I'm at the RWA (Romance Writers of America) National Convention in San Francisco.
You know how when the Shriners come to town, they wear funny hats and all the sober, careful, respectable dentists and lawyers and insurance salesmen swing their tassels and make fools of themselves?
Romance writers do this too.
In specific, they make fools of themselves in front of people who have these really cute little electronic cameras about the size of a pack of cards and who say --"Can I put this up on my blog?" and you say -- "Yes."
So if you want to see me making a fool of myself -- it's here, courtesy of the truly delightful Ciara Stewart, whom I met.
Every year, at the National Convention, publishers (yeah, publishers!) contribute free books, authors (yeah authors!) get together in their masses (500 and some, this year) and sign the books (well, yeah books!) for the public, (yeah, readers!) to buy, and the money is contributed to Literacy (yeah, literacy!)
I signed books and it was an utter blast. I got to talk to these really cool people, some of whom I'd met 'online'. They have, like, faces and bodies and can walk around in the real world. Who knew?
Oh -- the answer to the question Ciara asked me is ... "A good book on boat building,' but I only thought of that later.
That's the difference between writing and real life. Redrafts.
Jo,
ReplyDeleteYou didn't look like a fool at all! It was very cool to see you "in person". (g)
Glad you had a wonderful time!
You sound GREAT!!! I loved meeting you. I can't wait to read Adrian's story!
ReplyDelete(if you really don't like it, I will take it down, but I think you sound fabulous!)
Hi Jo! Fun to be put on the spot isn't it? :-) May I ask why you picked Aurelius? It was really neat to see you "live" - wish there was a conference you were coming up to in Montreal!
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose you'd ever write a romance novel set in Rome? *hopeful face*
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I missed you in SF! I was there but only Fri night and Sat (I couldn't leave my little one longer.) Some friends told me all about meeting you so I had to live through them. I kept looking for you in the lobby but it was quite overwhelming! Next year (when I have a book to sell and attend the whole time)I'll make sure to track you down and congratulate you on your RITA win ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Jo!
ReplyDeleteI met you at conference w/ Delilah Marvelle. She was one of the ladies running around w/ a camera phone the size of a pack of cards. ;D I thought you were quite fun i the little video, and I certainly got an insight into your reading. You like Rome, hmmmm? Those centurions were terribly fit. Oh and Shakespeare. Its about the size of the bible and has at least a few happy endings.
Love the blog
I enjoyed seeing you and hearing your voice. What six books one would bring if stranded on island is an important question. I'd like to put forth mine:
ReplyDelete1. The Bible
2. Desert Island Survival for Dummies
3. Swiss Family Robinson
4. A book from the Bermuda National Trust about how the shipwrecked inhabitants built the Deliverance (don't recall the true title)
5. Shanna (in case none of the previous books prove effective)
6. The Complete Works of Shakespeare ('cause along with the bible, it's the most quoted)
6.
This was just after the literacy signing.
ReplyDeleteIt was tremendously exciting to sign books and meet folks who want to read MY BOOK.
READ ... MY ... BOOK ...
This is ... It's just so wonderful. Oh wow.
By the end of the literacy signing, though, I was author roadkill.
My menti was not compos in the least.
What I should have come up with was six favorite Romance books to read.
Alinor, by Roberta Gellis,
The Windflower, by Sharon and Tom Curtis, (Laura London,)
Angelique by Serge and Ann Golon, (Sergeanne Golon,)
By Arrangement, by Madeline Hunter,
It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn,
An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley.
Instead I start thinking about research materials, already mentally setting up a typewriter on the sands. I am such a dork.
Hi Ciara --
(waves and waves)
It's a great video.
I was riding in the taxi to the airport with a woman who does media. She said ... forget book trailers. Do live interviews.
You are the wave of the future, Ciara.
I was so very glad to see you. Let's do breakfast in Washington.
