After lunch I attended the Harlequin Romance Author's Tea Party. I was the first author there so I got a few minutes to chat with the three delightful Mills and Boon editors who'd made the trip across the Pond to Dallas. From left to right are Kimberley Young, Maddie Rowe and Meg Sleightholm. Congrats to the newly engaged Meg! 
Reader favorite Judy Christenberry and NYT's bestselling author Shirley Jump were there. It was great to meet so many of the other authors from my line! We talked about continuities, writing, what editor bought our first manuscript and many other things. Plus there was food and drinks aplenty. 
Talented authors Teresa Southwick and Fiona Harper were also in attendance too! More and more Romance authors kept coming into the room. I wanted to stay, but I had to run off to my literary agency party. 
I headed to the Tucker Restaurant, a longer than expected cab ride from the Hyatt Regency Hotel. As soon as I got there, I grabbed an iced tea and talked to Barbara Freethy , Monica McCarty and Candice Hearn . This is a picture of me and Barbara. We were critique partners when I lived in the Bay Area. She's the one who came up with my first title and helped me make it saleable. Her advice was to put some kind of hook into it. She was absolutely right!
This is me with my wonderful agent Annelise Robey. I was pregnant with Finn when I became a client of hers so that tells you how long we've been together. She's beautiful and smart and I don't know what I'd do without her! I actually owe author Monica Pradhan a huge thanks for telling me to query her, actually for forcing me to do it. She told me to get my butt in the chair and write a query letter even though I had morning sickness really, really bad!
I joined a group of authors in a minivan cab to head back to the hotel. This is me with authors Cindy Kirk and Christie Ridgway . Christie and I have known each other since 1995. We met on Genie, a now disbanded Internet community. Christie is a RITA finalist for her book, Must Love Mistletoe. Her hero, Finn, is named after my son, Finn. How cool is that!Okay off to dinner! More to come!
