244. Sleepy Bitches Talk RT: Our Advice for 2017 Romantic Times Convention

[music]

Sarah Wendell: Hello, and welcome to episode number 244 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. I’m Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. With me today are all the Bitches! This is Sleepy Bitches Talk RT. Amanda, Carrie, Elyse, Redheadedgirl, and I sit down to talk about Romantic Times, which is coming up next week. We talk about how to make your RT experience the best it can be, how to manage if you’re a first-timer, what to wear, how to plan your agenda, and we also talk about what we’re doing at RT this year. We talk about what we’re looking forward to, and of course we talk a little bit about what we’re reading.

I have a whole bunch of things to tell you about in this intro, so don’t skip ahead ‘cause there’re cool things. You ready for cool things? Okay, cool thing the first: compliments! Yay!

Jennifer S.: Everything you do, big and small, makes the world a little bit better every day.

And Deborah S.: You have figured out some essential parts of who you are, and you are pretty much unstoppable.

Now, if you would like to support the show or have yourself a handcrafted, locally sourced, and deeply heartfelt compliment, head over to smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast or patreon.com/SmartBitches.

And now, in the middle of this intro – [CLONK] – we have – [CLONK] – who’s knocking things over on my desk? Oh, it’s Orville! Orville’s here for giant gut cat flopping and helping me with the intro. I know you’re very excited about all this extra noise, dude. Really appreciate it. Can’t record without cats, right?

Now, speaking of recording without cats, which is going to make Orville a very sad man, there is a live show at RT, and I’m so excited about it! We are doing a live recording of the podcast at RT. This is my first time doing a live show, and it would not have been possible without all of you excellent people being so enthusiastic and for those who have also supported the Patreon campaign. That helped a lot too, ‘cause I have all this really cool equipment, and I hope I use it correctly! Now if you want to come, I hope you will come. You have to be registered for RT. The area is in a part of the hotel that’s only accessible if you’re registered for RT, but if you want to come, awesome! There is an RSVP link in the podcast show notes at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast! I hope you’ll come!

And speaking of things that you can come to, we’re going to have an RT meet-up during RT, but this is open to whomever wants to roll up into the bar, ‘cause that’s where we’ll be! We’re going to be hanging out in the bar at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta on Wednesday night, May 3rd, at 8:30. There is also a link to all of the information about our casual yet slightly intoxicated drunk meet-up on Wednesday night, so you can have a look at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast, and there’s a link there too! Plus a little bit of RSVP. We do not have a limited number of spaces. Like, for the podcast recording I have a limited space, but for the meet-up, I just want to know how many people are coming so we know where to try to find a place to sit, ‘cause the bar’s crowded at RT. I don’t know if you knew this.

And we have links to all the things that we’re doing at RT as well, so if you’re going and you want to come meet us or hang out – I hope you do – I’ll have links to everything we’re doing.

This podcast is brought to you by Kensington. They would like you to know about an upcoming anthology: one wedding, four New York Times bestselling authors, and five Happily Ever Afters. Every woman loves a wedding story, and there’s nothing more appealing in early summer than four lighthearted tales of brides, men of honor, wedding crashers, and off-beat ways to tie the knot, all revolving around a Texas destination wedding. Stirring up all the romance and excitement a bride could hope for, plus a healthy dose of unforeseen shenanigans – that’s one of my favorite words – four of today’s most dazzling bestselling authors deliver the wedding of the year when there’s something and someone for everyone. Happy Is the Bride by Lori Wilde, Janet Dailey, Cat Johnson, and Kate Pearce is available now wherever books are sold and on kensingtonbooks.com.

And our transcript sponsor this month is The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell. This book is a story within a story within a story, with a pirate romance, a powerful love between two sisters, and a world that’s determined to hold them back. It is one of the most original, entertaining, and exciting and chilling novels you will read this year. Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Never Let You Go, says that it “…is a fascinating blend of genres that flows together seamlessly, creating the most original story I’ve read in a long time.” Partly narrated from the afterlife, this riveting suspense story manages to be both darkly comic and also surprisingly emotionally intense, dealing with complex family dynamics that can fester for years. The real love story is the one between the sisters and the bond that can’t be broken in any life. The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life is on sale now wherever books are sold.

Now I will have links to this book, to the anthology, and to all of the things that we discuss in this episode, plus I will have links to the music. If you’re curious, and I bet you knew this, our music is provided by Sassy Outwater. You can find her on Twitter @SassyOutwater, and I will have information at the end of the podcast and in the show notes as to who this is and how you can buy it for yourself!

But now, on to Sleepy Bitches Talk RT, and if you have questions about RT, please feel free to email us or ask them in the comments to this episode. And now, on with the podcast.

[music]

Sarah: Well, you have to listen to the episode of Friendshipping! from yesterday, because they’re answering a question about doing small things for friends who you know need, like, a little boost. So things that are free, things that cost a little bit money, things that only cost time, but in the middle they take this small detour into a very detailed discussion of Trin’s status as a duck baron in Stardew Valley –

[Laughter]

Sarah: – and how her, how her participation in Stardew Valley makes her think of being a better friend to her friends because she has a character, and they’re married, and they have a child, and then she’s also a duck baron, so there’re ducks, but that whole segment is, like, such Amanda catnip? You have to listen to it.

[Laughter]

Sarah: Just wait for the part –

Amanda: Stardew Valley is so good!

Sarah: Just wait for the part when she lists her duck names, and you will just understand why I’m telling you you should listen to this.

Amanda: All right.

Sarah: And their episodes are nice and short; it’s not like, oh, my God, it’s like an hour! Nah, it’s like, if you, if you listen to it on, like, 1.2, 1.3, it’s, like, thirty minutes. Okay, so –

Carrie: Yep!

Sarah: – this is real easy! People want to know what advice you have for RT in Atlanta, as opposed to Vegas or New Orleans. Atlanta, I think, is a little bit more manageable. So what first-timer advice do you have for people who’ve never gone before?

Redheadedgirl: Hydrate.

Sarah: Hydrate.

RHG: [Laughs] Hydrate!

Sarah: Bring a water bottle.

RHG: I mean, that’s general, general good life advice, but especially, you’re walking around, you’re talking to people, you’re walking around a lot, and it’s –

Sarah: Hotels are dry.

RHG: Hotels are dry. It’s, odds are it’s going to be warmer in Atlanta than wherever you are? So you want to hydrate.

Sarah: Very much so. Elyse, what advice do you have for first-timers?

Elyse: I guess wear comfortable shoes?

RHG: [Laughs]

Carrie: That’s my advice: comfortable shoes, absolutely.

Elyse: Yeah, like, don’t –

Carrie: A lot.

