RWA Conference: Friday Morning Fun and Book Galore

Today I visited with friends and went to several publisher sponsored booksignings. This is where authors sign and giveaway books for free. Can't beat that. I visited many authors and got their books to give away on the blog when I get home. I also had a few signed for me!

I also had lunch with blog commenter Bailey. We went to the pizzeria and had their lunch buffet. It was much better than the dinner at the hotel cafe on Wednesday. We talked about our lives, books we liked, writing and of course, our cats. Bailey kept me smiling and laughing. She's sweet, nice and oh-so-funny. After lunch she accompanied me to the various signings. A very fun time!

This is a picture of my good friend Darla, who I spent the afternoon with on Wednesday. She played photographer during my makeover session. After I downloaded all the pics from that day, I realized I didn't have any pictures of us together! Unfortunately I hadn't seen her again, but we bumped into each other today!

The following author pictures are just a few of the writers I saw at the literacy signing. As of now, I have two boxes of books to ship home. There are still more signings to come! Needless to say, there will be quite a few to giveaway which means...

I need contest input/ideas from you! Should I just pick a winner from those who post comments? Each comment would get you an entry. I could choose a winner each week. Should I just post all the books I have and let the winner choose which one they want? I have all types of romances. Some autographed, some not. How would you like it to work?

Theresa Medeiro's is absolutely lovely. She's got the cutest dimples. We belong to the same literary agency, but I didn't get a chance to meet her yesterday at the party. She was very friendly and so nice when I introduced myself. I know I could say that about all the authors I talked to today, but it's true. In case you're ever intimidated to say hello to an author, don't be. Romance authors are the nicest people in the world.

I got in line at the table of talented and a favorite of many readers Stephanie Laurens'. I got a book for myself and she gave me a book on CD, The Truth About Love, for the blog giveaway. I'd never met her before and she was very welcoming and friendly. There were so many authors to see. For this romance reader, I felt like a kid in a candy store.



I'll be honest. I haven't decided what to do with Susan Elizabeth Phillips' book, First Lady. She did a generic autograph because her line was very long so I could give it away. Decisions. Decisions. I snapped a picture of her and she told me to find her later so we could take one together! Isn't she just the best!!!



I couldn't bypass Jane Porter's table. Jane is such a wonderful writer. We've known each other for years. She writes for both Harlequin and 5 Spot. I picked up an autographed copy of Flirting with Forty to give away! I also had to have a pic taken with her.

Hope you're having fun! Now to get back downstairs until it's time to get ready for the Harlequin Party.

Be sure to let me know how you think the book giveaway should work!

RWA Conference: Thursday Night

I met three of the authors writing the continuity in the lobby and we had dinner at a restaurant called Gloria's. Starting with me and going clockwise, Linda Goodnight , Susan Meier and Shirley Jump. Over margaritas we discussed the workshop we'll be giving on Saturday. We also came up with a few marketing ideas for The Wedding Planners continuity. Looks like we'll be putting together a blog for it!

After dinner, I attended the National Reader's Choice Award ceremony. This is Linda and new Steeple Hill author Janet Dean. Yummy looking food to eat (I was too stuffed from dinner to try anything!) and an open bar. Editors and agents attended with their finalist authors, too. We saw Kimberley Young and Maddie Rowe from HMB. Ellen Edwards from NAL was there. As was Mary-Theresa Hussey from Silhouette and many others I don't recognize, but could see the blue line on the bottom of their pages marking them as publishing professionals.

I then headed to my hotel room. I talked to the kids who are staying at my parents' house. Rose started crying because she missed me so much. My heart just broke. It took awhile to calm her down, but after promising to bring her something home (she asked for chocolate M&Ms) she wasn't so hysterical. I then called hubby and caught up with him. My roommate, Shirley Marks got home and we went off in search of boxes so I can ship home all the free books I've picked up here that I'll be giving away to you! We bumped into four of my favorite people and amazingly talented writers. From right to left, Elizabeth Bevarly , me, Barbara Samuel , Christie Ridgway and Teresa Hill down in front. Shirley and I found boxes and headed back to the room. We were both tired! I worked a bit before calling it a night.

