November 17, 2006 | social life?
The party was great fun.
The first part of the evening was characterised by being subtly mocked by indulgent males. Anna, Biddy and I got ready at Biddy’s sister’s flat, and her friend Matt turned up to make us encouraging cups of tea and laugh at the various preparations and neuroses that women go through in glamming up for a party. Although the venue wasn’t very far, we had to take a cab because of my extra 30 lbs of baby, and that cab driver found that very amusing. (Yeah, wait till HE’S eight months pregnant.) Then as soon as we walked through the doors of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (where the party was held), the male porter immediately piped up with, “Are you romantic novelists?” He was deriving great enjoyment from asking this question of every woman who walked in the door.
The party was in the library, a lovely space where I quickly found a leather couch next to an electric fan. Conveniently it was directly in front of the door from whence the wait staff were emerging with canapes.
I talked to huge amounts of people and there were plenty of people I would have liked to talk with more. The Mills & Boon editors as always are so much fun; I cornered my Headline editor and told her all about how much in love with my new hero I am (see post below); my agent grabbed me and introduced me to lots of people, notably an editor who is interested in having a look at the erotic science fiction romantic comedy, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, I wrote with Kathy Love.
The baby loves the sound of conversation and he spent the evening kicking merrily, which was a little disconcerting for me because it was clearly visible underneath my dress.
The best part of the evening was how lovely everyone was, my old friends, the professionals I work with, the new people I met. Oh and the mushroom canapes in filo dough. Yum.
Kate Hardy says:
Glad you had such a lovely time at the party. Sorry I wasn’t there (even worse, I *was* in London that day - seeing my agent and eds, whoops).
So baby loves chatting, then? *g* He’s got the right mum for him, then.
Now go back to bed with a warm drink and a good book and chill out. Or I’ll be forced to sic the Slowing Down Police onto you. (And no, that isn’t just to distract them from what I’m doing right now…)
daisy says:
Hi Julie, it was so lovely to see you again, and to meet Biddy and Anna… (I think I feel a bit of a kindred spirit in Biddy, god help her!)
And as I said on the harlequin board, you were looking far too svelte and gorgeous for someone nearing her due date! The message from knocking everything over is definitely to go back to bed, with a good book.
Take care, x Daisy AKA Abby Green
Karen says:
Sounds like you had a great time!
Julie says:
It was a great time. Worth the two days I’ve had to spend resting afterwards.
Kate, no, you can’t distract the SDP by sending them to me.
Daisy, it was great to see you again! You are a breath of fresh air as always and I had a feeling that you and Biddy would get on…
lynne pardoe says:
Wondderful! They are a lovely group of people aren’t they?
Julie says:
Yup.