Eat, Drink and Roll!

There's a new Bunco group in town and they're the DrunkoBabes of Midlothian, Virginia.

The fabulous Jacksonville Divas with Dice are now on my links section, because of course, in my world, Bunco groups never go away, they simply get their own page.

The Drunkobabes have this fabulous traveling pig. Yes, you heard me, a traveling pig. Really, it's one of the best Bunco tips ever. But you don't have to believe me. Go see for yourself. Right here.

And while you're there check out their chocolate martini recipe.

Other updates to my website include some new reviews for Bunco Babes Tell All. Here's a great one from Fallen Angels Reviews.

Fallen Angels Reviews
Recommended Read

Kitty Burke, Pilar Diaz-Rothman, and Shea Masterson are best friends and also founding members of The Bunco Babes of Whispering Bay. Every Thursday these friends along with nine other women meet up at each other's houses to eat, drink frozen margaritas, have fun and play Bunco.

Kitty is just thirty-five. She and her friends think it is about time that she found Mr. Right. When Kitty's toilet breaks down, she gets a delicious surprise in the form of Steve, the plumber. Steve happens to be her ex-boyfriend's cousin. He is in town for a few weeks. Kitty would like to start something up with Steve, but Pilar and Shea don't think Steve is the right choice as he has been married three times. Will Steve turn out to be Mr. Right or will he be Mr. Wrong?

I loved Kitty. She is my absolute favorite. First there is her encounter with Steve. Making first impressions is the most important thing when meeting a guy. Kitty definitely knows how to make one on Steve. It is no wonder he didn't run after her first performance. Then there is Kitty's phobia. She has what is called stripperphobia. This is the fear of having a stripper remove his clothing and wave his thing in your face, while being handcuffed to a chair. Now after reading all about stripperphonbia, if this doesn't make you want to read Bunco Babes Tell All then I don't know what will. Maria Geraci has become my new favorite author of 2009! I can't wait to read her next piece of work.

Author Q &A and book give away

Today, I'm blogging over at The Knight Agency blog, giving you a little sample of some of the Q & A we did while on our Author Tour. One lucky commenter will win an autographed copy of each of our books. Comments will stay open till Sunday night, so go on over and learn a little about what it takes to get published and maybe you can have these awesome reads in your summer reading bag!

Author Tour Day 3

So after a fantastic day 2 on Author Tour I arrived back to my hotel room exhausted. Unfortunately, I don't stay exhausted. Don't you hate it when you're really tired and you crawl into bed, only to find that you can't fall asleep? Where is the cotton-mouth-producing Benadryl when you need it? I'll tell you where- back at home in my medicine cabinet. Fat good it does me there.

Fortunately for me "Titanic" was on T.V. I just can't resist seeing Jack and Rose fall in love, so I watch it again for the zillionth time. After it's done, I think, great! now I can fall asleep. Nope. Because then "Enough" with Jennifer Lopez comes on and for some reason (never was really crazy about the movie) I now find it fascinating. By the time J Lo kicks Billy Campbell's very nice butt in, I'm beyond exhausted and finally fall asleep. But I wake up a tad later than I wanted and I was supposed to meet Debbie at 8:40 in the hotel lobby so we could go to mass. I rush and shower and dress and am, like, 15 minutes off schedule, so we get to mass a tad late (but before the readings so we're okay in the technical Catholic sense).

After mass, we go back to the hotel, meet Deidre and Shannon and head to Athens, home of the UGA Bulldogs. Now that my son is about to be a Gator I suppose I should feel some animosity toward the Dawgs, but I don't. We meet up with Jennifer and Jia and Jennifer's daughter and her friend and have brunch at this New Orleans style place, which I can't remember the name of to save my life. I have poached eggs over crab cakes and it's beyond yummy. Now, with my tummy stuffed, we all head over to Borders.

The Borders in Athens is awesome. Vicki, our contact person, has set up our signing in the rear of the store. Jia puts up the purple and white balloons (the red and white ones have died) and the awesome TKA author sign and we're set. The crowd in Athens is very nice, and I get to meet Jessica Hunt, whose husband Chris interviewed me for the Athens newspaper. I'd sent her a copy of my book last month and she told me she loved it (and I loved hearing that!) We answer questions, sign books and thank the crowd for coming. It's sad in a way, because now it's over. Jennifer and Debbie have to leave, but Deidre, Shannon, Jia and I stay to have coffee and do a little book shopping. I immediately check out the romance section (very nice) and an even nicer section toward the middle of the store that features a lot of women's fiction-Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella, etc, and decide that this is where I should be. It's obviously a co-op space, but I snag a few of my books and place them prominently next to my idol, Sophie. Hey, if I don't push for my own work, then who will, right?

After having a frozen caramel coffee drink (which is not called a frappuccino, since this word is copyrighted by Starbucks- something I learned while writing Bunco Babes Tell All) D and I say goodbye to Jia and Shannon and head back to Madison where my car is located. After fiercely hugging D goodbye, I gas up my minivan and head to Cracker Barrel to get an audio book for the trip back home. I select "Every Breath you Take" by Judith McNaught. JM was one of the first romance authors I loved and her "Paradise" remains one of my favorite romances of all time. I'm a little ticked to find that the audio book is abridged (hate that!) but it passes away the time and before you know it (and despite getting lost just once- see a theme hear?) I arrive back in Tallahassee, worn out, happy and ready to hit my bed.