On tap for Friday, not much! I'm having lunch with blog commenter Bailey and the Harlequin Party later tonight! Have a great Friday!

RWA Conference: Thursday Afternoon

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!

RWA Conference: HMB Author Get-together

After the Literacy signing, I met up with a group of Harlequin Mills & Boon authors. The waits at the hotel restaurants were too long so we headed to Presents author Sandra Marton's room and had pizza delivered.

Here we are waiting for the pizza to be delivered. In clockwise order starting with the first person on the bed, Sandra Marton, new Presents author Jenny Lucas, Medical author Olivia Gates, Modern Extra author Jenna Bayley-Burke, Romance and Modern Extra author Trish Wylie, Romance and Medical author Marion Lennox, Romance author Fiona Harper and Romance author Carol Culver.

Marion and Fiona are both RITA finalists. Marion has two books in the finals. Fiona's first book is a finalist in two categories: Traditional and Best First Book.





Jenna and Trish were a lot of fun. They made a run to the bar and brought up two bottles of win and a bottle of bubbly!

We were an international group with the following countries represented: Australia, Egypt, England, Ireland and the USA. Three of us were from the Pacific Northwest!



Marion brought yummy Tim Tams all the way from Australia for us to eat. They were chocolate and very yummy. I ended up sticking three in my purse to take home to the kidlets! Jenna said her kids love them.





Olivia brought melt in your mouth baklava all the way from Alexandria, Egypt. She also gave each one of us a lovely Egyptian pewter frame! If you visit the community boards at eharlequin, you might remember Olivia's story of selling her first book a couple of years ago.




A final group shot after dinner before we headed out to other parties or off to sleep. It was really fun meeting HMB authors who's books I've read and enjoyed (some for many, many years!)

RWA Conference: Literacy Signing

Remember how Harlequin told RWA they wouldn't be shipping any books for the Literacy Booksigning? Well, they shipped them. Of course, I wasn't planning to sign so I showed up late, without changing, without anything. Argh! The authors on either side of me said people had been stopping by wondering where I was. In the thirty minutes or so I was there, I did sell a few books.

Harlequin Historical Romance author Michelle Willingham stopped by to say hi and we took this picture together.

Another blog commenter, Bailey, stopped by too and it was great to put a face to the name. She also had me cracking up with her one liners!

I was seated next to author Monica McCarty, a fellow Stanford alum. She introduced me to two other Stanford alum romance writers, Jami Alden (pictured here with me and Monica) and Bella Andre.

It was great to sell some books for a good cause, I just wish I'd been there from the beginning!

RWA Conference: Wednesday Day

I headed down to the registration desk around ten and picked up my packet. They gave us each a bag to carry around as well as goodies and a badge. This was the first time I got to put a hot pink "speaker" ribbon on my badge! I would have preferred a green "finalist" one, but it was announced on Wednesday the Traditional category of the RITA award has been eliminated, so the changes of that happening are slim to none now.

I went to the goodie room and got lots of free books which I plan to give away on this blog. So stay tuned for that. I just have to figure out how to get them home. Most likely find a box somewhere and ship them!

I then walked by the lounge and saw fellow Harlequin Romance writer and good friend, Shirley Jump. A quick hug and we grabbed a table to chat. At the next table was a long-time ago critique partner who came up with the title for my first book and the first friend I made when I joined San Francisco Romance Writers Barbara Freethy .

Everywhere I turned I saw familiar faces, but I had to meet a fellow PNW writer, Darla Lukenbach, for lunch. Darla and I have a Wednesday lunch tradition at conferences and seeing her was something I've really been looking forward to. We took the DART train one stop and ate at a Mexican restaurant called RJ's. Yummy food and great conversation. We then hopped back on the train, traveled one more stop and walked to Neiman Marcus to do a little window shopping.

I saw a pair of green heels I wanted immediately. They would have matched my new dress perfectly. I made a beeline toward them and smiled when I saw the Sale sign on the rack. I picked up the shoes, recognized the Manolo Blahnik label, turned them over and swallowed hard. On sale for $595. Regular price $7-hundred-something. I saw the seven and put them back. They were cute, but lets just say if I had that kind of money to spend on a pair of green shoes I'd use it to pay for my cat Rocket's I131 treatment instead.

