Thursday was another early morning at this year's RWA conference. My poor roommates. It seems every morning was an early one for me! My day began with a blogger breakfast hosted by Simon and Schuster (who publishes Gallery and Pocket romances) at their beautiful offices. It was informational, energizing, and set the tone for another terrific day. Many thanks to the publisher, publicists and editors for welcoming us into their world and working with us to get the word out to our readers about books, authors and awesome sales. (We all love those special romance deals!)
Everyone looks forward to the craziness of Thursday and Friday. That's when we're all running around like hyped up chickens, bouncing among a variety of informational workshops and the always popular publisher book signings. The publisher signings (not open to the public) are not as packed as the Literacy Autographing (usually), though there are always lines for certain authors, but it often offers more of an opportunity to chat with authors. Here are some photos from the publisher signings:
The marvelously talented - and gracious - Jo Beverley
Lauren Willig's next book, The Lure of the Moonflower (out 8/4) is on Janga's Most Anticipated Historical Romances list.
Toni Blake signs books from her popular Destiny series.
Love Laura Lee Guhrke's books and she's one of the nicest people around.
Have you read Megan Frampton's books yet? Janga highly recommends them.
That's right, folks. It's a photo of me with Lisa Kleypas! (insert fan girl squeal here)
And one of Lisa with Eloisa James. Double the talent, double the fun!
The beautiful Erin Knightley. Because of her awesome packing "how to" video on YouTube (http://tinyurl.com/pbme3qs), I bought packing cubes for this trip. I'm never traveling without them again! I've loved Knightley's A Prelude to a Kiss historical romance series. The Duke Can Go to the Devil was released July 7th and it's terrific!
You never know where you'll find photo opportunities at RWA. Cara Connelly very graciously posed for me as our elevator cruised by the 9th floor of the hotel.
It was fun to see my roommate's name (Lenora Bell), as well as many long-time friends' on the screen during the Avon Spotlight session. So many talented authors came from the 2006 Avon FanLit competition. I'm sure many more will emerge from this year's competition as well.
Do you live in the Memphis, Portland (Oregon) or Chicago areas? Avon KissCon is coming to you!
Workshops, signings and running around the hotel tend to make a body hungry. Luckily for us, Junior's Restaurant is conveniently located behind the hotel and boasts some of the best cheesecake in the city. My roommate, Lisa and I stopped by for a re-energizing lunch before tackling the afternoon signings.
We boast many talented romance authors here in North Carolina, like the wonderful Jeni Burns!
I've so enjoyed Christi Barth's Shore Secrets trilogy, set in New York's Finger Lakes.
It's always a thrill to share a hug with a longtime online friend. Annie is a regular here at the Dish!
I've enjoyed Barbara Devlin's Brethren books and am so happy I finally got the chance to meet her in person. She's a sweetheart!
It's been several years since I last saw Lila DiPasqua. Yes, there were squeals and hugs!
The very talented Christi Caldwell!
How's this for a talented threesome? Jo Beverley, Cara Elliott and Joanna Bourne! You can get "up close and personal" with all of them at their multi-author Word Wenches blog.
Mary Jo Putney's books sit upon many keeper shelves, including mine!
Whose books are on your keeper shelves?
Cheesecake is my guilty pleasure but I rarely eat it unless I'm in New York City. What's your guilty pleasure food?
Three randomly chosen people who leave a comment will receive a signed book from my conference stash.
(U.S./Canada only)
