Back from RAW!!

Well, we are home from Lora Leigh’s RAW weekend!  RAW stands for Reader Appreciation Weekend and I can tell you we certainly did feel appreciated! 

I’ve got deets for you in a minute, but first here is the link to my photo gallery for those who want the pictures first:  http://gallery.jenaray.com.  Go to the Book Events category and look for the RAW 2008 photo album to see my RAW photos.

OK, on to the story of my vacation and a bit about RAW… 

One of the great things about this event is the intimacy.  Registration is limited to 200 readers, and there are usually about 20 or so authors that attend, at least in an official capacity. 

There were a couple of authors who were there as fangirls, just like the rest of us!  I got to meet Violet Summers while standing in line for the book signing Saturday and she was absolutely delightful.  I haven’t read any of her work yet, but one of my best friends has and loved it so between that and how likable Violet was, she has now moved up in my to-be-read pile.  Oh yeah, and author Maura Anderson was there as a fan too, and I can personally attest to how good her books are!  I didn’t get to spend much time with Maura, but was so happy to finally meet her in person since she is one of my very fav online friends.

This year the official authors were: Jules Bennett, Sophia Rae, Shayla Black, Shelley Bradley, Claudia Pemberton, Veronica Chadwick, Dianne Castell, Sylvia Day, S.J. Day, Livia Dare, Dawn Ryder, Lora Leigh, Jacquelyn Frank, Erin McCarthy, Lorie O’Clare, Jacquelyn Frank, Lucy Monroe, Anya Bast, Nalini Singh , Kay Stockham, Shiloh Walker, J.R. Ward, Jessica Bird, Mary Wine, Diane Whiteside, Jasmine Haynes, Jennifer Skully, J.B. Skully, Delilah Devlin, Bianca D’Arc, Donna MacMeans, Jennifer Estep, Shirley Damsgaard.  Some of those are pen names for the same author, but I thought it better to list everything to make it easy for those who know the author under one name but not the others.

I had a wonderful time meeting each of the authors I was able to spend time with this year.  Of course, I didn’t get to see some as much as others, so I can’t talk much about those I didn’t see a lot of other than that they were very polite and gracious.

But I did get to spend a good bit of time with some of my very favorite authors:  Lora Leigh, Veronica Chadwick, Shelley Bradley/Shayla Black, Sylvia Day/S.J. Day/Livia Dare, Jennifer Skully/Jasmine Haynes/J.B. Skully, Mary Wine/Dawn Ryder, Erin McCarthy, Bianca D’Arc, Anya Bast, Nalini Singh, and Shiloh Walker.  I wish I had been able to spend more time with the other writers, but time is scarce at these events, and I consider myself very fortunate indeed to have been able to chat with each author as much as I did.  I DID manage to get my photo with almost all of the authors that were there, and you’ll see those in my photo gallery.

On top of seeing so many favorite authors, I also got to see a whole bunch of my online friends!  I swear these things are like reunions for people you’ve never actually met.  Of course, we spend so much time with our online friends that it doesn’t feel like we are strangers when we meet.  And then there are those friends that I have actually met before but rarely get to see in person.  I loved seeing Diane, Jennifer K., Kat, Janine, Natalie, Oleta, Dawn, Yuvonne, Stacy, Jillyan, Jill, Connie, Nico, Debra, Courtney, Inez, Sheila, Nikki, Maura, Jess, Sukhee, Lami, Lora, Jessica, Brean, Angie, Dorine, Phyllis…  Whew!  I know I’m going to get in trouble for not listing someone here, but my fingers are getting tired…  I gave and received more hugs than I can count and was just deliriously happy to see everyone!

Friday night was the slumber party and everyone looked adorable!  We had all sorts of different types of jammies there, and everyone looked comfy.  Then Saturday night we had a masquerade ball – you wouldn’t believe how gorgeous some of these costumes were!  Actually, you might, cause you can see some of them in my photo gallery.  The mermaid costume was probably my favorite, and the girl who wore it made it herself.  It was creative and gorgeous and was a real eye-catcher.

I hated to say goodbye to everyone, but I was ready to come home.  I thought I might have escaped the crud that everyone else seemed to have caught, but woke with a hoarse voice and a bit of a scratchy throat today.  Hopefully a night of rest will knock it out, but if not you may not see me online much the next few nights…

Enjoy the photos and I hope you make it to RAW 2009!!