Elyse: – don’t – I think the first time I went, I dressed for, like, people seeing me, like, oh, I’m going to meet authors and stuff, and I should look good, and this year I’m like, yeah, fuck it, it’s yoga pants and TeeFury T-shirts the whole way. Be comfortable.

Carrie: Yeah, I think how you dress depends a lot on what you want to get out of RT, but the first year I went, I was super uptight and I didn’t dress like myself at all. I actually bought, like, all new clothes. It was like cosplaying as another person, and as a result, I was super uncomfortable –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Carrie: – and as a result, I did not make very many friends! Because they could, like, fake just, like, reeked off me. And then I went to the next RT, and I wore my TeeTurtle shirts and my jeans, and it turned out that there were plenty of other people who were into TeeTurtle shirts and jeans. Like, it just meant that I, like, found my people really quickly? It’s like we had our little people uniforms on. So I, you know, I would say, you know, barring, unless you’re trying to, like, score a professional meeting with an agent or something, you know, be who you are, dress in your most comfortable clothes, wear your most comfortable shoes, and don’t worry about impressing anybody. It’s a huge enough crowd that there are plenty of people like you, regardless of what you’re into or what your personality is like. You’ll make lots of friends. Just, just relax.

Elyse: Yeah, I mean, I see, like, a lot of people wearing really cool high heels and stuff, but then I’m like, how do you, how are still walking at the end of the day? I don’t know.

Sarah: Amanda, what about you? What advice do you have for a first-timer? ‘Cause I, also, guys, I want you to know, by the way, that one of my questions is, what are you wearing while you’re there? So thanks for taking that one, like, right off the bat.

[Laughter]

Elyse: We can go into more detail if you need.

Sarah: Yes, please! But, Amanda, hit me with your advice.

Amanda: So, two things is, don’t worry about doing everything? That was the mistake I made my first RT, was I had so much stuff that’s, like, back to back to back, and if you schedule things without a break, you’re going to be super hungry at, like, 7 p.m. ‘cause you didn’t schedule lunch on your calendar. Then also, I am crazy organized, and I know RT has an app that they come out with before the conference – I don’t think it’s out right now – and that’s helpful so you can, like, add things to a list, and it will remind you, but I like using Google Calendar better ‘cause I can input the location and the time and give myself a buffer for any meetings. So I find making a calendar of all the things that I want to do helpful, even if I wind up not doing all of them.

Elyse: And bring, bring, like, some snacks, like –

RHG: Trail mix.

Elyse: – trail mix, granola bars, ‘cause at Vegas I paid four fucking dollars for a banana.

RHG: Which is going to be less of a, I think things will be somewhat less expensive in Atlanta because Vegas is Vegas. Oh, my God.

Elyse: Yeah, but con food is always, like, ridiculously expensive.

RHG: Yeah.

Elyse: If you’re going to eat at the actual conference, like, buy snacks and stuff. It’s not –

Sarah: Another thing – yes. Another thing you can do is use Google maps or Yelp or something to find convenience stores around the hotel? All hotels have convenience stores around them, ‘cause that’s part of their business, so go there and get yourself a bunch of healthy snacks. Sometimes you can even have groceries delivered to a hotel; I’ve seen people do that. What about scheduling? Amanda, you mentioned building your schedule and, and, and picking things out. Do you guys have any advice for someone who’s looking at the agenda and is like, oh, my God, I don’t know what to do; I’m kind of interested in everything, and I don’t know what to do first?

RHG: I mean, okay, like, no advice is universal, so I’m just going to tell you what worked for me is to go through and put everything, everything you’re vaguely interested in on your agenda, and that takes out the stuff that you’re not interested in, so it’s not there cluttering your space, and then start narrowing things down. And even narrowing things down, like, you get to five minutes before a panel you were interested in starts, and you’re like, I…don’t want to, and you don’t have to! [Laughs]

Carrie: I always say, no matter what con I’m going to, my strategy is to find one – and I kind of got into this at Comic Con, where scheduling is such a fricking nightmare –

RHG:  Mm-hmm.

Carrie: Pick one thing per day that you really, really, really want to do, and then everything else kind of revolves around that. And once I pick that one thing, then I pretty much do what Redheadedgirl does. I put everything I might possibly want on there so that in, like, when I, if I have, like, a spontaneous moment, then I can just, like, look and see, oh, but this is going on, and I was interested in that, but I’ve highlighted somewhere – I tend to write stuff down in a notebook instead of keep it all on my phone, but I highlight or star that one thing, and then, because so much of conferencing is kind of running from event to event to event, and that way you make sure you don’t miss the thing that you wanted to do the most. I also think it’s a good idea with RT to think about why you’re going to RT and what you want to get out of it. ‘Cause I’ve gone for lots – so I’ve gone to three different RTs, and I wanted to do something, get something different out of it each time. Wait, have I gone to – no, I’ve gone to two, so this is my third. And –

Sarah: That’s a really good point, ‘cause you should have an idea of what you want to get out of the experience of going.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Carrie: So – yeah, so the first time I went, I was very professionally motivated, and it sort of made sense that I did the professional dress, because that’s what I was going for, and I went to lots and lots and lots of professionally oriented panels. And then the second time I went, I was more blogger oriented, and it was much more relaxed. And while I’m looking forward to panels, this time around I’m really just looking forward to hanging out with people. Like, this time it’s more like a social thing. I want to see you, you guys; I want to meet some friends that I’ve met at RT before. So I mean, if you think about it, those are three completely different conventions, and so my scheduling is completely different, based on which, you know, what I’m trying to, to get out of it, and those are totally legit goals to have.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: Yeah, I think I go strictly, really, as a reader, because aside from working for the site, I really have no writerly ambitions, so I don’t do any of the industry stuff or the workshops, unless for some reason it’s a panel that’s really, really interesting to me? So I tend to go to more of the social events, and, yeah, I mean, the, I think if you’re going as a reader and you, you’re not there to improve your writing or pitch your writing or whatever, it, it’s, you can definitely be more relaxed, like Carrie said. I mean, truthfully, you can be pretty relaxed the whole time. I don’t think anybody is going to judge you.

RHG: Yeah. I think, I suspect that the bulk of writers who go are not necessarily going to improve your craft, ‘cause that’s really not the focus of RT. It’s to meet readers and to meet other writers and generally squee about books.

Elyse: Right, and, I mean, I’m not, I’m not going to lie. Like, my level of professionalism for this RT is that I’m going to buy a bottle of Kraken at the duty-free shop, and Redheadedgirl and I are going to drink that bottle of Kraken, and then Carrie will have the bottle to take home with her because she likes the picture on it.

Carrie: Woohoo!

