A Blazing Good Time!

The Blaze booksigning was this morning, from 10-12. The line of people waiting to get in stretched around the hotel floor. For two hours, the line never let up -- there were five authors actually signing books (those with July releases, I think) and for two hours, all they did was smile and sign. Tawny and I stood to one side of the room and just greeted people as they came through. It was so much fun! Initially, they were letting people get one copy of every book, but even with the crates of books they had available, it was clear they were going to run out, so they began limiting books to two per person. They ran out completely about ten minutes before 12. It was awesome to see so many Blaze fans!

Here is a pic of Kira Sinclair, whose first book, Whispers in the Dark, just came out, moi, and Tawny Weber...I had so much fun with Tawny; we tried to outdo each other by being the first to hand out our bookmarks to everyone who came through.

The Blaze editors had covers of all the current and upcoming releases on display behind the booksigning table. I have to say, some of these covers are amazing! Right now, mine is on display on the dresser in my hotel room.

The luncheon keynote speaker was Victoria Alexander; she was so funny and personable, and had the entire audience laughing. I've read several of her historicals, but listening to her talk was a real treat. Here is a picture of Nina and Cathryn at lunch. We sat with some fun ladies; one was a book reviewer (I slipped her a copy of Overnight Sensation along with a couple of $100 bills--okay, I'm totally kidding. I was broke, or I might have!). I still haven't made it to a workshop, yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I also sat next to this really interesting woman who designs websites for a living...I've been thinking about redoing my own for some time now. Something more romancey and less military. I liked the military theme until my mom said she finds it a little frightening. I think she's right, and the more I think about it, the more I'd like to go with something a little flirtier.

Later, the Blaze authors and editors met up in the lobby and we went to dinner at this fabulous Italian restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. The food was amazing. The entire night was amazing! We had a small room with one long table and three or four oversized booths. I sat with: Tawny Weber, Jamie Sobrato, Jordan Summers, Leslie Kelley, and Wanda Ottewell. My face still aches from laughing so much. There was wine, bruschetta, homemade pizza, salmon filets with pesto, lasagna, the most delicious cheese manicotti I've ever tasted, lots of fresh veggies, and the most decadent chocolate cake and cheesecake I've ever seen--huge, glistening slabs of chocolate, sitting in puddles of dark chocolate syrup. Yum. I took a picture, but didn't realize I'd left the memory card in my room, so can't download the image. Just picture a huge slab of chocolate cake, and then double it...you get the picture. So now I'm back in my room, feeling fat and happy. I could write, but that takes too much energy, so I'm looking forward to curling up with my brand new copy of The Brother Returns by Jeannie Watt, instead.