Here are some of my impressions of the hotel and Dallas in general:

960 miles: That’s how far it was from my house to Dallas. Yes, Virginia, I drove to conference. Probably won’t happen again …

15 hours: How long it took me to drive said miles one way.

$150: Total amount I spent for gas. Not too bad. The hotel room was more than that per day.

The hotel: Overall, it was pretty snazzy. I thought the rooms were nicer than Atlanta last year, but the bar area/restaurants needed to be much, much bigger. You could never find anywhere to sit, no matter what time of day it was. And they had some of the events in Union Station which was a good hike through a dark tunnel from the rest of the meeting rooms.

Best food at the conference: At the Chick Lit Writers party. They had these chocolate parfait things in tall shot glasses, and this strawberry-lemon drink that was to die for. Yummy!

Worst food at the conference: I’d have to say the hotel in general. The restaurants were overcrowded, and the food was overpriced ($12 for a ham sandwich and fries!). Even the little kiosk/snack place on the first floor was wicked expensive with not that great of a selection.

Best food outside the conference: A tie between the Y.O. Steakhouse and the Iron Cactus. Both were really good. The Y.O. had an excellent steak and sides, while the Iron Cactus was more Tex-Mex.

About Texas: Texas is flat. Really, really flat. There are no hills — at all. It was a little disconcerting for a mountain girl like me.

The best thing about Texas: The huge reservoir you cross when you go into Dallas was the most interesting thing I saw. Very cool. 

The worst thing about Texas: The heat. You started sweating as soon as you went outside.

Quirkiest thing I did: Ride the train around town (mainly because it was air conditioned!). I also took a couple of cabs, which was a new experience for me. I had never taken a cab before (where I live, you drive yourself everywhere). And really, they weren’t so much cabs as cab-like vans.

Stupidest thing I did: Mixing up the address for my agency party and then deciding to walk about 6 blocks in the heat in sandals instead of flagging down a cab. My feet were not happy with me after that.

More to come …

Well, I’m back from the annual RWA conference.

Whew! I’m still exhausted, but I thought I’d share some thoughts and pictures from the conference.

This is Stephanie Hale and me at the Berkley author signing on Friday afternoon. Stephanie was nice enough to put some of the chocolate she’d brought on my side of the table (I totally forgot to bring any) and sign a copy of her book for me, Revenge of the Homecoming Queen. 

During the publisher signings, conference-goers come in and get free, autographed books. It was a madhouse, but lots of fun.

And since the books are free, they go really fast. Nora Roberts was also signing in the same room, along with Jaci Burton, Marjorie M. Liu, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and lots of other great authors.

More to come …