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Thursday, September 16, 2010:
The 2011 Reader and Author Get Together June 3rd – 5th, 2011 Mark your calendars! Cincinnati Marriott North at Union Centre, West Chester Ohio Same location, same price, same great deal! Registration for the 2011 event will open in January 2011. Labels: 2011, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 9/16/2010 11:58:00 AM
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010:
 4PM Registration on Friday  Author Janice Maynard with her husband Charles, who was obviously having a riveting time *g*  Darling author Patricia Sergeant  Author Anne Rainey  My friend Lisa with rockin' Larissa Ione (LOVE her hair!)  Authors LuAnn McLane & Morgan Malone Sweet author Kay Stockham Me & the delightful & funny Keri Stevens  The always gracious and lovely Ann Christopher Author Jules Bennett  My pals Lisa & Niny (both have cool accents) Toni Blake/Lacey Alexander & Lindsey Faber :) Two people who make the event very special: Cheryl and her daughter Christy Some cool new friends: Kris, Madelyn Ford & J.A. Saare (there's me holding onto my drink for dear life LOL) **** So there you have it. It's over for another year *sob* Labels: 2010, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/09/2010 12:52:00 PM
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Now more riveting tales from this exciting blogger.... *g*  Co-coordinator Dianne Castell in a rare moment of standing still
* One thing I may have forgotten to mention is that the incredibly awesome Community Relations Manager & all around miracle worker Linda Keller is retiring from B&N, however she assured us she would still be attending the event in the future. For those of you who don't know Linda, she is amazing, funny, and such a huge help during this event. I know B&N will miss her. *
The first raffle was at 10am, and Beth had to figure out a way to hand out about 70 prizes in 30 minutes. It took some creative planning and a few extra helpers, but she came up with a great idea that worked really well which reduced all the running around. I personally brought 2 baskets, both with a Chicago theme (I did that last year too). This year I had a Chloe Neill basket, with the first 2 books - signed - in her Chicagoland Vampires series, some Fannie May chocolates, and a bottle of lotion from Bath & Body Works. I also had a Simone Elkeles basket, with signed copies of Perfect Chemistry & Rules of Attraction, also Fannie May chocolate and lotion. My baskets may not generate a ton of tickets, but I love giving them away, so it's always fun for me :) And my friend Lisa won Chloe's basket, which I hope she enjoys.  Basket #2: Chicago author Simone Elkeles' basket Next up was lunch, and as I was standing in line, Wendi Zwaduk asked me if I would mind reviewing her book. Of course I said no, but of course I was just kidding. (If you know Wendi you'd know why I responded the way I did. She's funny & fearless). And see, the thing is, it might sound stupid, but I'm always shocked when people know who I am. I love my blog, but let's face it, I will never be a Smexy or a Katiebabs. I'm just me, so when people know me, I am thrown by it. I like my little corner of the world, and it's sweet to find out other people do too :)
(Shout out to another Canadian & cool blogger Lea!) After lunch, I took some of this opportunity to harass, um, ask authors for pictures and autographs for my pretty books. There was HelenKay Dimon (LOVE her!), Larissa Ione (she totally ROCKS!), Ann Christopher, Stephanie Julian (I won her cool basket), my pal Beth Kery who I always love to see, Kay Stockham, Toni Blake, LuAnn McLane, Morgan Malone, Patricia Sergeant, Janice Maynard, Jules Bennett, Erin McCarthy (ADORE her), Dianne Castell...and of course the object of my (terrible) stalking, Shiloh Walker.  My good friend, Chicago author Beth Kery  Stephanie Julian One of the raffle baskets I won was Stephanie Julian's, which included a book (Shadow Magic) and the makings for peach Bellinis. I LOVE peach Bellinis! So yeah, I was happy to have won her basket and to get the chance to meet her :)
HelenKay Dimon, an author full of AWESOME You know you can "meet" an author and chat with them online, but it isn't until you meet them in person that you discover how totally fabulous they are. HelenKay totally fits that description. I thought I liked her before, but now I am an even bigger fan. Funny as hell, charming, generous, oh I could go on and on (and hey, she actually knows me LOL).
Darling Deb, a dear, dear friend :) Deb is one of the ladies I hung out with on Thursday evening at dinner. She's got the sweetest accent, and is just precious. Always a joy spending time with her :) This year I met her friend Liane Gentry Skye, who was also very sweet.