This Friday, I'll be blogging on the TKA blog highlighting some of the Q&A we did. Hope to see you there!

Author Tour Day 2

Sadly, Author Tour is now over. I meant to blog about Day 2 and 3 as it happened, but Saturday and Sunday got away from me. All I can say is that I had a blast and am extremely sad it's now over.

Day 2 (Saturday) started out with me picking up Shannon at her hotel. We hit the drive through at Mickey D's then swung by Deidre's house which is near the historic old downtown section of Madison. Just as I pulled into her gravel driveway, a horse-drawn carriage filled with a small group of tourists went ambling by the road behind her house. If you didn't know better you'd swear you were in another century. The homes in Madison are quite frankly my dear, beyond lovely. Deidre told us the story of how Madison avoided Sherman's torch during the civil war. Apparently, one of Madison's citizens, Joshua Hill was a pro-Union senator. He also had ties to Sherman's brother at West Point. He met Sherman at the entrance of the city and begged him not to burn his home. Deidre said that the story goes that the citizens of Madison laid out all their valuables on their front yards so that the Yankees would take their things, but spare their homes. Thus, Madison avoided the fate of most of rest of Georgia's towns along Sherman's route. Pretty cool, huh?

So after we do a little historic tour of Madison, Deidre, Shannon and drove to Buford in my mini-van, with D directing us with her hand held GPS tool (more on that later). The ride was beautiful. We went through small town after small town past cotton fields and talked about everything from our writing to bizarre unrelated topics like Pica (the compulsion to eat dirt).

We arrive at Books for Less in Buford where everything is pre-set up for our Author Q&A and book signing in the adjoining coffee shop. Jia has everything set up, including the red and white balloons I now recognize from yesterday's signing and the awesome poster. The crowd is very friendly and is genuinely interested in the publishing business. Most of them are writers and aspire to publish one day. We get asked a broad range of questions, including the old "Where do you get your ideas from?" I really love listening to my fellow TKA sisters answer this question. Dreams, daydreams, fantasies, etc, is the answer most given. I tell the crowd that most of my inspiration comes from real live experiences, from listening to other people and people watching (the crowd now looks at me suspiciously, wondering if one of them will end up in one of my books)- no really, they are very gracious, and after our Q&A we sign books and munch down on some tasty snacks that Jennifer has provided.

Deidre, Shannon and I all load back up in our car to meet Jia and Jennifer and Debbie (who didn't attend the Buford signing b/c of familial obligations) and head back to Madison for the next signing. This is where D's GPS system fails us. We get lost no less than at least 4-5 times, however this is not necessarily a bad thing b/c we get to see more of the beautiful Georgia countryside, hit a Chick-fil-A for something to drink, and do what all writers do whenever they are together- talk about and plot their books:)

We arrive at Dog Ear Books in Madison (one of the cutest book stores ever!) where Jia has arranged the red and white balloons and the now much beloved TKA signing poster with our faces and books on it. I know I'm showing my complete dweebness again when I say that seeing a bookstore poster with my face and book on it gives me a thrill like no other. I really hope I never lose that feeling:) We meet a bunch of very nice people ( a lot of them Deidre's friends) sign books, then head over to Town 220, the restaurant next door for dinner. I had the scallops and risotto with a balsamic reduced sauce. It was absolutely delicious. I completely cleaned my plate and would have licked it clean if I wasn't in public. I kid you not. One of the really cool things about this restaurant is that there's a large glass window into the kitchen where you can see the chef and his crew preparing the food. This immediately made me think of Louisa because of her Recipe for Love books and made me wonder how her hunky chefs would do with an audience. I think a couple of them would love it, actually.

After dinner, Jia gave us a tour of the agency, and even though I've been there a few times, it's always a thrill to walk through and see all the stacks of client books, including mine! We pick through some freebie books, then head back to our respective beds because by this time we're all beat, and we need to start the day all over again.

Coming tomorrow: Author Tour day 3 and the ride home!

Author Tour Day 1

I absolutely can NOT believe that I left my camera in Tallahassee. I am going to have to depend upon the generosity of my fellow TKA sisters to supply pics, but I can tell you that day 1 of Author Tour totally rocked!

The day began when I left Tally around 10:00 in the morning. Thank God it didn't rain today. The drive through Georgia was short, sweet and uneventful. The only exception being that because I took 2 Benadryl last night to help me sleep I was incredibly thirsty. You know the sensation? Yeah, cotton mouth, that was me. And because I hate to stop more than necessary while driving, I figured I would hit a drive through at a Mickey D's and get a coke. Ha. The fates were against me. The first place I stopped was a Wendys, which apparently doesn't open till 10:30. About 30 miles down the road (we're talking rural Georgia here) I spy a McDonalds. Yes! I roll into the parking lot, and I swear, I never saw the sign to order food, so I circle back 2, yes 2 more times. Finally I spy the order sign and there is a line that had me thinking that McDonalds is now accepting food stamps. That's the only rationale I can come up with. Either that or they are giving out free food because everyone in town was there. Being the impatient sort I am, it irked me to no end. I just wanted a Coke! I finally got one about an hour later at the Chik-fil-A drive through. Coke and chick fillet nuggets. Totally worth the wait:)

