Bookmarks, Contests, and a NYC Wrap-Up!

Right off the bat, I've got to tell you about a lovely author who invited me over to blog today.  Joan Swan, who makes her Kensington debut soon, interviewed me...and she's made absolutely GORGEOUS bookmarks with a Dark Awakening theme.  There are five she's giving away, and you have to see how pretty they are!  Apart from that, there's a copy of Renegade Angel and a signed copy of Dark Awakening up for grabs.  Prizes galore!  Please come visit, it was great fun to do the interview.  And for real, those bookmarks.  WOW.  Click HERE to go!

And now, the NYC recap.  I realize I'm late on this, but I paid for my week o' fun with the Migraine From Hell, which cranked up shortly after I got home.  The week was well worth the headache, but it took me until today to really feel human again.  So without further adieu, here are some snippets from my week in New York!

On Tuesday, I quickly met up with my buddy Cheryl Brooks and some of her Sextet (if you like some serious hawtness, check out their menage anthologies from Siren...or just check out Cheryl's Cat Star Chronicles, because ROWR).  We wandered away from Times Square and, um, in some sort of direction.  I don't know what direction because I never really know where I am.  Eventually, we ended up at the Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue, and did what writers do...we hunted for our new releases!  It was soooo cool to find them both, nearly side by side!  After that we went to Trump Tower to have lunch. The man has his face on the water bottles, his daughter's jewelry line on display, and a bunch of Apprentice-themed junk for sale.  It's like crappy Disney World.  Still, we had a ball.  Except for the hair I found in my salad, which then got exchanged for another salad.  Ew.

That night was the ENORMOUS Literacy for Life signing.  The one in which I participated a couple of years ago in DC was nowhere near this big!  I had my little RITA finalist flag at my spot, and I only barely restrained myself from making off with it.  I can't even begin to describe the noice to you.  Check out this little vid of the place before the doors opened to the public.  The sound?  Just authors.

After that, a bunch of us, including the lovely Marie Force, went and got rowdy at Sardi's.  There, it was decided that erotic YA Amish romance is, indeed, the wave of the future.  The food was great, but I could have eaten twice as much as what I ordered.  I know, right?  Oink.  I loves mah food.  Here's me and Sextet member Mellanie Szereto.

Wednesday was kind of the Literacy Signing hangover day.  It had been so loud, and I shouted so much (because it's impossible to talk otherwise) that my throat was pretty raw.  On the upside, I got to sit by Janet Chapman, who has been enchanting readers for a loooong time, and she is a completely awesome human being.  I loved talking to her.  On my other side was Linda Castillo, who made a smart, funny neighbor.  I am seriously in awe of these women.  Seeing what they have done and continue to do keeps me pushing.

So Wednesday I had lunch with Ann Leslie Tuttle, my editor at Nocturne, and we went to a very swanky restaurant called Blue Fin.  Several tables away Tara Gavin was entertaining the likes of Gena Showalter and Nalini Singh.  I was very good and did not explode into some kind of insane fangirl moment...but you know I wanted to!  Instead, I had a lovely time with Ann Leslie.  She showed me pictures of her adorable baby.  I made her look at pictures of my kids and my big slobbery dogs.  It was great:)

I had my fangirl moment later, and also snagged a signed copy of Archangel's Consort. *happy sigh*

I wore a lot of black, by the way.  And my feet are still killing me.  Such pretty heels.  Such terrible instruments of torture.  Wednesday night I went to dinner with Kristen Callihan, who makes her debut with Grand Central in the spring with Firelight, a Victorian paranormal that not only has a gorgeous cover, but is also just generally kick-ass from the excerpt I read.  Kristen is awesome.  We had burgers and beer, and I failed to get her to adore fried pickles.  Check out her cover!

Thursday was insane.  Had a great meeting with Kevan...you know, I'm just realizing that I have NO pictures of Kevan and I.  I have no idea why.  I ran around a lot.  I grabbed too many signed books because I have no willpower, got to attend the GH/RITA finalist reception (free champagne, woot!), and then walked with a group of people to the Grand Central cocktail party.  There are not words for how cool it was.  Hopefully someone will have pictures from it...I know there were some taken.  I, um, had my hands full of a glass of ever-refilling wine. *ahem*  I just love the staff there...so much energy!  So irritatingly younger than me!  SO FREAKING FUN.  After taht, I caught a cab back to the hotel, and my father (who had arrived earlier in the day) and I went to see Rain, the Beatles tribute on Broadway.  It so rocked.  I grew up loving the Beatles, and it was great fun to do this with Dad.  The guys who play them are just crazy talented.  Then we went for the best Italian food I've had in years at Villa Barulia.  Great night.

Friday arrived.  I was dragging butt a little, but it's hard to flag for long when you've got all this outside your window (an insane 44 floors down!).  I was nervous for the RITAs.

The day was a blur.  Had a great sit-down with Selina McLemore, my editor (who, damn it, is also younger than me by a couple of years!).  Ran into a lot of fun people.  Talked incessantly.  Ate very good sushi.  And in the evening, made my way to the Marsal-Lyon Agency cocktail party waaaay up in The View Lounge at the top of the hotel.  It rotates. *urp*  I combattted the unpleasasnt sensation with cosmos and good conversation.  Here's me, Marie Force, and Robin Kaye enjoying the evening.

