Long Island Luncheon

I drove to Jericho, Long Island, today for the Long Island Romance Writers' Luncheon. Ethan Ellenberg was the keynote speaker, but there were plenty of editors there from a number of publishing houses.

It took me an hour and forty-five minutes to drive there. There was absolutely NO traffic on the Belt Parkway, or the LIE. I just sailed through and got to the luncheon an hour ahead of time because I assumed there would be tie-ups. After all, it's Friday, it's hot, and everyone wants to go to the beach. Right? Well, not quite.

The luncheon was wonderful. It was much smaller than I expected, allowing everyone the opportunity to schmooze with the editors. I sat at a table with two editors, one from Crown Books and one from Avalon. Talking with the other writers was interesting, too. A whole contingent of New Jersey Romance Writers came, but there were three writers from Connecticut as well.

We all received a copy of Bertrice Small's book, LARA. She attended the luncheon and signed the copies. :^)

Some of the news:

Kensington will no longer publish Regencies. However, Signet will continue publishing them.
Historicals are on the decline. Paranormals on the upswing.
Men's fiction is dwindling.
Everyone wants Chick-Lit. Erotica is popular, too.
Harlequin is branching out. They will be releasing thrillers.

At least, that's some of what I heard.

Then I drove home. It took me four hours. The traffic barely crawled all the way from JFK to the Verrazano Bridge. Was everyone on the way to the beach? Or was the traffic due to the thunderstorm? I have no idea, but for the first time in history I actually got tired of listening to my Juice Newton CD.

However, I got back in time to join hubby and daughter #1 for pizza.