So I get to Madison (town outside Atlanta where the awesome Knight Agency is located) at exactly 3:15 pm and check into my hotel. There are apparently no less than 3 weddings going on this weekend (I guess the old June bride thing is still alive and well) and my room is still not ready. Considering that I'm supposed to meet Deidre at 3:45 this is a bit of a problem. I smile as sweetly as I can and the tell the clerk that I really need my room since I am a very famous author and am about to meet my fans in little more than an hour (he he, I really didn't say that last part). The clerk apologizes and offers to walk down the halls with me and find a clean room. We score and I get a room, which was sweltering hot because they left the air off, change my clothes, put on some lipstick and run out to meet Deidre, who is picking me up in her cute little red VW bug.

We veer through Friday afternoon rush hour traffic and arrive at Borders in the Stonecrest Mall. Jia, The Knight Agency's fabulous girl Friday extraordinaire has everything in place. There's 2 big tables, lots of balloons and a fabulous poster with all our pics on it. I meet the wonderful Debby Giutsi, who is nicer than can be, and the equally awesome Shannon K Butcher, who makes me feel like I've known her all my life. Jennifer St. Giles arrives just a tad later and I don't get to officially *meet* her until we finish the signing, but she's also a total sweetheart. A bunch of ladies from the Georgia RWA chapter showed up for our Q&A, which was fun. After we sold some books, Suzanne (not sure of the spelling) from Borders, allowed us to sign stock. I have to say the Borders staff was very nice and very romance friendly.

After the signing we head over to the BugaBoo Creek to eat dinner. Eating at Bugaboo Creek is sort of like eating at the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney. There are stuffed animal heads on the wall that occasionally start talking to you. Yep. Kind of strange and awesome at the same time. The food was great and the company was even more fabulous. Since Saturday is Shannon's birthday, Jia had arranged to have a cake (all chocolate, all delicious) and the Bugaboo wait staff (moose puppets and all) came out to sing Happy Birthday. After receiving a kiss from the stuffed moose, Shannon cut her cake and we all stuffed ourselves on chocolate strawberries and cake. Very yummy!

After a quickie stop at WalMart to get bottled water and a few DVDs for Deidre (I recommended Slum Dog Millionaire- couldn't believe she hadn't seen it yet) D dropped Shannon and I off at our hotels.

Now to get a good nights sleep to prepare for Author Tour, Day 2...

Author Tour!

This coming weekend, I'll be joining fellow TKA authors Jennifer St. Giles, Debbie Giutsi, Shannon K. Butcher and Deidre Knight on a book signing and author tour. For more information, you can go to the TKA blog , where I totally ripped off the great picture you see up top! (awesome job, Jia!)

This is not your ordinary book signing. Three of the events will feature a "How To Get Published Q&A," followed by a one-on-one meet and greet with the authors during the signing portion.

So if you're anywhere near the Atlanta area, please join us! This is where we'll be:

1--Borders at Stonecrest Mall in Lithonia – June 5th, 5pm ET8000 Mall Parkway, Lithonia, GA 30038

2--Books For Less in Buford – June 6th, 1pm ET* 2815 Buford Dr, Buford, GA 30519

3--Dog Ear Bookstore in Madison – June 6th, 5pm ET**142 Academy Street, Madison, GA 30650

4--Borders in Athens – June 7th, 2pm ET 196 Alps Road, Athens, GA 30606

*Debby Giusti will not appear at the Books For Less event. **The Madison signing will not include a Q&A session.

Also, I was lucky enough to be interviewed about the upcoming tour. Here's the link to the Athens Banner Herald and my story. Hope to see you there!

Q & A

Check out my interview over at Romance Novel Examiner's Stephanie Giancola's site. Stephanie mentioned my book in her Crazy Catchy Titles column this month and I emailed her to thank her. That resulted in her asking me for an interview which of course I was thrilled to give (don't think I will ever get tired of those!)

My favorite part of the interview? Her title: Q&A with Up and Coming Romantic Comedy author Maria Geraci. I know, I'm showing my dweebness again, but I love being called a romantic comedy author :)

Everyone have a great weekend. I'm off to continue cleaning house for son's graduation party later today...

Endings

I've been so incredibly busy lately I feel like my head is spinning. In my naivete, I thought that once the book was done, you could take a respite. Oh foolish me. I think I've been busier in the past month since my book has been out that I've ever been in my life (checking your Amazon.com stats every hour is exhausting, but someone has to do it).

Today, I'm going to be cleaning house and getting ready for my middle son's graduation tomorrow. Big day. I know. Why did I wait till today to get so many last minute things done? Because procrastination is my middle name. Really. To top that off, I got called into work last night (mandatory call=one of life's little bitches) so I'm going to be functioning on 2 hours sleep. I can do it. I know I can:)

When did he get so big? I swear, just yesterday I was taking him to kindergarten for his first day of school. Endings are so incredibly sad. But also exciting.

Isn't he cute? This was taken at Convocation last week.

