Friday is publisher party night at conference, a chance for each publishing house to acknowledge staff and thank authors and generally for everyone to have a good time away from the conference venue. The Harlequin party is acknowledged as the best of those good times and every year it seems to become bigger and squishier, especially on the dance floor. This year's party was held at the Ritz-Carlton. The theme: Puttin' on the Ritz. We were told to wear our best and the authors took that to heart. You should have seen the dresses. Yiyiyiyiyi.
After pink drinks, a dessert table (I think, didn't check it out), the dance floor hopped from 9pm to 1pm. No stops, no breaks, plenty of sweat. From my point of view, this was just as well. This southern food is doing a job on my pre-conference svelteness (don't laugh, I DID lose weight, I swear!) and the dancing had to be some help, right? RIGHT? (Otherwise I'm in big trouble when I go to put on the RITA outfit later.)
Speaking of southern food: before the party, a group of us went to Aunt PittyPat's Porch, a local institution and you can probably tell by the name that the food and ambinece was pure south (oh, and the staff were charming.) Started with a frozen strawberry daiquiri (Scarlett's Passion) and had the Blackened fish. Yum.
I am now off to rehearsal for the awards night. Until now it's all been fun and--as Julie Cohen would say--zen-like clam. I suspect the nerves are about to set in, unfortunately. The big night starts in approx. 4.5 hours. Wish me luck!
posted by Bronwyn Jameson @ 5:15 AM
