Dateline: Denver

Hi everyone!  Regina and I are back from the Romance Writers of America’s national conference (and our annual get-to-hang-out-with-each-other event), held this year at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel.

I’ve never been to Denver, so I was looking forward to going. And I wasn’t disappointed: I really liked Denver as a city (at least, what I saw of it)—it felt like a very liveable, friendly city...though this New England girl had a hard time wrapping her head around the miles of flat land spreading out below it, unobscured by tree and hills and more trees. More than a little cognitive dissonance, I think...

Regina and I were terribly clever and managed to find flights that got in more or less at the same time, so we got to hug and squee at each other by the luggage carousel while we waited for my suitcase...and then we were off! The rest of Tuesday was spent checking in to the conference, then catching up on family news and our lives in general over a very tasty dinner (note to self: blackened shrimp vampire tacos are amazing) before heading back up to our room to keep on talking (of course!)

And speaking of rooms, we had a lovely one—it was enormous, with separate walk-in closets and a huge bank of windows looking down over the pool and out toward the Civic Center Park and the Denver Art Museum and Central Library.

Regina will give you the details of what we did, but I want to mention a few stand-out points for me:

•  The hotel staff were incredibly nice and helpful...which was a good thing, considering that the convention area of the hotel was more than a bit of a rabbit warren and required frequent stopping to ask for directions.
• The Beau Monde mini-conference—a terrific line-up of workshops on multiple aspects of Regency history as well as delicious food (yay, cucumber sandwiches at the tea!) and a lovely evening party, the Soiree, which included a delightful historic dance instructor, an appearance by that lovable scoundrel, Sir Reginald, who has recovered from the gout that side-lined him last year and danced up a storm, and a fun silent auction where I won the bidding on a lovely item that will be making an appearance here on NineteenTeen at some future date.
• The RWA workshops I attended were, with just one or two exceptions, excellent. I came home with a lot of information and a to-do list about three feet long.
• Seeing so many writers (it's so cool!), catching up with old friends and acquaintances, and meeting new people.

But the best part, as always, was seeing Regina. Every year when we arrive at conference, we look forward to a nice long visit...and it always goes by in a flash. But what a lovely flash we had!!