Eat, Drink and Roll!

HOW MANY BUNCO BABES ARE THERE?

This past weekend I was invited to play Bunco with the Tallahassee Bunco Babes. Now, before I go any further, let me say that in all likelihood there are probably a lot of groups in Tally that go by the name "Bunco Babes" and I'm determined to hunt them all down. Or at least play with them. (Actually, I'd love to know how many groups across the country go by Bunco Babes, but since Rome wasn't built in a day, I'm starting out small).

I hooked up with the Babes through one of their members, Tammy Jo, during my book signing. Tammy Jo (who is a hoot, by the way) bought 3 books and chatted me up and before I knew it, she'd invited me to play with her group. Naturally, I said yes.

Let me tell you, these women are fantastic and almost as much fun as my Bunco Broads. They do themed Bunco parties and this month was Luau. Tammy Jo's house was covered in all sorts of Hawaiian paraphernalia. I only wish I'd worn my coconut bra. Why I didn't take more pictures, I really can't say, except that I was probably too busy eating/drinking/laughing to think about it until it was almost too late. By the time I took the small group picture below most of the Babes had left. The group you see here were the last stragglers. Now, I won't reveal any of the details on the most awesome conversation on photo shopping that I've ever heard, except to say that I laughed so much I almost peed my pants and I'm thinking that I'll have to work it into a book some day.

I also have to get Tammy Jo's brie appetizer recipe. It was fantastic and definitely deserves a slot in Best Bunco Recipes ever!!!

Eat, Drink and Roll!

In my quest for the perfect margarita and the yummiest snack (calories do not count on Bunco night, or didn't you know that?) I'm going to be posting recipes and rolling tips every Tuesday on my blog. And yep, today's Tuesday, so here goes.

Let's start off with these colorful looking Jello shots. It's the recipe currently being featured on my Let's Play Bunco! page and given to me by Jacksonville's own Divas with Dice. Aren't they pretty?

JELLO SHOTS

6oz Jello (large package)
16oz water (boiling)
6oz water (cold)10oz
Vodka

Mix the jello mix with the boiling water until the powder is fully dissolved and add the cold water and alcohol. Pour the cooling mixture into either shot glasses or paper cups. Let cool in the fridge for at least 3 hours. Please remember to drink responsibly!

BLACK BEAN SALAD (I haven't tried this yet, but doesn't it look yummy?)

1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup diced peeled avocado
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
4 cups gourmet salad greens

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add beans, tomato, avocado, onions, and jalapeno; toss well. Cover and chill 2 hours. Serve over salad greens.

The Black Bean Salad recipe comes straight from myrecipes.com. I love that site. They send me recipes a few times a week and I've hardly ever been disappointed. Rebecca Lang, cooking instructor, author and writer of all things yummy, does a "Girls Night In" column for them. Last week she featured Bunko Fiesta. There's lots of great Bunco tips and recipes- including how to make 3 different kinds of sangria. To that I say ole!

If you'd like to contribute a recipe or Bunco tip for my Tuesday Eat, Drink and Roll! blogpost please email me at mariageraci1@gmail.com.

I'm on Author Talk!

My thighs look gargantuan and my acting sucks, but man, what a hoot!!!! Thanks, Jill and Gena!!

Who's your secret movie crush?

Answer that question today over at Book Roast (where I'm being slowly cooked- hopefully to perfection) and you might win an autographed copy of Bunco Babes Tell All!

Writerspace Chat, Book Roast, and Free Books

I'll take a page from my friend Kwana's blog but instead of asking what Jack's been up to I'll tell you what Maria's been up to. Lots! Besides delivering babies and obsessing over my Amazon stats (does every newbie author do this or it just me?) I'm been busy doing author promotion and running around to end-of-the-year-high school kiddie events. Did my book have to debut in May? The only other month I can think that would be worse would be December, and as I'm thinking that, a rush of gratitude sinks in... May isn't so bad after all.

Tonight, I'll be attending my youngest daughter's drama club perfomance, then running home to join fellow Berkley/Jove authors for a chat on Writerspace. 9 p.m. EST sharp. The chat will last for an hour and there will be book give-aways (mine included) so please drop by.

And speaking of book give-aways, I'll be randomly selecting 5 people from my mailing list to receive an autographed copy of Bunco Babes Tell All. I've extended the deadline to tomorrow night so it' not too late to enter. All you have to do is sign up for my newsletter.

Oh, and one more thing. Tomorrow I'm going to be served up a la carte over at Book Roast, where I'll be giving away another, yep, another free book. Should be fun!

Sold Out!

This past Saturday, I had my first "official" book signing at my neighborhood Books A Million. When I'd gone in last week to solidify details with Cliff, the store manager, he showed me all the books they'd ordered. There were two near waist high stacks of my books along the aisles. When my eyes widened, Cliff added, "I have more boxes in the back." I have to admit, I gulped. How was I going to sell all those books?

I'll tell you how. By having the best group of friends any girl could dream of. I sold out of books! Plus, took orders for 20 more. Cliff says that my book had been selling well all week (and of course there's all those books that my Bunco Broads bought) but still. I was overwhelmed.

