we went over to Johnny Rockets for burgers. Yum.

I met up with Sherice again at the literacy signing and we ran into Becca from Romance Divas forum. It's a huge event with tons of authors and the proceeds are donated to help national and local literacy organizations. It was total chaos. I couldn't even get close to Nora Roberts. I did get to meet Julie Elizabeth Leto. She lives in Tampa near where I went to high school. She was really friendly and encouraged me to join TARA when I get back to Florida.

Next we were off to the RWA Online party. I'm not a member of RWA Online, but Melissa the chapter president was gracious enough to let me stay. She even fed me. I chatted with Scott Eagan of the Greyhaus agency for a while and then headed off to bed. I had been up for almost 24 hours by that time and desperately needed my beauty rest.

Tune in tomorrow for the low-down on Thursday workshops and Diva sightings (including a VERY interesting slot tournament)!