Oh, how busy conference gets! I’m already exhausted and it’s just beginning!

Yesterday my agent and I met for breakfast with Christyne Butler, who “bought” us off of Brenda Novak’s auction. We had a great chat, then Karen and I met one-on-one for a while and chatted industry news etc.

After that, I had lunch with Elaine Grant, a fellow Superromance author, just arriving. Poor thing, she and her husband couldn’t get into their room for HOURS. She was told those arriving late last night wouldn’t have rooms because they were so overbooked, and that latecomers would be transferred to another hotel, one probably OUT of the city. Can you imagine? I’d be furious!

The booksigning was wonderful, but so loud! I met Lori S. from Lori Foster’s Bookjunkys loop, as well as her friend Nicole and her husband. That man is a saint. He lugged a HUGE bag of books around for those ladies and still wore a smile. How sweet!

Friends from southern Ohio in town for a different conference stopped by as well! Edie is in my WW class at home. How sweet was it that she made the effort to come see me at the signing? I hope she had fun. It was so good to see her.

Bad Barb and Lady Beth are also here and funny as always. They were two of the ladies wearing I (heart) Nick Tulane T-shirts and won the extra prizes. Hopefully I’ll see the other ladies wearing them during the conference as well.

The Superromance readers party was so much fun. And people showed up! My biggest fear was that we’d do all the work and have more authors than readers. We had a great turnout, great response and lots of fun. I even saw the party guests wearing their tiaras later in the lobby. How cool!

I was also able to meet my editor for the first time (the one that counts, anyway) since we’ve never officially met! She was so nice! Great to put a face with a name. I even managed to put a tiara on her so she’d have a little bling and fit in with the rest of the party goers. LOL

Book Buyers Best: this was my second year to be nominated but, alas, no prize. I received second place. One of these days I’d really love to have one of those very beautiful glass plagues for my desk. Congrats to all the winners!

Today is another hectic day. Workshops in the afternoon, then lots of events tonight. I’m supposed to be in four places at once tonight. Hmmm…. Wonder how that’s going to work out.

Sorry I haven’t posted pictures. My computer won’t let me download them so I’ll post them the week that I’m home. I have great shots of Chinatown, great shots of the signing and party. You’ll love them.

Until next time,

Kay

Barely! The first plane they put us on had a rubber band propeller. Okay, maybe I exaggerate–a little. But I’ve never had to walk down two flights of stairs carrying my 40 pound bag, walk across the terminal TO the plane and climb on board the teeny, tiny steps. Yes, a lot of prayers were said. And a lot of thank yous once we were on the ground again.

Due to storms over Colorado our next plane (a large one, thank goodness) we were detoured over Texas and arrived nearly an hour later than planned. After getting our luggage etc, we took a Lincoln taxi ($35 for two) to the hotel and had a wonderful, relaxing ride given the close proximity of the flight. Since the Super Shuttle would’ve charged the same, we decided to ride in style and let the driver get the bags. We’ve carried them enough for the day. *sigh*

We have a little bit of a view which I’ll try to post later. For now the only thing on the agenda is finding caffeine and food, to retrieve the box I shipped to myself, register for conference and try to find a few more hours of sleep. Four is not enough but my east coast mind woke up right on time.

Look for more later!

Kay

The dh and I ran an errand this weekend that put us very close to the Bob Evans homestead. Here’s a pic of the old house.

There were beautiful quilt patterns on the barn.

Look at the scenery… do you see the windmill?

It’s gorgeous! So very peaceful, despite the crowds there to eat and walk around. They had a beautiful gift shop as well.

As to this week’s winner…. Patty L.!!! Patty, drop me an email with your shipping instructions. (I won’t get the earrings out to you until after I return from RWA’s national conference, tho. Sorry!)

I’m going to do my best to blog from conference this week. Hopefully I can add a picture or two as well. Basically, it means I hope you’ll stop by even though I won’t be blogging from home. :wave2: I leave tomorrow morning first thing but won’t arrive until LATE tomorrow night. Until then….

Here’s a little something to drool over and keep you company (sorry, I couldn’t resist)!

I’d love to catch a showing of The Dark Knight (I think that’s the title) this weekend with Heath Ledger. With all the Oscar buzz going, I want to see what the fuss is about. Other than that, hopefully things will be nice and quiet. Next week is going to be hectic enough without adding a chaotic weekend to it!

So, what are you doing this weekend? Are you doing anything special? Any special events?

Kay

Oh, my. Okay, I realize I’m not the greatest at packing light. :rofl: But, I wasn’t doing so bad this year. Well, there are the shoes, lots of shoes because I want to be comfortable and swapping out shoes during the day really helps my aching feet, but we won’t talk about that.

Where were we? Oh, I wasn’t doing so bad… until I picked up the sign.

Sign?

You’ve heard me chatting about how the Superromance authors are having a readers party, right? (If not, it’s Wednesday, July 30, from 7:30 – 9:00 PM in the San Francisco Marriott after the literacy signing.Everyone is invited!) Well, the charge for having a sign made for us was

:thunk:

$200. I contacted a local guy and he made a beautiful foamboard sign for us for $12 !!!! Big difference, no? He’s my hero of the day. Can you believe the charge for the other one? What kind of markup is that???

The problem is that the sign is just big enough (18 X 24″ that it won’t fit in the suitcase I’d planned to take. (That would’ve just been too perfect, wouldn’t it?) No, it requires me to haul a BIGGER suitcase to California because I’m afraid the airline won’t allow me to walk on with a carry-on and a purse, plus the sign. So I’m packing it–and I’m going to look like a pack mule carting both pieces of luggage, my oversized bag/purse etc.

Anyone else have packing issues? I overpack on every trip. Can’t help it. But I like having options and even though I plan my clothing, if I get up one morning and just don’t want to wear what I’d planned to wear, I want something else on hand. That’s bad, isn’t it? LOL

So, anyone have any tips on how to cut down on the packing drama? I know people who make charts to plan out their trips. What about you? Are you a last minute, toss-it-in-and-deal-with-whatever-you-have-when-you-get-there packer, or do you take a different approach?

Kay