I want to thank all those customers who I didn't know who stopped and bought books. Lucky for me, my signing was the day before Mother's Day. Talk about perfect timing (in case you weren't aware, Bunco Babes Tell All makes the perfect Mothers Day gift!) I also want to thank Brittany, the really cute and bubbly BAM employee who stood in the front of the store handing out coupons and welcoming customers. After she finished her welcome speech, she'd point over to me and pimp my author signing.

I also want to thank the fellow members of my local RWA chapter, Florida Panhandle Romance Writers for coming out. Our chapter was born last September, but we are already growing strong. And of course, I have to give a really special thanks to those people who came from out of town- my parents, my sister and her family and my RWA Online friend, Jamie Farrell, who surprised me by driving 2 hours to come! Jamie got to meet fellow members of FPHRW and she's joining the group. Yay!

The day was topped off with a celebration party across the street at Po Boys. Of which, can you can believe, I have NO pictures. By then I was so tired (all that adrenaline rush coming down) that I didn't think of it. But it was awesome. Just like the entire day was.

Birthday Bunco Book Beach Bash!

Birthday Bunco Book Beach Bash..
I dare you say that fast 3 times in a row.

Yeah, I'm not even going there.

Last night, my Bunco group, the fabulous Bunco Broads of Tallahassee threw me a private book signing! It was our regular Bunco night plus Melissa's birthday, so we celebrated everything up in grand style. Isn't my cake gorgeous? Melissa hosted the soiree and I have to say, it was one of our finest Bunco moments ever. I felt like a rock star!

My title!

Okay, after getting some hits on my title from a couple of reviewers (inane? fatuous? really?) someone out there thinks my title is top crazy catchy!

Stephanie Giancola of Examiner.com picks

Bunco Babes Tell All by Maria Geraci – If the babes had “babbled” this title would have won the alliteration of the month award. As it is there’s intrigue in a “what’s a bunco babe anyway?” kind of way. My murky notion of bunco, a very a-typical romance novel word—and the notion that the babes have some “All” to tell—gives the title a spark of “hmmm” that would make me pick it up.

Here's the complete article:

http://www.examiner.com/x-2533-Romance-Novel-Examiner~y2009m5d5-Top-crazy-catchy-romance-novel-titles-for-May-2009

Oh, And I'm blogging today at Fresh Fiction where I'll be giving away, yes, one more of those autographed books!

Debut Day!

So this day will only ever happen once to me. It's the first day my first book comes out! To celebrate I'm giving away 5 autographed copies to 5 random members who sign up for my newsletter. It's easy to do. Just click on the link on the sidebar here in my blog or go to the contact page on my website. The giveaway will end this Saturday.

Another way you can get a freebie is to comment on my interview at Bookin with Bingo. That give away goes till 5/15.

And if you want to make sure you get a copy of Bunco Babes Tell All, then all you have to do is order it, OR better yet, go to a bookstore today and buy it (I really love that last part). They should have it. And if not, demand to know why not!

Tomorrow!

No, I'm not channeling Annie. Although I do feel like singing. My debut novel, Bunco Babes Tell All debuts tomorrow. And I'm feeling pretty excited about it.

Tomorrow will be the culmination of 7 years of hard work. Although I have to say, writing for me isn't work (although it is hard). Rather it's the fruits of a very joyful labor. I can't even remember now what my life was like before I started writing. Which means, if technically, my life started when I began writing, then I'm only 7 years old. He he...

This is going to be a busy week for me. Look for lots of updates. My website should be getting a mini overhaul. My Louisville Bunco Mommas will be replaced with a group from Jacksonville called Divas with Dice. Great name, huh? (but that's a post for another day). The Divas sent me a recipe for jello shooters which I'm gleefully looking forward to trying. You can try it too. It'll be on my Let's Play Bunco! page. Look for it soon!

My first Author "talk"

Today I'm giving my first real speech as an author. Nervous? Nah. Well, maybe a little. I'm speaking to the Tallahassee Rotary Club. My friend and fellow Bunco Broad, Carrie, set it up.

When she first approached me, I thought, what the heck am I going to say to the Rotary Club? I'm a romance writer, not a business person.

This past week spent at RT definitely showed me how wrong I was there. Writing IS a business. And to succeed, you not only have to have a good product, you have to know how to market it and yourself.

So I thought I'd give my speech today on perseverance and overcoming rejection. Those are 2 topics any writer can talk about at length. Maybe even for days. Right?

So wish me luck. I'll leave you with this little ditty I found while surfing the net.

"This girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level."

No, that isn't more reviews of Bunco Babes Tell All from Publishers Weekly. It's an editorial quote about a book that was rejected 16 times before Doubleday finally bought it in 1952. Today, there are over 30 million copies of it in print making it one of the best selling books in history, as well as required reading in many high schools. It's "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Bunco Babes Bash!

So... Thursday at RT finally rolls around, and it's time for my Bunco Babes Bash. It's the main reason I'm here at the Romantic Times Convention and I've been nervously preparing for weeks now. Will anyone come? And if they do come, will they learn how to play Bunco in just a few minutes? And will they like it?

There was no need to worry. The whole thing was a smashing success (if I do say so myself!) These ladies (and 1 guy) were fantastic. I'll definitely be doing this again soon.

