LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY AWESOME WEEKEND

I recently sent Laurie Rauch – executive editor at Samhain Publishing, and my editor as well – two manuscripts. One’s a novella entitled Little Red Ragtop, and the other is my first (and so far only) full length book, Rocky Mountain Howl. I’ve been just a teeny bit anxious, waiting to find out if she wanted to publish either one.

Then Laurie told me she’d be appearing at the Winter Rose award luncheon, sponsored by the Yellow Rose, the Fort Worth chapter of Romance Writers of America. As it happens, RMH placed in the Winter Rose contest last year, but I wasn’t able to attend the luncheon. I thought it would be fun to meet both Laurie and the members of the Yellow Rose. And since a couple of my best friends live in Dallas, and I haven’t seen them in years, this seemed like a good time for a road trip. So I loaded up the Diva (my friend Belynda and her husband adore the Diva, and she them) and hit the road for DFW.

While I was at the luncheon, Belynda spent the day with Diva at the Fort Worth zoo. Diva had a wonderful time; B's training to be a grandma in the next few years and she has the patience of a woman whose children have all left the nest. In fact, she wants me to bring Diva and the Monsters back in July so we can take them to Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor. (B and Rusty have raised three boys; nothing scares them).

I had a blast at the luncheon, even though I forgot to take my camera, and the pics I took with my phone came out crappy :(. I didn’t arrive in time to hear Christie Craig talk about character motivation (everyone raved about it, and Christie asked great questions during Rachel Caine's talk), but I did hear Rachel Caine, bestselling author of the hugely popular Morganville Vampire series, talk about writing YA fiction. She was both informative and funny as hell. Rachel’s been writing for over twenty years. She had a lot to share about marketing and promotion, the publisher-author relationship, and current fiction trends, as well as specific issues related to the YA market. Since the Diva will be a teenager in just a few years, I was interested in Rachel’s insights about teenage readers – she obviously has a strong bond with hers. I found myself getting a little jealous as she described what it’s like to have adolescent readers tell her how her books changed their lives. YA writers have an opportunity to touch their readers in a way that those of us who write for adults never can. (I realize how clumsy that sounds; if I didn’t have to post this thing for tomorrow morning, I’d take the time to better express myself – but it’s late, and I have a slight hangover, and I need to finish this and get to bed. Honestly, I do sometimes finish my posts days before they’re due – but not this one!)

I met lots of members of the Yellow Rose, including two of my fellow Samhain authors - Michelle Miles and Denise Belinda McDonald (who has a new book, The Cowboy Plan, dropping on June 1). I also met Jennifer August, Rebecca Lees (whose YA book placed in this year’s contest) and Mae Harless, who pitched a story to Laurie, who asked to see the full. Go, Mae!

The best part of the luncheon (from a totally selfish point of view, that is)? Laurie told me Rocky Mountain Howl is going to contract!!! Pretty soon I won’t be a one-book author anymore! She liked Little Red Ragtop as well, I just need to do some tinkering with it. AND she wants me to do more books in my world, including a full length book for Nick and TJ. WHOOT!

Of course we had to celebrate with margaritas. And wine. And a little beer. Got up this morning, ate breakfast with Diva and B and The Other Wendy (B and The Other Wendy were instrumental in my finishing Rocky Mountain - I couldn't have done it without them) and then drove five hours with a hangover, a portion of which is still with me as I write this at 9:00 on a Sunday night. Driving from Dallas to Houston with a hangover - no fun. Thank God for Buc-ee’s (for those of you not fortunate enough to travel in the vicinity of Buc-ees, home of great food and beautiful restrooms, my sympathy).

So. How was your weekend?