My First Book Signing! A Recap of TNEE 2016

This past weekend I spent in Atlanta at The Novel Experience Event, along with about three hundred or so of my closest new friends!

I have to say, this was an entirely new con experience for me. While I've done DragonCON here in Atlanta many times, this was a reader convention. Approximately 40 writers of various romance genre (from YA to hard core BDSM and everything in between!) and some of the most enthusiastic and wonderful people I have had to chance to meet gathered for a week of fun and relationships.

I have to throw a big thanks out to Stella Price for organizing an amazing time. There were outings with authors, panels, parties, readings, a Fantasy ball and that's just the things I went to. We had coffee breaks and chocolate parties, there was a formal tea and a Jazz-era speakeasy. But the best part was the time spent one on one with the people who matter most - the readers.

Authors are a skittish bunch, and when approached too quickly, tend to run in the opposite direction. But this was an incredible experience and I cannot wait to see some of these people again. I consider their ideas creative and inventive and the stories some of the others had written were awe inspiring.

I had such a good time, I've decide to join them again for Authors After Dark 2016 in Savannah Ga the first part of August. Then I'm debating about joining a panel for DragonCON in the writer's track.

Oh, yes - there was also a book signing last Saturday and I sold books, talked plots, and made new readers (I hope!).

Please, please, please - disregard the expression on my face. God alone knows what I was talking about. But notice the green composition book in front of me?  That little books holds my outlines for Book 3 in the Guardian Stories, working title "A Trial of Fire"; as well as the outline for Book 2 in my new Devlyn Family series, working title "A Family Matter".

Soon I will have a cover reveal for Book 1 in the Devlyn Family, "Welcome to the Family", to be released this summer from The Wild Rose Press. Be on the look out for all the new doings here inside my world!

Happy Halloween!!

Just a quick note with my thoughts on the current issues around the country:

1) - Hurricane Sandy - Truly a monster of a storm when you can be affected by the storm more than 1000 miles from the center of the storm. I am glad all my family and friends are safe, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those not as lucky. Having gone through more than a dozen hurricanes in my life, I am glad that another area of the country go socked for a change. (Not really - I hope everyone knows that is only a joke!)

2) - Election 2012 - I promised my family I wouldn't get on a soap box about the elections, so much as I would love to sound off I will only say this. Don't forget to vote. It is a right many people have died protecting. Do not use that right without being informed as to each candidate's positions.

3) - Halloween - I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween. The Charlie Brown special has been played, the pumpkin's have been extinguished and I took my grandson in  love out for his first trick or treat. He was dressed as a Transformer. It was magical.

Don't forget to join in on the Autumn's Harvest Blog Hop, sponsored by Carrie Ann's Blog Hops! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing to win a $10 Amazon gift card from me, and entered to win the Grand Swag Prize through Carrie Ann. Dates for the hop are November 9th through November 12th.

Spring Excitement - Mother Nature has Menopause

Am I the only one within my generation who thinks the weather is worse now than when we were kids? We had some gully washers and frog strangers back in the late 60's and 70's. But even those did not approach the ferocity of the past several storms which have rocketed across our state in the past months. One group screams "Global Warming!"; while the other side touts Corporate abuses of the Clean Air Act.

I don't pretend to know why our weather is in need of a nice vacation, I only have to worry about weather when my real job interferes with my writing. When the two work together and I have to take time away from writing to fix problems in my reality then I tend to grump. This weekend has been one of those days.

By all appearances Mother Nature has menopause. Really, think about it. Hot flashes, crying jags, moody swings - if these are not symptoms of full blown menopause then I am not a woman! Human women take hormones and anti depressants and any other manner of artificial and natural remedies to deal with their 'change'. What, however, does one give Nature?

Would a large glass of Pinot and a 500,000mg Xanex help? Perhaps a trip to the beach with some girlfriends. Chocolate produces wonderful feelings in human brains, would it would on Mother Nature? Maybe that's why she created cocoa beans in the first place?

So how do we calm a planet wide menopause attack? I don't know, but I sure hope someone figures it out soon!