One of my all-time favorite people EVER, Erin McCarthy And I'll end part 2 with one of the most fabulous people out there. Erin is just the coolest. Poised and a bit wild, completely sincere and so interesting, Erin is just so easy to love. I really enjoy listening to her talk about books and share her writing experiences. I will always, always, always be a huge fan of hers, even if she were to ever stop writing. (Though she better not!) She's just that kind of person. Love her to death. Didn't get to spend too much time with her, but I got a few precious minutes of chat time near the end. Definitely a highlight from this weekend :) ***** Stay tuned for the last of my pictures, hopefully to be posted later today.... Labels: reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/09/2010 06:56:00 AM
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Tuesday, June 08, 2010:
 Lori Foster & meWell it's come and gone, the 6th annual Lori Foster/Dianne Castell Get Together. It goes by so fast! And I'm still a little sad to not be there, right in the middle of all the fun again. I drove down on Thursday in record time. Instead of driving like a mad demon, I was calm, just went with the flow (though I did clock 100 at one point). After settling in, I met with Barb, Deb, Liane Gentry Skye, Sabra, Joni, Nina Pierce & Pam Champagne for a lovely dinner at PF Chang's. The company was wonderful, and it was so relaxing to get down there early and just hang out.  Lovely & interesting Barbara Vey Friday morning I had met Barbara for breakfast, and we decided to just meet at the hotel restaurant since I had to meet someone at 10:30, and as we were bein seated, a lady sitting down asked if we were with the get together and invited us to join her. It was Barbara Vey. And what an interesting person she is! I had a ball listening to her tell us stories and her incredible love of books. She's just great, with her midwest charm and open heart. Loved chatting with her. Then as the morning progressed, we started helping out here and there. One of the plans for this weekend was to through a surprise wedding shower for Beth, aka LadyB, who is the coordinator and MC for the basket raffles. She'd gotten married a few weeks earlier, and those of us who have known Beth a long time wanted to celebrate because, well, we love her and wanted to show how happy we were for her. So a few of us went to lunch with her when she showed up, distracting her with raffle talk, and managed to get her to the designated spot on time. Unfortunately I missed her initial reaction, but from what I'd heard, she was very surprised :) It was a success. For those who know Beth, I'm sure we all agree that no one deserves it more. She is one of those special people you meet and are immediately glad for it. She is definitely one of my dearest friends, even if I only see her once a year.  Raffle basket princesses: newly married Beth, Marcie & Kaleen Then it was back to the event. One of the things I helped with was the basket raffle, which is a huge undertaking, I mean HUGE. There were over 139 baskets, and it may not seem like that big of a deal. Beth has a very organized system with bags and labels, but even that sometimes isn't enough to keep it all straight as people tend not to let the commitee know they brought baskets or didn't label their baskets or did so under a different name than the one they provided. But with the help of several people, we managed to figure it all out. And this year some of the baskets included a Nook and an iPad (the latter from the always generous Sarah McCarty). Hanging out at the raffle check-in table, I of course was scouring the crowd for a few people I really wanted to meet. One of them was Limecello (I got a picture!), a pal from Twitter who just cracks me up. Lime decided at the last minute to attend, which I was excited about. She's very sarcastic, which I love, and I had no idea what to expect when I met her. Would she be in bright green? I had no clue. It wasn't until sitting down for the pizza dinner that I realized she was sitting across from me (the name tags were hard to read) but damn it, did she have to be so adorable? Have to hate her a little bit for that :D I didn't get to chat with her too much, but meeting the famous Lime was definitely a cool and memorable experience.  J.A. Saare - LOVE her!!! (Oh and look, Shiloh is in the background....) The other one was definitely meeting Jaime A. Saare! She's as cute as a button and sweet as can be with that Alabama accent :) Definitely one of my favorite moments from the weekend. (More on that later). I also met her friend, author Madelyn Ford, and a friend of Madelyn's, Kris. These ladies were AWESOME. I could have hung out with them for days. And Jaime's husband was such a sport to put up with us and our book talk LOL.  Barbara, Laurie, Judy, CarolynBut probably my favorite experience was just getting to sit with my long-time Yahoo Group pals: Laurie, Judy, Barb, Lisa, Niny, Deb, Carolyn, Beth, Kaleen, and Marcie. I've known most of these ladies since I joined Lori's group,what like 10 years ago? And I love them dearly. I will forever be grateful and proud to have friends who love books as much as I do, and they are some of the most encouraging, funny, crazy but in a good way pals I could ever hope to have. Stay tuned for part 2, and more pictures.... Labels: friends, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/08/2010 07:09:00 AM
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009:
Well here it is, the last of my fun and memorable weekend. Because I actually did take pictures this year, I want to be sure to include them all. It's still Saturday....
I pretty much stalked Anne as she was buying books,waiting for the opportunity to meet her and her her sign my books. She writes for Sanhaim, and if case I haven't already said a gazillion times, they are my favorite ebook publisher.
