The Literacy Signing

A room full of romance authors. Have I found Nirvana? And no, I'm not talking about the band! I was SO glad I was feeling better tonight because tonight was the literacy signing. My favorite authors and new books...what could be better? Okay - sex with a really hot cover model but that wasn't happening on this particular trip. Oh well. :-)

I met several authors whose work I love and got to chat with them for a few minutes and get their autographs. Yes, I even got to tell Susan Lyons I loved her book! My crit partner, author Misty Simon, was signing and I had a chance to meet Robin Rotham too. Kathy Bacus, who belongs to my IRN group had only a few books to sign because somehow a whole bunch of books were placed into the goodie room by mistake - great for goodie gatherers but not-great for the literacy charity.

The highlight of the evening for me, though, was meeting Sherrilyn Kenyon. She wore a large black swan hat, fangs, and a bustier. The lady has style! She's also got class! I waited for about 30-45 minutes to reach the front of the line but it was well worth it. I had a chance to chat with her for a few minutes, get books signed and have a photo taken. Believe me, I was not the only fan who waited to see her either. There was a row long line when I was done and she stayed there signing until the last one got to see her. She was gracious, friendly, and genuinely grateful to her fans for their support. I used to just love her writing, but now I love her too! When I grow up I want to be just like her!

Now I didn't meet a bad apple at the literacy signing. All the authors were friendly and welcoming. There were lines for other authors who were as wonderful, too, but Ms. Kenyon made a lasting impression on me and I'm honored to have met her.

The only negative of the evening was that by the time I finished paying for my books (oy the line!) it was almost 8:30 and the FF&P Gathering had started at 7pm. By the time I arrived all the food was gone and when I looked into the room where it was being held I didn't see any chairs available. There probably were seats, but without food I wasn't going in there because I was STARVED! I hope that next year The Gathering is held at a different time so I can attend. I really wanted to meet some of the folks from that online chapter.

Sticker Shock and sickness

I went out with IRN friends last night to Smokin' Joes BBQ. The food was incredible, the company was awesome, and the DART was clean. The Dallas train system really impressed me. Reasonably priced, clean, and non-scary. Being a small town girl, I thought traveling around in a city the size of Dallas might be intimidating but the people were really friendly and very nice.

This morning though, I woke up sick. Nothing to do with last night's food, I'm sure. I think the stressful trip and the nerves caught up with me. I mean, after yesterday I thought the worst had to be over. But no... However, the positive thing to come from things was I really like my roommate, Justine. We had met online (both belong to FF&P chapter), but never met in person. We like each other and she is very cool! Things could have been dicey otherwise.

The night before as we chatted together, both of us sweet little small town midwestern girls (Justine is from Kansas, I'm from Iowa) had to pick our jaws off the ground as we noted the cost of some "amenities" of our hotel. For example the bottles of Evian water on top of the entertainment center were $5 a bottle. Ouch! I'm an Iowa girl. $3.50 for an a la carte cooked egg is a touch steep. Now, I like my eggs, but that's a bit much. Fortunately, Justine drove down, so today we went to Wally-world to buy some groceries.

Most of the shopping expedition went well, until I broke into a sweat and the sparkly lights started dancing around my eyes. This is never a good sign. I think I may have had low blood sugar because after dragging myself back to the car and eating half a 24 oz container of strawberry yogurt I started to recover. BTW, just in case you're curious, Dallas drivers are insane. Not quite as nuts as Chicago drivers, but...

More after the literacy signing and The Gathering tonight!