So we went off to look at the purses. Most were over $1000. You could pick up a sale one for around $500.

We perused the jewelry cases oohing and awing over the sparklies underneath the glass case.

Then it was off to the make-up department. I had gotten a little sunburned this past weekend on my face (overcast weather and I didn't put enough sunscreen) and I wasn't liking the way the mineral powder foundation looked. I'm so not a make-up girl so as soon as we walked in I looked right at two women behind the counter. I must have looked lost because they asked what I needed. I told them, and they motioned us over to their section. Bobbi Brown. I ended up sitting down in the chair and getting a make-over.

Make-up artist Fallon, who was named after the character in Dynasty a show I watched weekly back in the '80s, worked her Bobbi Brown magic on me. She also taught me what each item was and what it was for. Special thanks to Darla who played photographer! And, of course, to Fallon who made the makeover so much fun!

Here I am with everything applied. What do you think? I'd never seen Bobbi Brown makeup before. Not surprising since I usually avoid the cosmetic section of department stores. I was impressed with the product though and went home with a few items. They gave Darla and I each a bottle of French perfume as a gift, too!

RWA Conference

It's hot and humid in Dallas! I arrived yesterday, met up with my roomie and got settled in. Every where you look are authors. I saw Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz in the lounge last night. I recognized many other faces, but couldn't put names to them.

I'll start reporting in on conference happenings as I have time. Have a great day!

Cape Disappointment

This is the Cape Disappointment Light House. The name came from Captain Meares when he couldn't find the mouth of the river he was looking for. This picture was taken from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We toured it with the kidlets. Fascinating museum and they give kids activity books to fill out so they can earn junior ranger badges! That was this enough work to count as this week's summer assignment.

This is the trail we hiked on Saturday morning. Lewis (of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition) used it when he explored the area. It's one way, so after we reached the North Head lighthouse we had to walk back down. It was also another .25 miles one way to the light house so you can imagine how tired the kidlets were. Plus it was like a roller coaster going up and down as we gained elevation. Needless to say, the youngest had to be carried at a couple of points. We'd bought plenty of water and snacks to keep them going!


This is a tree on the hike that we named Mother Willow. If you've seen the Disney movie Pochantas, you'd understand the name. The kids loved climbing on all the big, old trees on the path. You can't really get the scale of the tree without a person in it, but it's huge.

One thing if you go: remember bug spray! We'd covered ourselves back at the yurt, but I'd wished I'd brought it with us.


This is one of the views from the trail. Though much of the trail was like walking in a rain forest. There was a bubbling spring with a bridge crossing it. Depending on where you were, you could hear the roar of the ocean and then you'd walk inland and it would disappear only to come back as you drew closer to the shore.



This is a picture of the North Head Lighthouse. The area has two lighthouses to keep ships safe. The Coast Guard checks the light bulbs in this one every 90 days. They have backup bulbs in case one goes out. I didn't realize each lighthouse has it's on timing so ships can figure out where they are based on the light interval.


This is the view from the lighthouse keeper's trail that leads to the gift shop. The lighthouse keeper used to walk this way for his job. We heard a story how his wife walked miles and miles through rugged terrain and then threw herself off the cliff. She got fed up with the isolation. You'd think just leaving would have been a better solution!



Another shot of the North Head lighthouse. You can't seem in the picture, but people rent the Lighthouse keeper and assistant's houses as vacation rentals. They are really lovely with fenced yards.

It was a lovely area and we will be going back again!

Yurt Camping

This is our yurt at Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington. It's a cross between a cabin and a tent. There are canvas walls, windows and a high roof with a sky light at the top so you can see starts at night. The yurt also has electricity and heat.



The inside has a futon couch that makes into a queen bed, a twin bed on the top of the bunk and a full sized bed on the bottom. There's also a small table. It was quite comfortable and warm. Much better than our tent we used over the 4th of July holiday.


This is another view of the inside. You just have to bring bedding, clothes, cooking utensils and food. There is water outside. The restroom with showers (50 cents for three minutes of hot water) is a short walk away. The kids have already said they want to rent this exact yurt again next year.