Elyse: Like, that’s, that’s basically what I’ve put on the agenda thus far.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: Where, where are you coming from that you’re going to go to a duty-free shop between Wisconsin and Atlanta?

RHG: There’ll be one, there’ll be one in the –

Elyse: Have you been in the Atlanta airport? There’s a duty-free shop in every fricking terminal.

RHG: Every corner.

Elyse: Yeah.

RHG: And there are so many corners.

Sarah: [Laughs]

RHG: So many.

Sarah: It’s been a while. I was wondering if you were, like, traveling to RT by way of, like, some other country. Anyway, Amanda, I’m sorry –

RHG: Canada’s not far from her.

Amanda: Oh, no.

RHG: That’s fine. It’s fine.

Sarah: Go ahead, Amanda. I’m sorry.

Amanda: I find that the RT convention agenda has, like, a really helpful search feature, because it’s huge if you just scroll through the page, but if there’s an author or, like, if you’re interested in stuff that has to do with paranormal romance, you can kind of type in those terms and see what panels are available for your interest, and I also find that searching by author is helpful too, because usually I fly out on Saturday, so I don’t have time to go to the huge signing, so if there’s a book that I really want to get signed by an author, I’ll search for what panels they’ll be on and hope that there’s time after their discussion to – and usually there is – to go and get, like, one book signed. Like, obviously don’t show up with a stack of books to have them signed, but I find that’s kind of helpful in navigating what I want to do and what I want to see.

Sarah: One of your, one of your goals is to meet authors and, like, speak to people personally.

Amanda: Yes.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, it’s, I think I was really nervous the first time I went about approaching authors, because I felt like I was bothering them, but that’s why they’re at RT is to interact with readers, and so do not feel weird at all about going up and talking to authors.

RHG: Nope. No, they, they like talking to people about their books. That’s been my experience.

Elyse: Yeah, I have not had one negative author interaction, I don’t think.

Sarah: I have not, either. Are there authors that you guys are really excited about meeting this year, that you really want to, like, go find?

RHG: I know that Alyssa Cole is, is going to be there, and so is Alisha Rai and her purse.

Sarah: [Laughs]

RHG: You guys, this purse, it’s amazing. [Laughs] And I’m not a –

Elyse: Did you get to touch it?

RHG: I got to touch it. I got to type on it. For those who have not seen pictures of Alisha Rai’s Kate Spade purse, it’s a, it’s the typewriter purse. It is –

Sarah: And it’s gorgeous.

RHG: – beautiful.

Carrie: I feel like they should give out little, like, pens or ribbons, badge ribbons or something, for –

RHG: I Touched Alisha’s Purse!

Carrie: – I, I Touched Alisha’s Purse.

[Laughter]

Carrie: I think that is –

RHG: I’ll tell her, I’ll tell her.

Carrie: – Well, we all want to touch the purse.

RHG: So, getting to hang out with them is, is always a good time because they are hilarious and lovely people.

Sarah: What about you, Carrie? Is there any author you’re really excited to meet?

Carrie: Well, I have a confession, which is that, like, right now, I’m trying to open up the thing and see what authors are going. I don’t even know. I just – [laughs]

Sarah: That’s, that’s fine.

Carrie: – very, I’m very zen about this RT. It’s, like, barely occurring to me that I’m actually going this year. Yes, I am! It’s going to be fabulous!

Sarah: [Laughs]

Carrie: I just, I have a great time meeting everybody, and it’s going to be awesome.

Sarah: So if someone is going for the first time and they’re nervous and they’re concerned that they’re not going to know anyone, they’re going by themselves, about how long will it take them to make friends? Are you thinking less than one second, slightly closer to five seconds? Like, what’s your time over/under on that?

RHG: I mean, it, it depends on your introvert/extrovert level? If you’re an extreme introvert, it may take as many as three minutes.

Sarah: Ooh, that’s – yeah, I could see that. Three minutes is possible.

Carrie: It, I felt, I felt like my first RT, my first RT was not – I had a really good time, and at the same time, it was not super successful, which I have come to believe is because I was so uptight. And I did have a hard time making friends, although by the end of the conference I was, like, hanging out with Tamora Pierce at the bar, so I would say that that worked out fine. But it did take me a long time. But then the second RT, where I was just like, oh, I have, I’m just going to, like, be myself and show and wear the uniform of my people, it took, like, two seconds.

RHG: Yeah.

Elyse: Yeah.

Carrie: It’s like, if I was just my authentic, geeky, weird self then authentic, weird, weeky, geird – bleah, bleah, bleah! I can’t talk! – authentic, weird, geeky people could find me, and boom, I have, like, instant friends who I’m still friends with, and everything is fantastic.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Carrie: So that’s part of why I harp so much on, on, don’t try to present, like, an image of yourself. Just be who you are, and it’s all going to be fine.

Sarah: That’s generally good advice.

Amanda: It also helps if you’re reading a book in line. [Laughs]

RHG: Yeah. Oh, yeah. What are you reading? What are you reading? Tell me all about it.

Amanda: Yeah, if you have a book on you, you’ll get stopped and asked –

RHG: Yeah.

Amanda: – what you’re reading, so it’s a good icebreaker.

RHG: And you’ll have a book on you when you get your registration bag.

Sarah: Oh, you’ll have, like, nine or six.

RHG: You’ll have, like, nine. I know that there’re at least four people from our Boston meet-up group who are coming down together for their collective first RT, and I’m very excited for them. It’s going to be a lot of fun for them.

Sarah: And if you can drive, it’s actually kind of nice ‘cause you don’t have to worry about luggage or bags or anything. One tip I’ve given to people in the past is to pack a second, foldable duffel or zip-top, like, tote bag in your luggage, because while the days where you would go home with a literal suitcase of books are long gone, because books are expensive for everyone involved, you will go home with a lot of stuff, especially if you win a raffle basket, because those things can be the size of, like, a pony.

RHG: Holy crap! [Laughs]

Sarah: Those raffle, those raffle baskets are not messing around, so if you win –

Carrie: And I –

Sarah: – something like that, (a) take advantage of the shipping that RT will arrange with the shipping facility on the hotel site, which is usually FedEx/Kinko’s. You can get a discounted rate to ship your stuff home. There will be a line, but by then you’ll be an expert in waiting in line, so it won’t be a big deal. Or pack a second bag if you can carry on a bag with you on the way home and put extra stuff in there. That way you’re not stuck, like, with a suitcase and a half of stuff when you showed up with one suitcase.