I was already all dressed up for the awards, as was my dad.  Didn't he look handsome?  I was seriously so, so glad he was there.  And he was in awe of what a big event this actually is.

So after a quick dinner with Marie, Dad and I made our way to the ballroom to meet Ann Leslie.  I had to do some mini-interview, which I barely remember and probably don't want to.  My nerves were shot!  Plus, I always think I must look like a complete dork.  Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, who knows?  Or maybe I'll just try not to ever see it. 

The ceremony itself was great.  I loved listening to the speeches of the writers who won...all very inspiring.  I didn't end up taking home the gold statue, but you know, being at conference this year made me realize that I'm at the beginning of what looks like it could be a nice, long career.  As impatient as I am, I do have time.  All I can do is keep working hard.  Um, and I really do want to win one of those statues one day:)  After it was all over, Dad snapped a shot of me and my cheering section.  Can't tell you how lovely it was to have two of my dearest friends rooting for me in the audience!

You know, I'm 34.  You'd think that eventually I would stop being surprised that I am possessed of a fairly ridiculous amount of cleavage.  And yet, this picture made my eyebrows go up.  Oh well...artfully displayed is key, right?:)

I spent the rest of the night in my room, decompressing and eating incredible bacon-covered pizza with my father.  I was sad, sure.  There's just as much stress as excitement involved in something like the RITAs, but I wouldn't have traded a moment of it.  And I was, cheesy as it may sound, proud of every woman who took the podium that night.  Writing is tough.  Celebrating the women who do it, and do it well, is wonderful.

So here I am, back at home.  I spent a nice weekend with my parents (at least, utnil my stupid headache kicked up).  I have been hugged and slobbered on, I have thrown my heels into the recesses of my closet, and I'm getting back to work. 

And there you have it...probably the longest post I've ever done on here!  Have a great day, ladies, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  
 
 

Tattoo You

Last night I was busily ordering stuff online.  "Signed By Author" stickers for books, which I have somehow never had until now, were a must for the national conference.  I also ordered about 200 temporary tattoos of the Cait Sith mark.  I'll be giving them out in NYC, but provided they turn out ok (I see no reason why they shouldn't), I'm going to make them available on my website too, as a freebie.  So look for that sometime soon...I just want to make sure they're as cool as it looks like they'll be before I display them!  Depending on which dynasty has the focus in each group, and how well people like these, I'll add more dynasty marks as we go along.  So if you're planning to come to the big Literacy for Life signing on June 28th in NY, I'll be there with fresh new copies of Dark Awakening, bookmarks, and tats!  Yay!

I was also messing with my schedule for New York.  Holy crap, I'm going to be busy!  Way busier than a couple of years ago when I attended the one in DC.  Lunches, cocktail parties, get-togethers, publisher spotlights, signings, and a few workshops I want to take...this is very interesting, and pretty intimidating, for a small town, runs-around-in-ratty-jean-shorts kind of girl.  Still, I'm psyched.  I just hope my feet hold up.  God, I hate heels.  Cool thing is my dad, who has done business in the city for years and isn't intimidated by it at all, is coming in on Thursday to be my RITA date for Friday:-)  So I'll get out of the pressure cooker for a while on Thursday night, which I'll likely need because Thursday looks insane at this point.  We're going to a Beatles tribute show (he's the guy who raised me to have an undying love of The Beatles) and a yummy (very late) Italian dinner.  I've been pining for good Italian food!  Win or lose, I'm so glad I'll have family there to cheer me on, and since my dad is the guy I got all of my "writer stuff" from, it's good that it's him.  We share a sense of humor, so I know I'll be entertained:-)

Have a great Wednesday! 

Party at Aunty Cindy's!

I'm hanging at my buddy Aunty Cindy's today to talk about my RITA final.  Click here to swing by!  I'd love it if you came over to chat.  As for me, I'll be back to regular blogging when the book is turned in, quite soon.  Confession: I kind of suck at multi-tasking:-)  I did decide what sort of dance I should do if I actually WIN a RITA...I discovered the wonder that is Big Freedia yesterday.  Can I make my booty move like that?  Will I stand on my head at the awards ceremony?  Will they throw me out for standing on my head and shaking my booty?  Only time will tell...
 

Renegade Angel is a RITA finalist!

I knew today was the day that the phone calls went out for the RITA finalists.  And I'm not going to lie, even though I knew I was up against a LOT of fabulous writers, I had that little glimmer of hope that I'd get a call.  And...right about 11:00 am...

I got one:-)

Did I squeal in the lovely Jeannie Adams' ear?  Oh yes.  Did I hang up and shriek at the top of my lungs?  Oh hell yes.  I'm still shaking.  I know that a lot of readers probably don't even really know what a RITA is, but the best way I can describe it is sort of the Oscars of Romance.  It's a big, peer-judged contest...THE big contest, and we hold a lavish awards ceremony every year at the national conference, on the last night.  And this year, I'll be sitting there with Kevan (my agent) and Ann Leslie (my Nocturne editor), in my pretty new dress (which I'm going to need to buy!), and loving that this book was recognized for being something special.  I don't care if I win.  I'm just honored, and thrilled, and I wish I could bottle this feeling and pull it out whenever I feel like things are too tough.  It's a difficult business...but there's so much magic in some of the moments it gives you.

It's a good day.  A really, really good day!!