Heidi's Confessions of a Conference Virgin....

Okay, so I'm sitting in the lobby of the Marriot with my Starbucks skinny latte surrounded by authors, editors, laptops and a variety of colourful badges that I'm just about starting to decode. First thought? Thank God the RWA is so well organised, for a woman who can't remember a single name (and is tripping on jet lag) it's convenient as hell for everyone to have their name, their psuedonym and their publishing career plastered all over their chest and colour-coded.

Second thought? Thank you Trish and Abby and Biddy for letting me tag along with you guys other wise I'd be even more lost than I already am... But enjoying every minute of it so far.

Went down to the Yerba Ballroom earlier to scope out literacy autographing central for tonight and now I'm starting to panic. The room's bigger than a football field and I'm right next to Patricia Rice - and that box of books looks awfully big. Still, what I'm planning to do is to wave my RITA finalist flag for all I'm worth and hope I can rugby-tackle a few readers in the long queue for Queen Nora. Wish me luck.

Right, and now to explain the piccies. This is me busy schmoozing with the likes of Kate Walker and Susan Stephens and Trish Wylie and romantic suspense writer Anna Louise Lucia. As a freshman schmoozer I think I did pretty darn well for a first day out...