RWA day 4: Jessie Potts checks in from NYC conference

The last day of the Romance Writers of America convention was not only filled with amazing workshops and a humorous breakfast speech by Nalini Singh, but also the glamorous and amazing RITA and Golden Heart awards ceremony. (Check out the winners here.)

Authors, industry professionals and readers dressed up for a night of celebrating what we all love: romance!

We've come so far as a genre, we've gained recognition and respect and become an even more connected community through social media. Watching the best and brightest in our industry get recognized reminded me yet again of how proud I am to be a romance reader!

All the authors and publishers have been so nice and amazing that I can't wait for the next convention! One of my favorite things that happened Saturday was talk of pen names. Some authors love them, some hate them and some have three or more! So I thought: Why not have authors come up with an awesome smexy pen name for RWA? We chose the pen names by using an adjective to describe romance or love (it could be steamy or awkward) and then the celebrity they'd most want to do … romance research with! I have to say most authors chose awkward!

Sonali Dev, author of A Bollywood Affair: Intense Robert (Downey Jr.)

Christopher Rice, author of Kiss the Flame: Swollen (Taron) Egerton

Cynthia Eden, author of Beware of Me: Moist (Hugh) Jackman

Tere Michaels, author of Truth and Tenderness: Succulent (Chris) Evans

Tiffany Snow, author of Power Play: Messy Ian (Somerhalder)

Anna DeStefano, author of Let Me Love You Again: Wet Brad (Pitt)

Jennifer D. Bokal, author of The Gladiator's Mistress: Sweaty (Colin) Farrell

J.S. Scott, author of No Ordinary Billionaire: Intoxicating (Chris) Hemsworth

Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She also does reviews for RT Book Reviews magazine and works in the submissions departments at Dreamspinner Press and Entangled YA. You can follow her on Twitter (@BookTaster).