Evil Editor vs John Grisham

I'm interrupting my RT blog posts to bring you this link to Book Roast's John Grisham interview. If you haven't discovered Book Roast, it's a great site. My own book is scheduled to be sliced, diced and served on May 15. Should be tasty!

Back Home Again

So, I'm back from the Romantic Times Convention. A good time was defintely had by me. And I think by all I was around as well.

At the moment, my house is a complete mess. It's filled with the remnants of RT- all the leftover stuff from my Bunco Bash (which I'm happy to say was a complete success!) as well as an assortment of this and that and a huge bag of dirty laundry. Today is catch up day. I'm going to put everything away, go to the grocery store and do some revisions on my proposal for Bunco Babes Back in Action so that I can send them off to my lovely agent this week.

As for my RT adventures, I'm going to have them dole them out bit by bit, because really, the whole experience was so... big that I can't blog about it in just one day. So here goes...

RT Day One- Tuesday (before the conference even begins...)
Having met up with Mel the evening before, caught up on our talking, discovered that NO you really can't get internet in your hotel room despite Wyndham personnel assuring me that you can, I get a decent night's sleep. Mel takes off to spend the day with an old high school chum and I go off to explore my surroundings. I get to the convention center and it's in full chaos mode. Jo Carol, the RT conference coordinator is orchestrating a room full of women who are stuffing bags full of various goodies- T-shirts, pens, cups, bookmarks, etc... This is all making me very nervous. Did I bring enough promotional items? Probably not...

I introduce myself to Jo Carol. Despite the fact that she's extremely busy, she is very gracious and offers to take me to her office so she can get me a list of the number of people who have RSVP'd to my party as well as provide me a schematic of the room. While waiting for Jo Carol I meet Pat Simmons (another extremely gracious lady) who besides being an author, apparently acts as a media liaison for RT. Her exact role confuses me, but she's looking for authors to do a TV promo in the morning. I practically jump up and down. But she's looking for an angle. She wants to present an international theme to the media. One author standing next to me has come from Egypt. The other one from Canada. "Where are you from?" she asks me. "Um, north Florida," I say brightly. This does not impress Pat. "By way of Cuba," I offer. Nope. Doesn't impress her either. "Do you have a costume?" she asks. I can barely shake my head no. "Well, show up anyway," she says cheerfully.

I vow not to let Pat down. I WILL get on TV, damn it. No matter what.

So I get in my car and lo and behold, there's a costume shop across the street! Imagine that. These people have no idea there's a virtual gold mine of costume lovin' customers just a few hundred yards away. I run inside and ask the sales clerk if she has any fuzzy dice hats. Now, of course I have access to the most perfect fuzzy dice hat in the world. But where is it? Yep, you guessed. It's in Tallahassee, Florida. Why didn't I bring it? No matter. Can't cry about spilled milk now. The sales clerk frowns at me. She has no fuzzy dice hats.

I glance around the shop. There's this big pink fuzzy looking thing hanging from the ceiling. My eyes bug out. "I'll take the pimp hat!"

"Pimp hat?" she responds weakly.

"Yep, the pimp hat," I say.

She gets a ladder and pulls it down and then starts to laugh. "You're right," she says, pointing to the sales label on the hat. "It says 'pimp hat'.

I nod. I know a pimp hat when I see one. So I buy it. Along with these very cool looking zebra print sunglasses. I'm all set now for my morning TV slot. After all, what can upstage my pimp hat?

I'll tell you what can upstage my pimp hat. A singing mermaid and 3 pirates. Yep. The following morning I walk into the welcome breakfast where a crowded room is all staring at a woman in mermaid costume singing soprano. The pirates surrounding her are apparently her entourage. I giggle and simultaneously curse myself. My camera is back in my hotel room. No one is going to believe this.

After breakfast, I run to the lobby to meet Pat and the media. There must be at least 2 dozen other authors, most in costume. But no one has a pimp hat. Ha! So we all file into a room, where to my horror, I discover the singing mermaid and her pirate entourage. They too, are going to be on TV. So the media people want the mermaid splayed across this table, her pirate-lovers around her, and the rest of us are to file in to fill in the picture.

If you watch closely enough, you'll get a split second shot of my pimp hat somewhere in the back of the group shot. I'm somewhere underneath that hat. Click on Video: RT Booklovers Convention.

http://www.cfnews13.com/Entertainment/HeyJohn/2009/4/23/romantic_times_booklovers_convention.html

Romantic Times Book Club Convention here I come!

CHAPTER ONE: PREPARATIONS AND GETTING THERE

After spending the weekend putting together little goodie bags, packing (and semi-panicking because I felt totally unprepared for RT, despite the fact that I've known I would be going for at least 6 months), I woke up bright and early Monday morning and set off to my monthly visit with Krystal at Red Hots. Krystal is the lovely chick who does my hair. Normally, I would never wait to get my roots done the day I'm leaving to go on a trip, but Krystal got married last week and was off work for awhile (as in right in the middle of my root touch up cycle). But I toughed it out and got Krytal's first appointment Monday morning on her first day back from her honeymoon.

Roots touched up- check!