There is a picnic table and a fire pit. We cooked hamburgers (grilled portobello mushrooms for me!), hot dogs, corn on the cob, salmon and lots of s'mores on the fire pit grill.

With kids, yurt camping is much easier than tent camping. Less stuff to bring and more room. On the coast, it can be overcast and cold so having a place to warm up and play inside for a few minutes is key. Of course, the kidlets cared less about the gray skies and were in the swimsuits on the beach. They couldn't play in the waves due to the strong current, but there was a little pool of water leftover from high tide that was perfect for them to splash around in!

My plane is boarding, but I will post more pics of our hike and the North Light House once I'm in Dallas!

Bye for now!!!!!

I'm late, i'm late...

Sorry for not posting the camping report. I hope to do it at the airport while waiting for my flight which is delayed two hours. At least American Airlines called to tell me. Of course, they called at 3:15 am. Argh! I had trouble falling back to sleep after that.

Anyway, yesterday was spent in a rush to get packed. Stops at Costco and Nordstrom. A visit to have a French manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows waxed. A dash by the dry cleaners to pick up my two dresses for Friday and Saturday nights. I also splurged on a new dress at a place called Accentuates. I'm going to wear that dress on Thursday when I have a tea party for Harlequin Mills and Boon authors and another party put on by my literary agency.

Okay, gotta get to the airport. They have wireless so I should be able to get some blog stuff done!

Hope you are doing well!

Back!

We had a great time this weekend camping. I'll post pics and a report when I get back from Pilates. Slept in late this morning. It was good to be back in my own bed!

I'm also getting packed for Dallas today and need to run by the mall on the way home. I leave for the National RWA conference tomorrow. I'm hoping to post daily updates from the happenings there!

Hope you're having a nice Monday so far!

Outta here

Ran out of time to write a longer post. I'm off to Cape Disappointment on the Washington state coast for a weekend of yurt camping. Hope you have a fun weekend! Talk to you on Monday!!!

Fun in the Sun

In the Pacific NW, a sunny fourth is never a given, but yesterday the sun burst on the scene and never faded until late in the evening. Here's how I spent my Independence Day.

At 5:14 am, I was woken from a peaceful sleep by Little Jerry, my nephew's rooster. The cock-a-doodle-dooing cut through the quiet morning air. Everyone except my four year old heard it, but most went back to sleep. Not easy to do though with the noise continuing for three hours until the last of us crawled from the tents. Fried chicken for breakfast never sounded so good.

Do you remember the chocolate lab puppy I unexpectedly won at the auction last fall and gave to my niece and nephews for Christmas? Meet Hershey! He's a beautiful, sweet and friendly pup (though no longer so little) who kept us company. He's quite the water dog and loves swimming in the creek as much as the kids do.

As the kids ate breakfast, I started my annual viewing of 1776. My sister kept popping into the living room to watch her fave scenes with me and discuss the historical significance of the day. Meanwhile hubby and my brother-in-law moved tables and chairs down to the water for the party later. The kids got tired of waiting and hopped in a raft to go down the "rapids." Hershey didn't want to be left out of the fun! He swam alongside the raft.

We spent the rest of the day creek side. The creek meanders and isn't too deep, but it's perfect for rafting and tubing and just having fun in the water. Water gun battles, too. Several families and other family members joined us for a BBQ. I got to see a friend and her two daughters who I hadn't seen in three years. It was great catching up with her.

We ended the day with a big fireworks show. Last year I remember wearing sweatpants and cuddling under a blanket. This year the temperature stayed warm and only a sweatshirt was needed. We didn't get home until after midnight and rousing the kidlets wasn't easy. They wanted to sleep in the minivan!

Hope you had a Happy Fourth of July! What was your fave moment yesterday?

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! I hope the Americans reading this are having a fun time celebrating the birth of our country and that everyone else in the world is having a great day!

I'm a patriotic sap so I wanted to share some YouTube videos to honor of this special day. Enjoy!

ID4: President Whitmore's Speech


1776: The Signing the Declaration of Independence


The Patriot: Proud to be An American Montage


Hope you and your family have a wonderful 4th of July!