Elyse: So what I normally do is I take my big check-in suitcase, and I pack my smaller roller carry-on suitcase inside of it with all my stuff in it, ‘cause I can fit all my clothes and stuff for the week inside a, a carry-on, and then on the way home, I put all of the books and shit that I have collected in the bigger suitcase and check that, and last year, I feel like I won some kind of achievement award, because there was a, like, bright red ribbon around my suitcase when I picked it up off the carousel that said, like, CAUTION HEAVY, so –

[Laughter]

Elyse: – for, for the, for the workers there – so, yeah, bring two suitcases. This year I’m bringing so much swag for the party that I’m actually filling my checked luggage with – how weird is this? I am filling my checked luggage with, like, as many books as I intend to bring home. They’re just different books.

[Laughter]

Elyse: So I am bringing that many books to RT, where they will find new homes, and then more books will come home with me. We’re doing kind of an even exchange here.

Sarah: So this sort of like book arbitrage in a way.

Elyse and RHG: Yes.

Sarah: Good plan!

Carrie: And, and no pressure to authors who are bringing swag, but I’m almost out of Post-it notes. I’m, I’m counting on you. I need Post-it notes and pens.

RHG: I am out of pens. I need more pens.

Carrie: Some people go to, like, Office Depot, and some people go to Staples for their office supplies, and I go to RT once a year –

Elyse: Mm-hmm.

Carrie: – and I come home with, like – one year I lined ‘em all up and took a picture of all my ballpoint pens, and there was, that was a lot of – also ChapStick.

RHG: Yep.

Elyse: ChapSticks, yeah.

RHG: ChapSticks is good.

Carrie: That’s good stuff.

RHG: Yep. I know one author at the New England RWA had, like, the grippy things that you use to open jars as her swag?

Sarah: That’s a smart one!

RHG: That was super smart, and I only grabbed one, ‘cause I was trying not to be rude.

Elyse: I’m not going to lie; I, I put all my events in Calendar, and I, like, highlighted the ones where alcohol will be served.

Sarah: Oh, yes.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: If there’s a hint of food or booze, you should go.

RHG: Yeah, you should go.

Elyse: Right.

Amanda: But don’t, don’t bet on the food or booze, ‘cause –

Sarah: No.

Elyse: It goes fast.

Amanda: – there are then times where you go and it’s not there.

Elyse: Yeah, right.

Sarah: Or it’s all gone in the first five minutes.

Elyse and RHG: Yeah.

Sarah: Because go to where there’s food and booze is advice that everyone follows.

RHG: Yeah.

Elyse: I’m pretty sure last year I did not pay for much in the way of meals. I think I ate my way through RT.

Sarah: [Laughs]

RHG: Yeah. 

Sarah: Well, some of the meals are, are paid for by your registration, so it’s actually a good use of your registration money to make sure that you eat at some of those meals, even if it hotel food.

RHG: Yeah.

Elyse: Yeah. I ate, like, a lot of macaroons and chocolate and –

[Laughter]

Elyse: I was not getting my, my five daily fruits and vegetables in that week.

RHG: No, but –

Sarah: But you were getting a very colorful meal.

RHG: But we were getting all of our steps in. [Laughs]

Elyse: Right. I’m assuming –

Sarah: Oh, my God.

Elyse: – since it cost four fucking dollars that that banana had more potassium than an average banana, but I can’t say for sure.

RHG: No. The nice thing is that I’m, I haven’t been to this particular hotel, but I’m assuming that we’re not going to have to walk a quarter mile down unending hallways –

Sarah: Nope!

RHG: – to get to the actual convention space?

Sarah: Nope!

RHG: Which means that, like, going back to your room and dropping shit off or –

Elyse: Right.

Sarah: Takes an hour.

RHG: – changing shoes is going to be less of a trek.

Sarah: Yes.

Elyse: Also, the hotel this year, I was just looking at the restaurants within walking distance, and there are a ton.

RHG: Excellent.

Elyse: So, I mean, there’s, like, Chinese food, Indian food, Caribbean food – I mean, like, every, every type of food you could possibly want is within walking distance.

Carrie: Yeah, I’ve never been to the South, and I’ve never been to Atlanta, and so usually when I go to a convention I just do the convention, but I’m actually kind of hoping to play hooky and see some of Atlanta. I’m pretty excited about that.

RHG: Yeah. I’m super excited at the thought of going to Atlanta to go to Atlanta and not make a running transfer across the airport? Which I have done many times, and always at a dead run.

Carrie: I guess it’s –

RHG: And it’s always been a disaster. [Laughs]

Carrie: I, I too have done the Atlanta airport run, so technically I have been in Atlanta, kind of.

RHG: Yeah. 

Carrie: I have two teenage girls in my kitchen trying to make waffles. They’ve never made waffles before, and I have instructed them that I am on a podcast and they have to be quiet, and I gave them three-by-five cards, so whenever they need help, they’re, like, shoving these three-by-five cards under the door, and then I put this on mute and I go run and teach them how to use the waffle maker and I run back. [Laughs] 

Sarah: That’s brilliant. Okay, so let me ask you again about what you’re wearing, ‘cause that was one of my questions, and I know people worry about what to bring to an RT, because when you see, like, the, the pictures that come from RWA, RWA is a whole other thing, so if you’re looking at RWA –

Elyse: Yeah.

Sarah: – and you’re thinking that RT –

RHG: Yeah, RWA is a –

Sarah: – is the same, it is not, so please don’t think –

RHG: No.

Sarah: – that you have to, like, go two hundred percent plumage at RT. You really do not. I think, I think Carrie had really good advice to be yourself, so what are you guys doing to be yourselves? What are you wearing?

RHG: Okay, well, if you want to go two hundred percent plumage you can; nobody is stopping you. You don’t have to.

Carrie: And, and there will be other people in two hundred percent plumage, so you will find your people. You will find the most amazing dresses and –

RHG: Yeah.

Carrie: – clothes and fabulous things, and you’ll also find people like me who will be wearing their, you know, Harry Potter T-shirts and jeans, so it’s, it’s – the big thing that I would say no matter what your style is, bring layers.

RHG: Yep.

Elyse: Yeah.

Carrie: You don’t know what the air conditioning is going to be like, and, yeah, I, I, I think it, that’s the, the one – that and comfortable shoes are, like, the two non-negotiable things.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: Every pair of pants I’m bringing has an elastic waistband, so there, I might throw a pair of jeans in there, but otherwise we’re going straight elastic waistband, and then all of my shirts are, either come from TeeFury or TeeTurtle, so –

Carrie: Yes!

Elyse: – like, yeah. I’m not, I’m not professional-ing this up at all, and then I’m wearing sneakers that are comfortable.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: And it, it is, it’s a con. It’s not – there, there’s definitely professional stuff to be done there if you want to do it, but you don’t feel like you have to. You can totally come dressed casually, and you’re going to be spending a lot of time walking around and a lot of time sitting and a lot of time waiting, so be comfortable; that’s really important.