While the dye was in my hair she also managed to wax my eyebrows, my upper lip, AND give me a quickie manicure. (I clearly need to learn something from Krystal's time management skills)

Hair from upper lip- Gone!
Bushy eyebrows shaped up- check!
manicure- check!

After my morning at Red Hots, I then detoured to the mail store, where I sent out the last of my ARCS for Bunco Babes Tell All and rush home, ready to get on the road. But then I realize that if I left right away I'd be getting into Orlando at the height of rush hour traffic. I-4 at rush hour is not a place I want to be, so I decided a power nap was in store. This is a firm rule of mine. If the opportunity for a mid-day nap presents itself, I never turn it down. Good thing, too. I needed all my strength just to load up my car. Thank God I have a mini-van. Honestly, I don't know where I would have put all this stuff. Most of it is for my Bunco Babes Bash, but still, if I was flying, I'd be in big trouble (because believe me, I wouldn't have shipped off this stuff to the hotel in time. I know I just wouldn't have).


After an uneventful drive, I get into the Wyndham Convention Center around 8:30. It was perfect timing. No heavy traffic on I-4. The tourists, however, are a different story. There's plenty of them crawling along the sidewalks of International Drive, so I take extra precautions and slow down. Because running someone over would be the sure way to ruin my first RT trip. You know?

Orlando tourists safe from Maria's car- check!

The convention center is huge. It could be Orlando's next theme park. You need a golf cart just to get to your room. Luckily, I have my own car. So the woman at the desk gives me a map to find my way around. I get lost twice (yes, twice) just trying to find the friggin building that houses my room. In my normal everyday life, I average getting lost at least once a day. And this is in a city I've lived in for 12+ years. So this does not bode well for me already...

I get to my room, where Mel has already put first dibs on the bed by the window, which is fine with me, cuz that means I get the bed closest to the bathroom (he he). We hug and jump around for a bit and marvel that we haven't seen each other since August. Talking daily just doesn't cut it. We vow then that one of us must hit the New York Times and make a mint so that we can afford a beach house retreat.

Vow to hit New Times List- done!

After this, we head to the pool bar and get something to eat, then go back to our room. We're both pretty wiped out (despite my power nap) and it's lights out by midnight.

I suspect the rest of the week won't go that way.

Tomorrow: Meeting the media (I'm determined this will happen, and I'll explain how), and my first club RT.

One Smart Hot Dog

As I'm running around trying to get everything ready to go to RT tomorrow, I thought I'd take a little break and post this for your enjoyment. The dog in this video is Totys, Truffles' mother. Not only did she give birth to an awesome little dog, she's one perrita salchicha inteligente (that's one smart hot dog!). Totys's mother works with my husband. In case you need some translation, cerveza = beer!

I need a Not So Secret Frozen Margarita

So after Kristen's blog yesterday on how bigger isn't always better, what do I do? Post a super long blog! But I think I can be forgiven because I haven't blogged all week and half the post is really just a recipe, so here goes:

I know I've blogged about this before. I must have. Because honestly, these pomegranate margaritas are simply the best. Mary, a friend and fellow Bunco Broad, served these up at our December Bunco last year. They were a huge hit. Absolutely delicious. I loved them so much I made them at Christmas time (perfect with the red color!) and I made them for my friend Beth's wedding shower (whose wedding I'm going to today. Yay!)

In my Bunco Babes series, one of my characters, Shea Masterson, has a secret frozen margarita recipe she doesn't share with anyone (it's so secret, even I don't know it).

But I digress. I'm not as selfish as Shea. I will gladly share this awesome recipe (which, by the way, comes from Southern Living- the mecca of all that's holy in my book)

NOT SO SECRET POMEGRANATE FROZEN MARGARITAS

Yield
about 32 cups
Ingredients
6 cups white tequila
12 cups water
4 cups cranberry juice cocktail
2 cups pomegranate juice (we tested with POM)*
1 1/2 cups Triple Sec
2 (10-ounce) cans frozen margarita mix, thawed
2 (11.5-ounce) cans frozen cranberry juice cocktail, thawed and undiluted
2 (12-ounce) cans frozen limeade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
Light corn syrup
Coarse sparkling sugar

Preparation
Combine first 8 ingredients in a very large plastic container. Cover and freeze at least 24 hours or until slushy.
Pour a small amount of corn syrup onto a flat plate. Pour coarse sugar onto another plate. Dip rims of margarita glasses in corn syrup; dip each glass into sugar. Pour margaritas into prepared glasses.
Freezer Note: For more convenient storage, divide Pomegranate Margaritas among zip-top freezer bags.
*Find pomegranate juice year-round in the produce section of your local grocery store.
Kelley Wilton, Christmas With Southern Living 2006, Oxmoor House, JUNE 2006

Maria's note: the coarse sugar/corn syrup rim for your glass is the best!

I must admit to having a secret stash of this luscious drink. The last time I made them, I had some leftover so I placed it in a large zip lock storage bag in my freezer. Thank God. Because I needed me some margarita tonight. This past week has been incredibly busy and stressful. I worked at the hospital the past 3 nights and it's been uber crazy. Has everyone in Tallahassee given birth over the past 3 days? Sure seems like it. To top that off, I've been trying to get everything ready for my Romantic Times Convention Bunco Bash. Thank God I'm now off for 2 weeks and can concetrate on the rest of my life. So I sat down tonight and watched about 4 hours of TV I'd DVR'd, including my fix of American Idol.

