August 14, 2008

Doing the Conga with Nora

On Friday night of the national RWA conference is the night of the Harlequin party. Well, actually some of the other houses have parties too on Friday night, but Harlequin is the big party. They’ve got hundreds authors, so it’s a bit of the crush. And it’s a fancy-schmancy party. Everybody gets dressed up. Open bar, tons of food, chocolate fountain, dancin’ the night away. The whole shebang.

I love the Harlequin party. I mean, I absolutely adore it. It’s like prom, only I don’t have to go with the geeky guy from my Latin class. And I don’t have to worry that I’ll be snubbed by some snooty cheerleader.

This year, I heard rumors that the appetizers (perhaps dim sum?) were amazing. I was full from dinner, and therefore not inclined to hunt them down. I did go out the way to stroll by the chocolate fountain several times. But as great as the food was, my favorite part—other than the fabulous company—was the dancing. It’s really the only time of year I dance much, so I like to make the most of it. I brought Robyn as my “date” to the party and boogied the night away.

So you’re probably wondering: did I really do the Conga with Nora Roberts? Well, she was on the dance floor for a while. So was Jo Beverly. Okay, I wasn’t really dancing with either of them. They don’t have any idea who I am. But I got to dance near them. And how stinkin’ cool is that?

The only down to the party was that I couldn’t get the DJ to play any of the song I was requesting. I wanted to Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes. He swore no one else would want to dance to that. He also wouldn’t play anything by The Cure. I almost asked him to play that great Kinks song where the guy is asking the girl to come dancing. But I couldn’t remember the name. I looked it up, it’s Come Dancing. Seriously. I couldn’t remember that?

So, I decided, next year, I’m thinking of my song requests ahead of time. I’m putting Jesse’s Girl on the list. And Come Dancing, ‘cause that’s just a great song. What else should I include?

Here’s Robyn and I with Pamela Morsi dancing the night away.

  6 Responses to “Doing the Conga with Nora”

1. On August 14th, 2008 at 6:06 am
   Laura Says:
   

   Hey, I tell people I vacation with Nora Roberts so I say you WERE doing the conga with her.

2. On August 14th, 2008 at 7:08 am
   RobynDeHart Says:
   

   We had such a great time. And Nora was really close to us. The DJ was selective about which requests he took, but I got him to play Come On Eileen, but I still can’t believe he wouldn’t play Blister in the Sun. Then came a whole slew of music that must be popular now which was our cue to leave, but there were plenty of younger authors who were still dancing. Hmmm…there was a time when WE were the younger authors. Regardless we had a total blast. I was so glad my own publisher party was the night before so I was free and full of energy to dance, dance, dance. And just for the record (in case you hear otherwise) we were out in the lobby resting when the tree came down.

3. On August 14th, 2008 at 8:24 am
   Shana Says:
   

   Hey! Another Violent Femmes fan! I saw them once in high school and once in college. They were better in high school.

   I like to dance to Depeche Mode. If you guys think the DJ will play them, I’ll crash the Harlequin party next year!

4. On August 14th, 2008 at 11:12 am
   Fedora Says:
   

   How fabulous! And too fun, to be dancing with Nora And I agree, Blister in the Sun is a fine song to dance to! What was the DJ thinking?

5. On August 14th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
   Mary M Says:
   

   Maybe AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”

6. On August 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
   RobynDeHart Says:
   

   Mary, they did play that song and a bunch of great others.

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