Vacationing Librarian Style

April 19, 2012

What are you planning for your vacation this year? I'd bet it involves beaches or passports, maybe Disneyworld? This year, I gathered a few friends and joined 500 various romance novelists in the Windy city. After all, there's only one thing better than a job that daily surrounds you with thousands of books. That would be a vacation that surrounds you with hundreds of authors (oh, and free food).  Amy F. and Terri C. (both fellow MCPL librarians) joined me in our first trip to the romance reader's cultural Mecca, also known as, Romantic Times Book Convention.

In trying to explain it to my husband, I can best describe RT Convention as ComiCon for romance readers. In addition to daily workshops on topics ranging from writing strong heroines to understanding all things Scottish, we attended nightly parties with themes ranging from the roaring twenties to the Scottish Highlands. We met everyone from Victoria Alexander to Anne Rice and got autographs from Charlaine Harris and Sue Grafton. All said, we spent four days giggling through the Hyatt's convention rooms and people watching with fascinating results. Where else can you find women dressed in Steampunk garb alongside men in kilts?

The 2013 Romantic Times Convention is in Kansas City! It'll run from May 1 - 5 near Crown Center, and several authors (including Richelle Mead) have already signed on to be there! I'm putting in for my vacation now.

Beth A.
Lee's Summit Branch