And to that, can I just say, WHAT THE HELL is America thinking??? I cannot believe they voted Matt off! I just don't get it. I mean, yes, I love Adam and Danny and Allison, but honestly. How Lil and Anoop (as loveable as Anoop is) are still there is beyond me. Thank God the judges had the sense to override the vote. For the first time ever, they saved a contestant and Matt will be back! Bad news is 2 contestants will have to go home next week. But I don't care. If the judges's save will give me one more week of Matt, then so be it. Maybe he can make a come back. All I know is, ever since I heard him sing "Georgia" back in Hollywood week, he's been my favorite.

So after all the drama of Simon pretending that Matt was going home and Paula and Randy and Kara begging Simon to keep Matt, I had to chug down some pomegranate margarita. Yay for zip lock storage bags!

Next Tuesday, I'll be in Orlando at the Romantic Times Convention. But wherever I am at the time, you can be sure when it comes time to vote, I'll be whipping that cell phone out and putting in my vote for Matt.

Easter!

As a kid, I adored Easter. It was an end to 40 days of usually no candy, no chocolate and it meant we could go back to watching TV on Fridays (my parents were strict Catholics- no meat, no TV, no FUN at all on Fridays during Lent!) Plus, there was that huge Easter basket full of goodies to munch down on.

Easter as an adult, however, has a totally different meaning. If there's one religious holiday that gets me choked up, this is it. It's redemption, celebration and hope all rolled into one. It's the answer to what happens next. Life's big sequel.

Today, we'll wake up, the kids will check out their Easter goodies (yep, I still do that, even though they're all WAY past the age of believing in the Easter Bunny), go to mass and have a huge family dinner and laze around the house. Then at 8pm we'll tune in for tonight's episode of Extreme Makeover which features the Kadzis family- Tallahassee locals, as well as a concert by Stevie Wonder. I've got my box of Kleenex all ready.

Hope your day is just as beautiful!

I'm in LOVE

Yesterday, I thought a girl's best friend was her vibrator. Lest you think I came up with that line, let me tell you I didn't. It's the fist line of Mel Francis's fabulous book, SIZE ME UP (which will be published one day because it's simply too damn good not to be). But I digress.


I'm here to tell you that a girl's best friend is not the vibrator but the Cricut. Take a look at that baby below. It slices. It dices. It does just about everything except, well, you know...

Honestly, it's a blast. It cuts out anything you program it to. Or rather, have a pattern for. As you can see above, my dice look perfectly beautiful. The Cricut belongs to my friend Andrea who uses it for everything. Party favors and games, kid's projects, invitations, stationary, bulletin boards, scrap booking... You name it. The Cricut does it.

So when I told her I had to do a backdrop for my promotional space at RT (Romantic Times Book Convention), Andrea volunteered to help me out. Think of those big background posters you did for your 8th grade science project. Only this one involves dice and romance novels.

Here's the finished product below. I think it turned out fabulous! I think in total, I ended up cutting out at least a hundred dice. Because you never know when you'll need some cardboard dice. Right?

A real live book!

Yesterday, I found this on my doorstep.


Actually, it came in a large envelope from Penguin Group, USA (those 3 words start my heart racing), but you know what I mean. What a thrill it was to actually hold my book in my hands!

I feel like Geppetto from Pinocchio.

It's a real live book!

Complete with a cover and cover quote and other fabulous reviews and such. It was so exciting to see my book for the first time. An ARC with a blank cover just isn't the same thing. And while my cover looked fabulous on the computer, it's nothing like seeing the real thing. The colors all blend so beautifully into the back. There's even footprints on the sand (although I'm not sure you can see that in the pic). I love it!

And then to make my day complete, Barbara Vey's WW Book Club reviewed my book. Here's the link from PW: http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/1630042763.html?nid=3383

Here's what Heidi had to say about Bunco Babes Tell All:
"This book had everything for me, sex, romance, laughter, and even a slight mystery, but as they say: "What happens at bunco, stays at bunco!!"

Yay!

Maria hears the clock tick...

For a couple of weeks now I've been struggling (procrastinating) with this little Suessical book I volunteered to write to benefit my daughter's high school drama organization. In case you're not familiar with Suessical! it's a wonderful musical based on the books of Dr. Suess. Mostly "Horton hears a Who!" but there are other Suess characters thrown in for good measure, like the Cat in the Hat, and the Grinch, and Gertrude McFuzz, and so on. My youngest daughter is heavily involved in musical theater and she played Gertrude (the bird with the one feather tail) in her high school's production of the show a couple of weeks ago. She was awesome. The whole production was. It was definitely a proud parent moment:) My parents came up to see the show and they were completely awed!

Lest you think this should be a piece of cake, let me assure you, it's not. I have a totally brand new respect for Dr. Suess. Do you know how hard it is to write in rhyme??

On the seventh of April, in her desk in Tallahassee,
Maria discovered she wasn't so sassy...

I'll get it done! I promise, said she,
Nothing will stop me, not elephant nor flea...