Amanda: I’ll have a mix, because, once again, this is the third RT where I have something going on either directly before or directly after. So the first year I was graduating from my Master’s program as soon as I got back. The second year, so last year, as soon as I landed I was going out for my birthday, and then this year my brother is graduating college the, like, week before and, like, the Monday of that I’m flying into Atlanta. So I will have some nice dresses packed and heels, and so I don’t know what I’m going to do with them. [Laughs] I would like to make use of them, maybe just change out the heels for some flats. So I’ll have nicer clothes with me because I want to utilize them and not have them just take up space for one day of me being in Florida. But I’ll also have, like, some nice comfortable shirts. I’m bringing my My Favorite Murder shirt; if there’re going to be any Murderinos at RT, you can spot me that way. So it’ll be a mix of stuff, whatever I can make work in my suitcase.

RHG: Yeah, I’ll have, I’ll have one or two dresses from eShakti. I have packing cubes, so I’m excited to try those out to see how much, ‘cause I’m going to do just carry-on and shamelessly beg my Boston bitches to take my swag back.

Elyse: I –

RHG: I told them this; this is not a secret. [Laughs]

Elyse: I, I have Avengers leggings, I have Beauty and the Beast leggings, and I have leggings that just have books on them.

Carrie: That’s glorious.

Elyse: So you guys are going to see a lot of my ass; I’m just throwing that out there.

RHG: It’s a lovely ass.

Amanda: I look forward to it.

Elyse: Thanks, I appreciate it.

Amanda: [Laughs]

Carrie: And, you know, in my experience, you know, even if you do dress up a lot, you will eventually go to some party or hit the bar in your pajamas.

Elyse: Or go to the awards ceremony –

RHG: Or go the awards gala. [Laughs]

Elyse: – after party in your pajamas. [Laughs]

Carrie: Right, and stalk people in your pajamas.

RHG: It was just one people. It was just Elizabeth Hoyt.

Carrie: Just one person, yeah.

Elyse: Who was completely, like, non-flappable.

RHG: Yeah.

Elyse: The fact that we showed up in our pajamas to stalk her, she’s like, eh!

RHG: Okay, all right, well, that happened. Okay.

Sarah: Now, I do have another question for you. Our Reader Recommendation Party –

Carrie: Whoo!

Sarah: Should people miss this?

RHG: No!

Sarah: No –

Everybody: No!

Sarah: And please explain some of the things that we will be doing and the prizes. Elyse, you want to go first, ‘cause you’re packing –

Elyse: Okay.

Sarah: – a whole suitcase full of shit here.

Elyse: I am packing a whole suitcase full of shit. So this is where we’re at: I’ve got, like, eleventy billion books – I counted. Some of them I’ve read; some of them I haven’t. We’ve got romance, we’ve got thrillers, we’ve got pretty much fucking everything in that box. Then I sw-, snagged some Vera Bradley stuff off their clearance sale, so I’ve got, like, ID card holders and pen and pencil sets and all that cool shit, and then I have candles, and I have, like, book-related everything. I’ve got notebooks, I have an Alice in Wonderland scarf – and then there is an enormous knitting shop in Atlanta called Eat. Sleep. Knit. It’s like a big warehouse store, ‘cause they’re mostly an online retailer, but you can go there and find all of the things? So I’m making a pilgrimage to Eat. Sleep. Knit., and I may bring back something cool for one of the fiber people in the audience.

Carrie: So, would it be unethical for your roommate – [coughs suggestively] – who is me to, like, pillage through any of this before the Reader Rec Party? Yes, yes, it would.

Elyse: I’m going to – you could do it while I’m sleeping. I’ve got so much shit, I’m not going to know.

Carrie: That’s true! Nobody needs to know.

Elyse: Exactly!

Carrie: But, no, I wouldn’t actually do that. And I appar-, so I, I, I need to, like, go shopping, ‘cause I have, I have very little swag that I’m bringing. I have, I have some books, ‘cause books! Woohoo! And that’s about it, so I, I may have to, I don’t know, I may have to do a little shopping trip for, like, pens –

Elyse: No, no, no, feel, feel no pressure here, because I – is this, like, a Midwestern thing where you have a present closet, and it’s, like, a closet full of shit you’re not going to use that has been given to you that you will then regift to other people?

RHG: Dude, you just said that you went to a clearance sale.

Elyse: I did –

Carrie: I have a present box, yeah.

Elyse: I did go to a clearance sale for the Vera Bradley stuff. I didn’t buy, go there specifically for RT; I went there for my own purse needs and then –

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: – picked up a couple of things. No, I massively cleared out the present closet. Like, candles and stuff that I get that are book themed? I cannot burn candles because Dewey thinks that that’s a fun thing to play with?

RHG: Mmm, he’ll learn that lesson real quick. I’m just saying.

Elyse: Or, or he’ll set the house on fire. I mean, that’s option –

RHG: Eh, then you’ll learn that lesson real quick.

Elyse: Right. So a lot of it, and a lot of the books were books that needed to be cleared out, so please do not feel pressure.

Carrie: Well, that is, that is a helpful tip, though, because I do not have a present closet, but I do have an extremely large present box.

Elyse: Yeah.

Carrie: I don’t think that’s a Midwestern thing. I think everybody has a present box, so I will go through my present box. But I do have, the books that I’m bringing are quite nice, so I hope that people like them.

Elyse: And a lot of the books that I’m bringing are ones where I got either a digital ARC or a regular ARC and then they sent me a finished copy anyway?

RHG: Yeah, I have four books from Caroline Linden, who generously was like, you only want four? I have so many in my book closet; do you want more? And I’m like, no, I have to carry these. Joanna Shupe is donating a couple of Baron, and we’ll see what I actually have room for beyond those things. Oh, and I have a couple of The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne.

Carrie: Ooh!

Amanda: I’ll be bringing books, but I also picked up two really cute journals – I forgot what they say on the front of it – and two adorable tote bags. I think, like, one has red stripes on it and it has, like, a dog in glasses, and the other one has blue stripes on it and has, like, a little cat wearing glasses. So those are some extra things that I am bringing.

Elyse: Oh, that would be another thing I would recommend. I know that everyone gets their RT bag when you register. I always bring a separate tote bag, because otherwise everyone is carrying the same tote bag, and if you set your stuff down, that can be problematic.

Sarah: Oh, yes, people have lost, like, their Kindles and, you know, we put nice things in their bags, and then their bags just happen to get picked up by somebody else, and it’s not good!

Elyse: Right. I’ve never felt like I’ve been concerned about stuff being, like, intentionally taken? But accidentally, you’d mix up your bags and stuff. It gets confusing, so –

RHG and Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: – bring some, or, or do something to mark it distinctively as yours.

