RWA 2010

This is me, ready to go, at the Readers for Life, Literacy signing in Orlando, where a fabulous time was had by all. This was my 2nd year signing and I really didn't think anything could top the buzz I got last year, but somehow, this year managed to exceed my expectations. The worst possible scenario to this kind of massive author signing is that no one stops to talk to you, or worse, avoids making eye contact with you. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my table either to: say hello, stare at my book cover, tell me you had no clue what Bunco is, tell me how much you enjoy my books, or even buy a copy!

It was also fun meeting Kelly Gay, whose book The Better Part of Darkness was nominated for a Rita. Kelly sat to my left (all the authors are seated in alphabetical order) and like last year, Cindy Gerard sat to my other side. Cindy was nominated for a Rita last year. That makes 2 years in a row now that I've sat on either side of a Rita nominee. Maybe the juju will rub off on me and I'll get that awesome little Rita flag next to my name. It could happen!

Note to self: When jumping up to hug someone across the table, watch where the water glass is. Yep. I accidentally knocked that glass of water you see on my right all over some books and down a purse. Unfortunately it wasn't my books/purse. It was Cindy's, who was very gracious about the whole thing.

Off to Orlando!

In less than an hour or two (or whenever my last load of laundry gets dried) I'll be packing up the car and heading down to Orlando with Mel. It's the 30th annual Romance Writers of America conference and I plan to suck the marrow (and whatever else I can find) out of it. I spent all yesterday running errands, doing laundry (still!) getting groceries and trying to leave enough food for my men-folk who will be holding down the fort in Tallahassee.

If you're in the Mickey area, please stop by the "Readers for Life" Literacy signing. All the proceeds go to adult literacy foundations, plus you'll get to see some really BIG stars in the romance industry. Right now, I'm a little star, but I'll be there, signing copies of Bunco Babes Gone Wild. Will keep you posted and updated on the week's events.

Oh, and don't forget, Love Sucks! comes out today. Go but it!

Love Sucks!

Do you realize that just 2 days from now the sequel to last year's hot debut YA novel Bite Me! will hit the shelves? That's right. Love Sucks! by the incredibly talented, witty, fantastically awesome Melissa Francis comes out Tuesday. I read the uncopy edited version of this last year and it was fabulous. Can't wait to read it in print. Here's a short blurb:

AJ Ashe may have gotten rid of her vampire stalker and her evil ex-teacher, but things are hardly back to normal. For one thing, she still has to maintain a strict look-but-don't-touch policy with Ryan, her hot ex-boyfriend-turned-stepbrother. For another, she has to learn to control her vampire superpowers—which means more than a few dates with Lex, mind-reading professional vampire trainer and too-sexy-for-his-own-good bad boy. And as if that's not enough, she happens to be the key to her father's plans to take over the world . . . and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.

All this and she's still got to plan the prom. Being a teenager is tough, but being a teenage vampire just flat out sucks!


Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Run out Tuesday to your local bookstore and buy it! And get a copy for your favorite teenage girl. She'll love you for it.

Oh, and if you just so happen to live in the central Florida area, don't miss out on the "Readers for Life" literacy signing at the Romance Writers of America Conference to be held at the Swan and Dolphin Resort. It's Mel's first time signing and my second. Should be a blast! Here's a link with more info.

Travel Insurance, good idea or not?

The jury is still out on this one. I have never in my life bought travel insurance on a domestic airline ticket. Mainly because the price of most airfares seem pretty reasonable and it seems silly to spend an extra 25 bucks or so on a ticket that you're trying to skimp on. So why a couple of months ago I bought travel insurance on an airline ticket from Tallahassee to Nashville, I really can't say. I think mostly it was due to the fact that the ticket cost me almost $500. Yeah. Traveling anywhere from Tallahassee sucks. But I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else, so that's that. I bought my ticket and pretty much ignored the email that came along with it from Access America (my new corporate BFF or enemy- verdict to be determined in 7-14 days).

Then, the rains came. And Nashville and the Grand Opryland Hotel were flooded and suddenly the RWA (Romance Writers of America) conference I was scheduled to attend there in late July was cancelled. I waited, along with a couple thousand other writers to see where the conference would be moved to. Orlando! Wow. Okay. My second home town (I grew up in Melbourne). I cringed (just a bit) when I heard that the conference would be held at the Swan and Dolphin Hotel at Disney World (not that it's not a lovely hotel and conference center) but as a native Floridian, I tend to get tired when all people associate Florida with is Mickey Mouse. But hey, the rat has been good to Florida tourism (as opposed to say, BP oil) so I'm not harping on Mickey and his friends. The hotel is lovely, the conference will be awesome and as long as a hurricane doesn't come along, we'll be in business:) It's a bit early in Hurricane season, so we should be fine. Okay, back to the travel insurance. Now that the conference will be in Orlando, I don't need an airline ticket. I can drive to Orlando faster than it takes to get through airport security. So I go into my saved email and find the Access America post and actually start to read my policy. And somewhere between the pages I begin to think that I have pretty solid grounds to get all my money back and believe me, an extra $500 sounds pretty good to me right now. So I put in my claim, forward all the information they ask for and wait my 7 days to see if I'm approved. I even spoke to a very helpful agent on the phone who aided me with the process.

So, yesterday the 7 days were up. I got on the Internet to see the status of my claim and of course, I couldn't tell what it was from the information provided, so I called the 1-800 number and spoke to another helpful agent on the phone who was also very polite and helpful in telling me that my claim has been pushed forward another 7-14 days. Humph. Okay, I'm not in a hurry, but I'm beginning to get suspicious. Being the patient person I am, I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Stay tuned...