Hi Deniz --
I am a big fan of Aurelius. Something to think about on every page. I come away calmed and strengthened every time I open him.
Hi Moth --
I'd love to write Romances set in Classical Rome. But I don't have the chops.
I wish someone did. I'd read them.
Hi Lady Leigh --
I will be utterly delighted to meet you.
The ... ah ... RITA business. I'm looking into this a little. There doesn't seem to be any downside to trying.
I wish you luck with your ms. I don't know whether the National Conference ultimately makes a difference in selling a manuscript. But the Conference IS a chance to shortcut the process. You get the ms in front of an agent or editor right away.
Hi Marie Jolie --
Oh, yes. I remember meeting you. And isn't Delilah utterly delightful.
That was the lunch and silent auction, right? I bought that big book on fashion from the Kyoto Museum.
I've been wanting that for the last decade and have been too cheap to buy it. I took it's presence at the auction as a SIGN.
Hi Catherine --
Shipwrecked inhabitants built ... like ... a ship? The Deliverance?
(Good name.)
I'm kinda technologically challenged by getting a letter into a bottle.
its presence. its presence.
ReplyDelete(le sigh)
Jo wrote: Shipwrecked inhabitants built ... like ... a ship? The Deliverance? (Good name.)
ReplyDeleteFor certs. In the 1600's some English sailing to Virginia found their ship smashed to smithereens against coral reefs. The lived on the uninhabited island for a few years. There, they found Bermuda Cedar (plentiful) and built two ships, one of which was named Deliverance. Many went on to Virginia while others stayed and colonized Bermuda.
Bermuda Cedar, very hard and naturally bowed--perfect for hulls--made Bermuda a shipbuilding epicenter. The HMS Pickle (Trafalgar) was built in Bermuda.
My most recent hero is an Irish shipwright in Bermuda.
And Jo, I think it's really cool that your books are on shelves too. Enjoyed TSL. Looking forward to MLAS, which I own but haven't been able to read yet.
Hi Catherine --
ReplyDeleteI might manage a raft, I suppose, if shipwrecked.
To me this is rather like discovering that a family, stranded in Arizona when the car broke down, built another one and escaped.
Ah well. Hope you like MLAS.
This site makes me do the antispam word on my own site, which feels unfair, somehow.
I cannot think of worse books to take with me to a desert island:
ReplyDelete1. Atlas Shrugged
2. Crime and Punishment
3. War and Peace
I want entertainment away from the rigors of omg-am-i-going-to-die thoughts, not be so bored where rigors resulting in death become welcome.
My DIK would be full versions of:
1. Count of Monte Christo
2. Three Musketeers
3. Pride & Prejudice
4. North & South (Gaskell)
5. Devil Cub by
You're entitled to one more book, y'know.
ReplyDeleteMaybe something with good recipes for conch and coconut.
I was making mental lists of gloomy books I would NOT grab from the ship's library as the waves washed over those-sidey-things-on-the-boat-that-probably-have-a-name and I swam ashore ...
but it was very depressing. I need Connie Willis or Jasper Fforde or Peter S. Beagle ...
My gloomy list sounded like The Kid's summer reading list which, as she put it, 'is responsible for more teen depression than zits.'
My antispam word is sjglfvfa. This is just plain unfair.
Oooh! I want to play the desert island game. Here's my six:
ReplyDelete1. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
3. Agnes and the Hitman by Crusie/Mayer
4. Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
5. Brother Cadfael's Penance by Ellis Peters
6. One of Terry Pratchett's Guards books but I'd just have to close my eyes an grab because I just couldn't pick ONE in cold blood...
Actually...I am rather well-endowed. I would so be willing to stuff a book down my cleavage to have extra reading material on a desert island. In that case, I should be smart like Jo and say a ship building book- instead I'd probably take another Pratchett.
Is a fun game! :D
word verification: feeqa- perhaps is some exotic fruit on said desert island? New tribe of pygmy cannibals that will make me their queen?