Sarah: One other thing: all of this stuff you’re talking about, people can win that at our party, right?

Everybody: Yes!

Sarah: Yes, this is all –

RHG: That’s why you should come.

Sarah: – this is all for free!

Carrie: That is, assuming I don’t break into Elyse’s luggage when she’s asleep in the dead of night and steal it all.

Elyse: [Laughs] I just, I hear a noise in the room like there’s a raccoon in there.

Carrie: [Laughs] And you’ll be like, didn’t I bring an Alice in Wonderland scarf? And I’ll be like, oh, no!

Sarah: No, no, no, no.

Carrie: Scarf? What scarf?

Sarah: You, you must have been thinking about my new scarf that I bought before I came here, yes!

Carrie: Yeah, my new scarf! No, we will –

Elyse: I’m pretty sure everyone left our last party with something.

Carrie: I think they did! At least, yeah, at least something. Not everybody left with a book, but everybody left with a thing, like, a nice thing.

RHG: Right.

Sarah: Yes.

Elyse: Yes.

Sarah: And I also have, this year, inspired by a request from Redheadedgirl and from last year’s RT, I have stickers of all the different Lady quadrants, plus big and small red stickers that say “Romance or GTFO” –

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – and I also have pins, so you can swag out your conference badge with different quadrants of the Ladies if you so desire. So I will have tons of cool swag to give to people as we’re walking around!

Carrie: Should we warn people about the hazard of the, the Reader Rec Party? ‘Cause it can be dangerous.

Sarah: Well, it is expensive.

RHG: It can be expensive. I think –

Carrie: It can be pricey!

Sarah: Yes.

Amanda or Elyse: See –

RHG: Somebody said that they dropped, like, over a hundred bucks just in the fifty minutes.

Sarah: Uh-huh, well, here’s –

Carrie: What happens is we start recommending books, and then people in the audience start recommending books, and all around, you can hear this, see all these little fingers going one-click, one-click, one-click, one-click. [Laughs]

Elyse: You guys, you guys –

Sarah: Oh, yes, there is always someone in the, in the audience who holds up their phone and goes, bought it!

Elyse: Last year we fucked up Amazon’s algorithms, remember that?

Sarah: [Laughs]

Carrie: That was awesome.

RHG: We did.

Carrie: I’d like to –

Sarah: So that people looked at one of those books, all the other books we talked about showed up.

[Laughter]

Sarah: So I will give a quick sketch to someone who’s like, what the hell are you talking about? The Reader Recommendation Party is a party with snacks on the table – always go to things with food – and everyone comes in and sits down, and I order tables when they ask me for the room setup. I deliberately order tables, which makes it so that there are less, excuse me, fewer chairs for people, but it means you can bring your knitting and your stitching and all of your stuff and just sit on the, put it on the table, knit, and write down book titles, and we all hang out together, plus they’ll put chairs around the perimeter of the room, and you can come in and go out. So the event starts by me asking each of the Bitches for recommendations, and we talk about a book we recommended! And we probably have a copy of it to give away; yay! Everyone who comes in gets a raffle ticket, and then we collect the raffle tickets, and then I ask for recommendations from the audience for people to talk about a book that they love, but please don’t talk about your own book, ‘cause that’s not cool. If you get to make a recommendation, you get a second raffle ticket to enter the giveaway, and then midway through, every few minutes we’re going to stop and start giving shit away. So there’re giveaways and recommendations, so you’re either going to get an actual, physical thing that is cool or, and you’re going to get a list of, like, fifty to a hundred different books that people would really like to read. Like, last year, one person – whose name I know but I don’t know if I have permission to use it, so I’m not going to, and if you’re listening and you’re like, you should have said my name! I apologize – she said, I have a book to recommend; it’s Harry Potter with sex magic? And, like, the whole room went – [gasp!] – what is it?!

[Laughter]

Sarah: And if you’re listening and you went – [gasp] – oh, my God, what is it? It is by Cecilia Tan. It’s called Magic University, and the first one, it’s a magical New Adult romance – I don’t think it’s New Adult, but I could be wrong – six books, six-book set. All six books are digitally available for ten dollars, and it’s Harry Potter with sex magic, basically. There’s actual sex. You need to have sex in different forms to create magic. It’s pretty fricking cool.

So if you come to the party, you get recommendations, you write them down, and then you get prizes, and also there’re snacks. So I’ve pretty much – the only thing that would be awesomer is if there was a bar, but unfortunately that is not in my budget realm yet. Someday I will get this sponsored, and then we will have a bar. And then it’ll be drunk prize knitting book recommendation party.

Elyse: We need corporate sponsorship.

Sarah: We totally need corporate sponsorship. I’m going to give up my old favorite game, which is where’s my favorite venture capitalist and go with where’s my favorite corporate sponsor?

RHG: Hmm.

Sarah: Like, hi, alcohol company! You should sponsor us!

Elyse: [Coughs] Kraken!

RHG: Kraken, Kraken.

Sarah: Kra-, I don’t know why they haven’t contacted me!

Elyse: The amount of free press I give Kraken. Christ’s sake.

RHG: Hmm.

Sarah: There’s probably an actual kraken who’s on the Internet and is hurt that you’re not talking about him.

Elyse: You know how – so, I bartended in college very briefly and unsuccessfully, and there was the guy that would have to come as Captain Morgan. Like, some poor fucking dude.

RHG: Of course.

Elyse: Right, and he’d go to the bar, and there’d be, like, women with their boobs hanging out as, like, wenches or some shit like that, and I think someone should come dressed as a giant kraken.

RHG: [Laughs]

Sarah: Dude, yes!

RHG: Like, just –

Carrie: Have you not seen my cephalopod trainer cosplay?

Elyse: [Laughs] I have not!

Sarah: I, I didn’t even know this was a thing you did!

Carrie: Yeah, no, it’s quite spectacular! So, now that I’ve accumulated, you know, all these different stuffed toy plush octopi, and my mom knitted me this tentacle scarf, I made a shirt that says, Graduate of the Miskatonic School of Cryptid and Cephalopod Management, and then I walk around with, like, I’m, I’m, I’ve got the, Mr. Darcy, the big one, on a leash, and then other ones are just sort of, like, attached to me. Like, there’s one on my head, and there’s one on my shoulder, and then I have Hank from Finding Dory in a bucket that I carry, and he’s, like, clearly escaping, and then I just got a, a cat, catopus that I think is going to go on my other shoulder, so basically I just have them, like, dripping all over me, and I walk around with this, like, maniacal look as somebody who clearly is failing, failing to manage her cephalopods. And, and then I can also convert it, because it’s cephalopods or cryptids, I have a plush Cthulhu, and I’m, I’m getting a plush alien queen, and so I can, I can swap it out, and I can go more of the, the cryptid route.