Fireworks Galore

In Washington State, they sell the good fireworks. Forget the ones you set on the ground, light and watch sparks fly out. Ours get shot into the air in these little cannon tubes. They explode in the sky the way real fireworks should. Needless to say, ever since they went on sale on the 28th there have been lots of firework shows in the neighborhood! Hubby's getting ours today for tomorrow night.

I took the kids to the zoo. They each had to pick an animal to write a report on this week. Can't have their brains stop working this summer! The oldest picked an Amur leopard, middle picked a bald eagle and youngest a black bear. They each took pictures of their animal and now must research them.

We also stopped by the Children's Museum to see the Arthur (PBS cartoon) exhibit. The kids really enjoyed this so we will go back to this again.

I thought I'd put a couple of scenes from 1776 to get us all in the mood for the fourth. I really liked this musical!

The Vote:


The Writing of the Declaration of Independence:


Do you have plans for the 4th of July? We'll be celebrating with my family at my sister's place. A day of playing in the creek, eating and fun.

Wildflowers and winning

Yesterday we decided to go on a family hike. Hubby wanted to do the loop around the lake, but I wanted something longer so we compromised and did part of the lake loop then cut up and did the Camas Lily Loop.

The fields of lillies were gone, but it was still a nice hike. This is the trail, more rugged, uneven, rocky and narrower than the normal lake loop.

We did see many different types of wildflowers on the hike. And these are all shots of them including a final shot of the lake on our way home. The kids did well though the hour and a half walk took it's toll on the youngest. She had to be carried a couple of places, but she made it home! And took a really good nap later on.

After we got home, hubby wanted to check out Goodwill. The kids each brought their wallets and purses. Good thing they had their own money because I doubt I would have bought what they wanted (with the exception of the head thingy. Way cool.) Oldest bought a stuffed German Shepherd. Son found this really cool spygear head-thingy that lights up and Pokemon cards. Youngest got this Barbie thingy that plays music and sound effects. Son gave her the money to buy it which was really nice.

I ended up with some books. All in trade format. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, How To Be Good by Nick Hornsby and To Have and To Hold by Jane Green. I'll add these to my ever growing TBR pile!



Later hubby and I headed to the Canada Day party. I was on the Beavers team. He was on the Loonies team. We played street hockey and burned many calories. Good thing because the food was so yummy. I loved these things called Naimo (sp?) bars. Think chocolate and cream dessert. Yummy. There was also maple fudge and Queen Elizabeth bars. My team one the Stanley Cup by winning the street hockey tournament.


We earned points for our team by playing different Canadian games. The points were tallied before a team trivia competition. We didn't do as well there as another team, but we'd accumulated enough points to win the night. Go Beavers!

Hope you had a fun Sunday!

Happy Canada Day!

One of my furbabies, Spirit, wants to wish all of our friends north of the border a Happy Canada Day! Okay, really she's letting me know how much she hates the vacuum cleaner.

Later today, hubby and I will be attending a Canada Day party. A group of Canadians, whose kids attend the same school as ours, put it on each year and offer it as a party buy-in at the annual auction. We will play street hockey and other games, drink Canadian beer, eat Canadian food and have a trivia contest later in the evening. I'll have to surf the Internet later and brush up on my Canada knowledge.

The recital went great. Rose was a beautiful ballerina. The day took a turn for the worst after church though. She ran into her brother and hurt her arm. She was so upset she stopped breathing. (This happens when she gets really upset.) I told hubby she wasn't breathing, but he couldn't reach her soon enough. She backed off the curb and fell back landing right on her head. This started her breathing again, but the goose egg was huge and the tears endless. We drove home, put ice on it and I held her for the rest of the evening, hoping a big bump and scab were going to be the only things we had to worry about. We got the other two to bed, but she wanted to sleep with us so we laid down on either side of her with the intention of getting up once she fell asleep. Needless to say, I woke up at midnight, saw hubby and daughter sound asleep, checked her, then went right back to sleep. She's feeling much better.

It's a beautiful sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. The party doesn't start until 4 pm so I want to go out and do something as a family. Just need to figure out what.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!