This was a fun moment. Stella was very gracious to stop and chat - she has such a lovely British accent. I haven't read many books by her, which is a shame. It's kinda like not watching one of the top 100 films of all time: some things are a must. I hope she comes back next year.
I admit that I haven't read any of Sue-Ellen's stories, but she is in the "Tails of Love" anthology so I look forward to checking it out. What I liked about Sue-Ellen is how enthusiastic and friendly she is. She really seemed to love meeting people, signing books, and expressing her excitement to be there. It was contagious. I'm so glad I met her and now cannot wait to read one of her stories.  As you can see, Shiloh is a complete photo opportunity hog, constantly begging to have her picture taken. It's shameless, really. And a little embarrassing when she's running after me to "just take one more". And this is definitely her best side, don't you think? Really gives us a strong idea of Shiloh's unique personality *g* I'm a huge fan of her Hunter series, and well she knows it. I've also been lucky enough to review several of her books, though this is one I hadn't read yet. There's a few actually, which makes me feel like a kid in a candystore. You can never have too much candy.  I remember Roberta from the first event, and she was so passionate when speaking about books. I love that she's also an author, and I did read "Squeeze Play", which is a fun, snappy romance about a baseball player and the woman he loved. It was so much fun to meet her. In the background to the left is Carolyn, the wonderful lady who made all the pretty beaded bookmarks, one of which is in a copy of "Tails of Love". She's amazing.  Look at these big smiles :) Patricia showed up a bit late due to a work situation, but thankfully she made it. She's just adorable, and her personality just lights up the room. She's also a Deadline Hellion, which is a group of bloggers I visit almost daily. It's always nice to see her.
I don't know, Sarah looks a little afraid of me in this picture, like I need to back away slowly. And I did try so hard to behave. I got "Sam's Creed", though I'm not a huge fan of western romance, but I like what she does with them. Sarah is usually on the welcoming committee for the event, and she always gives away amazing prizes. This year it was the Kindle 2. Didn't win that one either. But it was great to see Sarah, so I'm not going to complain. Too much. ~~~~~ After buying books, getting them signed, and not winning any baskets, I was ready to eat, and it was getting close to dinner. My table decided that instead of staying at the hotel we'd get outside and go find somewhere to chat. I was feeling a little drained from the crowd so that totally worked for me. So a group of us headed over to Max & Erma's. Totally missed the luau, so I didn't get to wear the pretty lei AmyC had gotten for me. But I'm keeping it as a reminder of how much fun I had this year. 2 biggest regrets (off the top of my head): not getting a chance to meet Emma Wildes and have her sign my book because she left early :( and not being quick enough to get a copy of Sarah Parr's debut novel before they sold out, but I did meet her and she was just lovely. I had to tell her that Katiebabs has been pimpin' her book and that I couldn't wait to read it, so I did get an autographed nameplate for the book. Sunday: Before heading home, I met up with the group for Janice Maynard's breakfast, and this was our last chance to talk and laugh and hug. It's always sad to see the event come to an end. I get really moody and emotional and tired. Poor Michelle had to put up with me for the ride home. Yeah, it's hard to say good-bye *g* And there's always next year, and I fully intend to be there. Only 360-something days to go..... Did you attend this year? Do you plan to go next year? Please do! Labels: 2009, fun, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/10/2009 11:48:00 AM
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Saturday: In for another jam-packed day. Breakfast started at 8:30 so I made my way downstairs, especially anxious to catch up with old friends. This event is pretty much the only time I get a chance to see many of them, most of whom are people I've known for 6-7 years from Lori Foster's Yahoo group. That's why I almost wish this event were a little bit longer if for no other reason to have enough time to see everyone for more than a few minutes. But then it would probably lose that special-ness.  Niny and Lisa These ladies have such pretty accents that I could listen to them talk all day. Here's Niny with her unusual yet melodic southern Puerto Rican dialect and Lisa with her Georgia peach charm. It's a breath of fresh air for this midwesterner who cringes when the Minnesotan comes out from time to time.