Sarah: Somebody listening wants you to wear this to RT.

Carrie: Yes, but I do not want to bring Mr. Darcy to RT, because Mr. Darcy is about the size of my entire torso, which, no.

Sarah: [Laughs]

RHG: Okay, but that’s, like, not a lot.

Sarah: That’s, that’s an incentive.

Carrie: But I still don’t know. Mr. Darcy is not your, he is, like, huge. Huge! But I always bring one! I, I, usually I bring Mr. Bingley. I have Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, Bubbles – oh, Bubbles is on my purse, and so is Baby Otto from How to Train Your Octopus – and then I have Hank, let’s see, and Colonel Dashwood. And I’m sure I left one of them out, and now they’re wounded. I’ll have to walk around the house and pat them all soothingly.

Sarah: [Laughs] One, one more question: do you guys have any book recommendations that you would like to share?

RHG: I am in the middle of a, it’s a nonfiction biography called The Criminal Conversation of Mrs. Norton, and it’s about a woman, Mrs. Norton, who probably had an affair with the Prime Minister of Great Britain in the 1830s, and he was sued by her husband, and her husband lost because they were not dumb enough to put anything in writing that said, hey, we actually totally boned. However, she got completely screwed because her husband was like, well, I’m not going to divorce you-divorce you, but I’m going to abandon you, and I’m going to take away all of the money, and I’m going to take away your access to our children. And she was like, fuck this, and spent the rest of her life working to improve the laws so that other women didn’t get fucked like that. And it’s very interesting if you can get through the first chapter that’s like, let’s talk about everybody who married everybody in high society in London in this ten-year span and who was banging whom, and it’s like Real Housewives, only I need a chart.

Elyse: And they’re all related.

RHG: And they’re all related, and they’re all named Caroline.

[Laughter]

RHG: Except if there’s one or two named Charlotte, and so many Williams. Like, Britain, please get more names!

Sarah: [Laughs]

Elyse: Why does everyone have a Hapsburg chin?

RHG: That was the Continent, Elyse.

Elyse: Sorry!

RHG: God!

Elyse: I totally did not think you were saying continent for a second there. It cut out. It came out a little weird, not going to lie. I have not been reading anything, ‘cause I’m in a super big reading slump because work is, like, crazy busy, and so I come home from work, and then I have no mental energy to do anything. And when I do, I’ve been knitting, so if you are going to RT, I am totally making a pilgrimage to Eat. Sleep. Knit. at some point, and I will be tweeting about that, so if anyone wants to go together and go in for, like, a Lyft, ‘cause we don’t use Uber anymore, just watch my Instagram, or sorry, my Twitter or message me, and we will totally go together, and Carrie’s going to come too and pet all the yarn.

Carrie: Yes. I, I neither knit nor crochet nor sew, but I love fabric stores, and I love knitting stores. I also, in one of my other cosplays, have a bunch of buttons sewn onto a hat, and I believe Eat. Sleep. Knit. has quite a fabulous button collection. I love the patterns and the colors and the textures. It’s just, even without being able to make anything out of them, it’s very aesthetically exciting for me, so, so I’m all excited to go!

Elyse: Dewey just jumped in here and meowed plaintively; I don’t know if you caught that on the audio or not.

Carrie: Toothless is eating cat food, like, one inch away. I don’t know if you can hear it on this recording. And the, the girls are, like, sliding three by five cards under the door: we’re going on an adventure!

Elyse: Okay!

Carrie: I know, okay, fine.

RHG: Oh, boy.

Carrie: Yes, well, we’ll see how that goes. I just finished what unfortunately is the last book in the Lady Trent series, and the last book –

Sarah: Aww!

Carrie: – is called Within the Sanctuary of Wings, and the first book is called A Natural History of Dragons, and the series is by Marie Brennan, and it is a, oh, let me count, is it five or six books? Can I count? This is five. And they’re relatively short, so you’re not committing to, like, a Game of Thrones type series where you have these six-hundred-page books, and they go on and on and on and on. It’s a nice, manageable –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Carrie: – it’s long enough for a lot of character growth and great adventures, but it’s short enough to be digestible, and I have to say, I have loved this series, and it also contains art! It’s about a Victorian woman, and it’s sort of an alternate universe, so it’s analogous to Victorian England but not, it’s not exactly Victorian England. But it has –

Elyse: Is everyone related?

Carrie: Yes, and it –

Elyse: Okay. [Laughs]

Carrie: Definitely, and it has the same social structures. So Lady Trent, who scandalously is named Isabella, not Caroline or Catherine, so right there you know she’s living on the edge –

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Carrie: – she is a naturalist who studies dragons, because there’re dragons in this setting, and she faces the same barriers that a woman would in real Victorian England, and it’s, oh, my gosh, it’s just, it’s just so, it’s so wonderful! It’s just really, really beautiful, and it has this gorgeous, gorgeous art by Todd Lockwood, so if you’re into dragons or feminism or science or Victoriana, then I highly, highly recommend it. I love it; I’m petting it as we speak because it’s got these pictures of dragons on the cover.

RHG: They, they are beautiful covers.

Elyse: I have to share this, ‘cause it’s cracking me up: so you know how when the cat wants something and you aren’t giving it to him he, like, lies across your keyboard?

Carrie: Yes, I’m familiar with that.

Elyse: I’m currently Skyping on my Surface Pro, which has a removable keyboard, and Dewey was being a douche nozzle, so I took the keyboard off and set it next to me, and he’s still lying on it and is upset as to why this is not interfering more with what I am doing.

Sarah: [Laughs] This usually works!

[Laughter]

RHG: Oh, Dewey, life’s rough.

Sarah: All right, one other question for you that I forgot to ask: is there anything that you suggest people not do at RT? Are there any things that you would be like, you know, that’s not such a good idea?

Elyse: I’m going to just throw this out there: if you were going to get super drunk at a conference, this is the conference to get super drunk at, ‘cause it’s all women. Nothing is going to happen to you. Like, I don’t recommend it in general, but if you had to pick one conference to get shitfaced at, someone will make sure you get to your room safely.

Carrie: It was so weird, the first one I went to. I always go to science fiction and fantasy conventions, and these days they’re a good fifty/fifty, you know, male/female, and actually several are starting to skew majority female, but it still feels like a male-dominated setting, and you still have to be very aware of all the safety issues. So the first one, Elyse went to, like, this party at night, and she was kind of, she, I woke up in the middle of the night, she wasn’t back yet, and I thought, oh, should I go, like, check on her, you know, for safety reasons? And I realized, there’re no men here! This is, like –

Elyse: Yeah.

