I’ve been to quite a few conferences in my time and this past weekend at the NJ Romance Writers Put Your Heart in a Book conference, I was really, really impressed. This is a great conference. And I don’t say that lightly. This is a great conference. It would be worth skipping National to attend, because it has the added bonus of being right beside you know where. (Read my last blog if that makes no sense).

One of the great things was catching up with two of my favorite Avon friends, Julia Quinn, Kathryn Smith. Here they … Read more »

Let me just get that up front and center. I LOVE NYC. I always have. I find it enormously fascinating, always interesting, and surprising on every corner. So when I got the chance to speak at the New Jersey Romance Writers Put Your Heart in a Book Conference, I was thrilled–because I knew it meant I could go you-know-where.

Now my husband doesn’t get nor understand my love affair with NYC, so I took my son, Nicholas with me. He’s been pestering me to take him to New York since he was four. Yes, four. I promised him way back … Read more »

By the time this posts, I’ll be in NYC and then off to the New Jersey Romance Writers, Put Your Heart in a Book Conference. I’m speaking Saturday afternoon on How to Write a Synopsis. I’ll warn anyone who is thinking of coming to my workshop, I intend to put new emphasis on the word “work” in workshop. Come prepared to work. Hard.

Julia Quinn is coming to the conference and we were joking the other day that while we live in the same town, we only really get to see each other when we leave Seattle to … Read more »

A lot of writers have some very personal and some splashy and some just private ways of celebrating when a new book gets released. When Love Letters from a Duke hit the NY Times extended list, I celebrated by buying the espresso machine I’d been dying to own–a De Longhi Magnifica. I have to say that was the first time I’d ever done anything extravagant over one of my books. And I admit I felt really guilty about buying it (even at a steal on eBay) until I poured in the first pound of beans and it made me a … Read more »

Because she answered precisely “What did I sit next to on the plane?”

I sat next to, not one, but two sweet little birds, and they sang all the way from Detroit to Seattle. Talk about your coach class migration. It was so funny because people, including one of the flight attendants, would walk by and just stop. And you could see the confused look on their faces, “Did I hear that correctly?” So my feathered seat mates were quite popular and very soothing to sit next too. Much better than the guy with his saxaphone.… Read more »

Okay, just back from vacation and thanks for all the great comments during my internet-deprived trip. We were visiting the MIL and she hasn’t got internet. Well, she does have internet. Dial up. I know. Why didn’t we just go camping? I’m such a DSL snob. I freely and openly admit this. I also light a candle every night to the patron saint of cable to make sure my access never goes awry.

I did get online once at my brother-in-law’s, but only had time to skim my mail and catch a few comments. No time to post and catch … Read more »

I suppose my promise the other day to blog yesterday about being an idiot came true, since I totally spaced blogging yesterday. But what I really wanted to talk about was that I am in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Ultimate Reader List. Have you seen this book yet? It is totally cool and a great way to find new authors.

Written by some wonderful librarians, they’ve compiled their best recommendations into one fun volume. You’ll go through the book, if you are like me, saying to yourself: “Oh, yeah, LOVE that book. And that one. OOOOh and … Read more »

In all the hoopla and post picture posting frenzy of conference writing seems to get shoved to one side. That’s my biggest problem with conference–it can be a total time-suck on the writing. And it is all about the writing after all (though all the party pictures and booksigning snaps beg to differ).

It took me until Tuesday night to drag my notebook and pages back out and dust off my manuscript. I find that my writing is like my commitment to yoga. If I lay out my yoga togs, my mat, and queue up the DVD the night before–getting … Read more »

I always come back with conference with my mind filled with wonderful vignettes of memories. Because to me conference is always so fragmented–you run into old friends here and there, unexpected meetings, new friends, off to a workshop, dinner, lunch, last minute changes, bad shoes.

And this year was no different. Some of my highlights were meeting Anna Campbell for the first time, and though I only got to chat with her for a little bit, she was one of those people that you meet and know is a kindred spirit. She loves to travel and I am so envious … Read more »

Thanks for all the comments while I was gone… Yes, I snuck off for a few days at the beach. Where it was supposed to be warm and sunny, but in typical Oregon Coast fashion was gray and windy. But that only left me with more time to read and knit, so I was perfectly content to do that, while the small hero had a great time flying his kite in wind that sent it aloft immediately and carried it to the end of his string in a flash.

Let me say this very clearly: I LOVE the ocean. … Read more »