angel Laurie & hottie goddess Judy F Part of the original get-together group, here are two of my favorite people on earth. Darlin' Laurie is the one who does all those incredible collections for the troops, but don't let those angel wings fool you. She's got a healthy bit of the devil in her, which is one of the reasons I love her so *g* (And speaking of devils, somehow I neglected to get even one picture of BadBarb. She was unusually quiet and well-behaved this year. Huh. You just never know what she's got going through that devious mind of hers). Judy here is the reigning hottie goddess, who provides us with our daily fix of the hotties in various states of (un)dress. Let's just say nothing brings out a woman's, um, charitable tendencies like the need to give a little TLC to some of her most delectable men ;)  Chris, Kaleen & BarbS More of the original team. Chris never fails to crack me up. I think she's a little crazy, but that's definitely an endearing quality in my book. Kaleen is one of LadyB's minions, er, volunteers during the raffle, but she's modest and left her tiara off so as not to intimidate the rest of us. And there's probably not too many people who know as much about books as Barb does. She's a walking romance encyclopedia. I think next year they should come up with a game to "stump" Barb. Now wouldn't that be fun?  Marcie Marcie here appears to be right at home wearing her tiara. LadyB must be so proud. I've known Marcie since the first event, when she showed up not knowing a soul but fit right in. That's the cool thing about these events - no one gets left behind. And Marcie's an aspiring writer, so I wish her all the best. (Marcie, does this mean you'll put me in the dedication??? LOL)
Here are two of my favorite new authors, and I was fortunate that they ended up sitting at my table. Of course they were practically dragged there, but well, whatever. These two ladies also joined me, Julie, Kati and LeeAnn for dinner that night - we just needed to get out of the hotel, and boy oh boy when the wine started flowing did we learn a lot of dirt. But as they say, what happens in Cincy stays in Cincy ;) And hey, you never know, some of it might end up in a book one day.....  Janice Maynard, me, LuAnn McLane & Joni More of my favorite people. Janice is such a dear, and she also has a pretty southern accent from Tennessee. Her and LuAnn write some of my favorite sexy, small-town stories. I didn't get to chat with either one for long, but it was nice to take a picture with them. It's hard to believe they are both grandmothers! They both look so amazing. I'm tres' jealous. And Joni...well, she's another story entirely. She had this new little trick this year: pinch or tickle the person she's next to right when the click of the camera is about to go off. I can just imagine what contorted facial expressions ended up on film. See, that's why I put sweet, innocent LuAnn between us. She's a character, that Joni.  Christy, Tee, Carol, Cheryl Now these dear ladies play a very important role for every event - they take care of registration as well as all those raffle tickets people clamor to buy. Christy and her mom Cheryl (who will never live down those pictures with the swinging feather nipple clamps) are a real hoot, and they keep everything running so efficiently while having a good ole time. Carol was also a huge help this year, as the event was bigger than ever and they needed the extra help. And Tee, well, that woman's a saint, as she always drives BadBarb to this event. That's 5-6 hours in a vehicle with pure evil (shudder). Bless you, Tee! This year Tee outdid herself with a gorgeous red crocheted afghan that EVERYONE wanted for their very own, but Angela James was the very lucky winner of that prize, damn her. I didn't win one single basket, btw. Sad, but true. Some people won 3 or 4 baskets. I need to learn their secret. Is it as simple as bribing LadyB?????
Laurie, Dianne Castell, Chris You probably can't tell just by looking, but Laurie and Chris are actually holding Dianne in place so she doesn't flit off to parts unknown before I finish taking the picture. The woman is a whirling dervish. Just when you think you've tracked her down she's spun out of your reach yet again. She has more energy than any 10 people I know. She, along with Lori, are the two people responsible for making this event happen every year, along with all the volunteers who do it out of love. They still manage to make it as special as that first year. Thank you, Lori & Dianne!