Carrie: – all women! It was very liberating! It was, it was a weird shock for me. I hadn’t been in that kind of setting before.

Zeb: Woof, woof!

Sarah: Zeb agrees.

RHG: Hi, Zeb.

Sarah: Thanks.

RHG: Hi, buddy.

Sarah: He’s had a bad week. He, he, he sprained his leg earlier this week so bad that he wouldn’t put weight on it, and so I spent the entire day carrying him around so that he could rest? Now, he’s a small dog, but he’s probably, like, twenty-eight pounds, ‘cause he’s a little chubby. Oh, my God, I’m so tired. He’s better, but he got real used to all of that not having to walk outside and being, being carried. He got used to that in a hurry. [Laughs]

I would say in terms of not doing something at RT, much like you said, Carrie, about how, if you have, if you have a very specific agenda and the agenda doesn’t fit what’s happening at the conference, it can be very exhausting? I, I don’t think you should go into RT thinking, I’m going to talk to every single person at this conference, and they’re all going to buy my book.

RHG: Right, yep, no.

Sarah: It, it’s not a solitary, non-stop promotional opportunity, and I can totally understand someone getting the impression that they’re, that it is, because there are a tremendous number of opportunities to put your name on things. Like, you can sponsor this and book that and do this and do all these different things to heighten your promotional impact. Just being there and talking to people is an enormous promotional opportunity. Standing in line with somebody is, is going to create the following conversation: are you a reader or a writer? What do you write? Do you have a new book out? Oh, what’s it called? Just being there and being yourself is an excellent promotional opportunity, but please don’t feel obligated to constantly promote yourself, because that doesn’t always work, especially in an in-person setting.

RHG: Mm-hmm.

Elyse: And don’t be afraid to come up to us if you see us. We’re all –

Sarah: Yes, please!

RHG: No.

Elyse: We’re all super cool.

Carrie: We are –

Sarah: I’m kind of nerdy. I mean, I’m, I’m not at all mean, but I’m not cool either. I’m pretty nerdy.

Elyse: We’re cool with talking to people.

Carrie: But nerdy is cool!

Sarah: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re very cool with talking to people. Amanda, do you have anything you want to add?

Amanda: I can talk about what I’m reading!

Sarah: Please do!

Amanda: Which I’m enjoying. It’s taking me forever to get through it, but that’s not a reflection on the book at all. It’s just a reflection on myself. [Laughs] It’s Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon. I mentioned it, I think, on the previous New Releases post. But it’s described as Thelma & Louise meets Sons of Anarchy, and it has two teen girls, and it’s really interesting. I mean, there’s kind of like this weird animalistic quality that, like, teen girls have, so they’re both sizing each other up –

RHG: [Laughs]

Amanda: – but they’re kind of intimidated by each other, but they kind of respect each other at the same time. It’s, I like it a lot; it’s really good.

Sarah: Cool! Thank you!

Amanda: You’re welcome.

Sarah: All right, I think I’m going to call this Sleepy Bitches Talk RT.

[music]

Sarah: And that is all for this week’s episode. I hope you enjoyed our random, rambling, sleepy discussion. Like I said in the intro, if you have ideas or questions or you’re going to RT and you want to ask us something about it, please ask in the comments or email us at [email protected], and I hope that if you’re going and you see one of us or all of us, you stop and say hi, ‘cause we would really love to meet you.

This podcast is being brought to you by Kensington Books, and they would like you to know about Happy Is the Bride by Lori Wilde, Janet Dailey, Cat Johnson, and Kate Pearce. Opposites attract when a wealthy cattleman and a penniless artist decide to get hitched at a Texas dude ranch in tornado country and the whirlwind festivities are as filled with surprises as their love, especially when the guest list includes one pretty party crasher on a mission, the sheriff known as the one-night-stand king, and a workaholic event planner who definitely did not plan to fall for a laid-back cowboy. Toss in a shocking behind-the-scenes bet, a fateful power outage, and a Man of Honor and a Best Woman determined to see the worst in each other between hot kisses, plus thrilling lessons in love at first sight and second sight. The celebrations are going to go all night long. You can find Happy Is the Bride wherever books are sold and on kensingtonbooks.com.

The podcast transcript is meticulously handcrafted by garlicknitter, who is listening to this. Hi, garlicknitter! Thank you for the podcast transcripts! You’re awesome!

[gk: Blushes bright red. Thank you! You’re awesome!]

Sarah: And the transcript this month is being brought to you by The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell. As a young girl, Neave was often stuck in a world that did not know what to do with her. Her small-town home of Lynn, Massachusetts, did not have a place for a girl whose feelings often put her at war with the world, including her mother, her brother, and the town librarian who really wanted to keep her away from the dangerous books that Neave really wanted to read. Through an unexpected friendship, Neave finds a forbidden copy of The Pirate Lover and discovers a world of passion, love, and betrayal. As she gets older, life does not follow the romance that she gobbled up as a child, and when she and her sister Lilly are about to realize their professional dream, Lilly disappears, so Neave must put her beloved books down, take center stage, and accomplish things that she has been running from for her entire life. And as she figures out what happens to Lilly, you will not believe – seriously, you will not believe – who she turns to for help. The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life is one of the most original, entertaining, exciting, and chilling novels you will read this year, and it is available wherever books are sold.

The music you’re listening to is provided by Sassy Outwater. You will find all of the information about this particular song and the albums from which it is taken – from which it is from would be redundant – the album from which it is taken in the podcast entry at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast! So this is Caravan Palace. They have a double album set called Panic and Caravan Palace. I really, really like Caravan Palace. This particular track is called “Panic,” which is what you should not do as you’re getting ready for RT. Be yourself; it’s much more fun that way.

I will have links to all of the books and things that we discussed. I will have links to what we are doing at RT. I will have a link to the Friendshipping! episode that I mentioned at the start of the episode, and I will have, most importantly, information about our live show, our meet-up, and the things that we’re doing at RT. Plus I’ll have a link for the app for RT convention, so if you want to download that and start planning your schedule, you can do that.

Once again, I want to give a deeply, deeply meant and very humble thank you to everyone who has supported the podcast on Patreon. If it wasn’t for your generosity and enthusiasm, I would not be able to do the live show, and I am so very excited to make that happen. And of course if the equipment works, and I hope that it does, ‘cause I’ve been practicing with it, I will record the live show and release it as a podcast episode, so even if you’re not coming to RT, you will hear, I hope, the shenanigans that we get up to.

But in the meantime, on behalf of myself, all of the Bitches, all of my pets, all of their pets, and Orville, who is still on the desk, we wish you the very best of reading. Have an excellent weekend!

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