By the time Saturday rolled around, conference fatigue had descended upon me. Between the strange bed and missing my cuddly little dog, I hadn’t slept well three nights in a row. Throw in that four nights away from home is about my max — even for trips to the beach with Toodles by my side — and I was ready to go home. But I’d put too much effort into my costume to leave before the masquerade ball, so I stayed.

Over breakfast, Tali and I shared reactions to our first GayRomLit, discussed various aspects of the business of writing, and traded secrets about our salad days. She was a good friend before we had the chance to meet. GayRomLit sealed the deal.

Since running into her Thursday morning, I’d been hanging out a lot with Charlie Cochet, her three roommates (Melanie, Barb, and Angela), and Jane — a visitor from Australia. These delightful women are huge fans of the m-m romance genre. I really enjoyed meeting them and listening in on their conversations about what they like and don’t like in a story.

Mostly, we ate. I couldn’t tell you the names of the restaurants. Memory is the first thing to go, and I really wasn’t paying much attention. They were within walking distance of the hotel and, in terms of cuisine, leaned heavily Southern. From the fried green tomato sandwich to the fried chicken livers with gravy, collard greens, and potato cakes, the food was really good everywhere we went.

I skipped out on the afternoon sessions to watch Vanderbilt stomp my Dawgs. Then I hooked up with Charlie’s angels again for dinner, which took so long we had to rush back to the hotel to prepare for the masquerade ball.

Charlie donned flapper attire and I dressed up as a 90s bodice-ripper cover model (think Fabio). Some said I looked more like Johnny Depp’s Captain Sparrow. Whatever. Here we’re posing for the cover of the pirate/flapper story we’re working on together.

Meeting and spending time with Shira Anthony was another highpoint of the conference. She’s a frequent guest here, and is another writer I’ve developed an email/Facebook/Twitter relationship with over the last fifteen months. Y’all, I ain’t lying. It was love at first sight. I like her a lot, too.

😀

My first GayRomLit was a great experience. The events were fun, with numerous opportunities for readers to interact with the featured and supported authors. I learned plenty about how these events work, and best of all, got to meet a lot of really nice people.

If you ask me, “Attend GayRomLit” should be on the bucket list of every woman. Because as they say, the only straight women who don’t read gay romances, haven’t.