Ann Christopher Ann is one of those people you really want to hate but you just can't because she's so nice. She's also beautiful, smart and talented, with the kinda first line in her story from the "Tails of Love" anthology that have convinced me I need to read her story first. In fact I really can't wait to read it. A hero who's been in love with the heroine for years? I'm so there. I was super lucky to win her basket last year, and I thought I might be lucky again, but sadly, no :( She always brings such cool raffle prizes, too, like the cool silver bracelet I won - just gorgeous. And the woman is a class act. So jealous... ~~~~~~~~ Well friends, the fun isn't quite over yet. I still have several pictures to post, along with a contest for a copy of the aforementioned "Tails of Love", signed by ALL the authors. So see ya again soon..... (to be continued....)Labels: 2009, fun, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/10/2009 05:25:00 AM
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Tuesday, June 09, 2009:
The super-generous Lori Foster Can you believe another get-together has come and gone? As always, I'm in a strange mood by the end of these events: I'm so happy I went, but also sad it's over. It was fun to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, to once again chat up favorite authors and see what they are up to. And of course to get more books. That never gets old. Heck, it only took 4 years of this event to finally figure out that maybe I should arrive in Cincy on Thursday instead of waiting til Friday, and so that's what I did this time. With Michelle Buonfiglio as my chauffeur *g*, we made the 5+ hour drive with relative ease, only stopping once to eat, and another to get gas. Michelle's a bit more of a laid-back driver than I am, much more courteous than I ever will be, but since I was in the co-pilot chair, who was I to complain? I got to listen to several hours of Octane on satellite radio, and it's a beautiful thing. Traffic was actually pretty light. We got to the hotel, then I pretty much crashed. Having only slept maybe 3 hours the night before, I was feeling the pain. Curled up with Sophie Renwick's "Hot In Here" and sunk into oblivion... Day One: It's finally Friday, and I'm ready to start the day and get together with some book lovers. Slept great. This Marriott really is awesome. Wasn't sure what was on the agenda and Michelle was busy, so I grabbed my book and headed down to breakfast. Ending up moving over to Erin McCarthy's table and we ended up eating and gabbing for awhile. That's the cool thing about this event - you can actually end up at an author's table and get the chance to just sit and talk. It's like Christmas in June. But that doesn't mean I wasn't a major beeyotch, because I totally was when I emailed Kati to tell her about it. Yeah, that's the kind of friend I am.  The awesome Erin McCarthy & me Erin and I talked about her lovely books of course, and I wanted to know about getting more of her "Fast Track" series ("Flat-Out Sexy", "Hard and Fast" ) and was thrilled to hear that yes, Suzanne & Ryder will be getting their own story, though not soon enough for me. Erin has ideas for several more stories in the series, and if you're like me and want each and every one, let your voice be heard. After breakfast I headed up to the room to read a bit, and then Kati was calling cuz her and LeeAnn made it in but their room wasn't ready, so we hung out then it was off to lunch, Red Robin style. Yes, about an hour later and already I'm eating again. Another nice thing about this event is all the opportunities to eat. And then Julie showed up, my dear guest blogger of the "series in order" and "infomercials" posts, and it was like old times.
LeeAnn, me, Kati, Julie After heading back to the hotel, people finally started showing up. Almost immediately we caught up with Toni Blake/Lacey Alexander and Lindsey. The plan was to have the Toni Blake Yahoo Group meet in the lobby between 3-4pm when people started checking in. It was a great place to hang out and watch everyone show up. Several squee moments to be had....
Toni/Lacey I did get a chance to sit down and chat with Lindsey,who happens to be Toni's assistant. What a fun job that must be! To work for an author whose books you love to read. But then again, how much work would you really be getting done if you spent all of your time reading? That's gotta take discipline, which I don't have much of. Lindsey also works for Sanhaim, whom I love and currently consider to be my favorite ebook publisher.
Lindsey and me And I finally got to meet AmyC and her mom, both very sweet ladies. Amy's blog is one I visit just about everyday, even though I can't post on it for some reason when I'm at work. I was thrilled she was able to attend, and she was playing the role of angel, doing a fun thing for another of my favorite bloggers, Lea, who is always so upbeat and thoughtful. Amy put a lot of work into it, and you could tell she was pretty excited about putting it all together for Lea. See why I love these girls???
me and AmyC As has been done every year, there is a huge raffle with all kinds of prizes. This year the money collected for the raffle was going to One Way Farm, a place for abused children to stay and heal. The raffle was done in 3 shifts. I have to give a huge shout-out to LadyB for pulling it all together - it's a ton of work and well, people don't always follow instructions *g* But with a little help she managed to check in over 110 baskets, just unbelievable. Raffle tickets were going 2 for $1, and thanx to hottie goddess JudyF, I had labels to put on the tickets this year. And what an absolute wonderful feeling to hear that the raffle drawings collected over $6600!
Leanna Renee Hieber, Library Deb, and LadyB I brought 2 baskets for the raffle, and they are always so much fun to put together: chocolate, books, and Bath & Body Works, which are some of my favorite things. But I always get nervous that no one's going to put any tickets in them, but I got 2 great winners: long-time friend and event attendee Barb Smith won my Beth Kery/Julie James basket, and Julie James won my Jennifer Ashley/Jennifer Haymore basket. Yay! People I knew and liked LOL. It was just nice that people put tickets to win my baskets.
Jennifer Ashley/Jennifer Haymore basket
Beth Kery/Julie James basket It was a long but very fun day, so after the first raffle drawing, most of us headed to our rooms, tired but really looking forward to Saturday :) I spent the time reading and reading a few emails, but being the extreme introvert that I am, I needed some "me" time so it was nice to just relax and mellow out a little. But there was more fun to be had. (to be continued......) Labels: 2009, fun, reader/author get-together posted by Stacy~ at 6/09/2009 07:05:00 AM
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Basket #1: Chloe Neill's Chicagoland vampires
