No, I’m not talking about the weather. First coolness of today, pal and fabulous Aussie author Anna Campbell has mentioned me and my first release on her lastest Web site update. Check it out and all the other fun stuff Anna mentions.

And the second coolness of the day — I’m headed to Dragon*Con! Will come back with lots of photos and fun tales, I promise.

I recently received Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie Preview issue. You might have heard about it because the cover story was for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but the week before (after EW had gone to press), the release date was changed from this November to next summer. Oops. The good news is that with that change, the release of Twilight, the movie I’m looking most forward to this fall, has been bumped back to 21 rather than Dec. 12.

Here are some of the other movies highlighted that I’m looking forward to. Most of these will be Netflix rentals, but I definitely want to see Twilight and probably Australia on the big screen.
Appaloosa (9/17) — starring Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons and Renee Zellweger; a western — I love westerns.

The Duchess (9/19) — starring Keira Knightley

Blindness (9/26) — starring Julianne Moore, Gael Garcia Bernal and Mark Ruffalo

Body of Lies (10/10) — starring two of my favorite actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe

Quantum of Solace (11/7) — Daniel Craig as James Bond

Australia (11/14 — hey, that’s my anniversary) — starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman

Bolt (11/26) — animated, with the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus and others

Revolutionary Road (12/26) — Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on screen together again!

Marley & Me (12/25) — based on the book, starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/25) — starring Brad Pitt

Defiance — starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell

What fall releases are you looking forward to?

It’s my day to blog over at the Harlequin Romance Authors blog. I’m talking about my favorite Olympic moments, so if you have time to stop by and comment that would be great.

And don’t forget, the discussion continues on my thread over at eHarlequin.

Time to give away some books. Last week’s winner was Fedora! I’ll send your books out soon.

Up for grabs this week are:

Jealous Heart by Cecilia Tishy
Love with a Proper Stranger by Suzanne Brockmann
Sleepless at Midnight by Jacquie D’Alessandro

I’m hosting a thread over on eHarlequin this week. Among other things, we’re talking about perseverance as you work toward goals and second chances, which is a big theme in my books.

Been really busy writing synopses the past few days, having wonderful friends read through them and point out the weaknesses so I can revise before sending them to my editor. I want them to be solid before I start working on the first chapters of each proposal.

But here are, finally, the final photos from my trip to San Francisco. These are from the day after the conference was over. I had an extra day in town to play tourist since I couldn’t get a spot on that day’s train, and I’m glad I couldn’t. Terry McLaughlin, fellow Noodler and Harlequin Superromance author, was my tour guide and drove me through some lovely areas of Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties.

A view of Napa Valley from one of the zillions of wineries.

We made a longer stop at the Rubicon Estate, a winery in Napa Valley owned by Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola. The Coppolas live on the estate, so this is where Sophia grew up.

When you arrive, valets take your car and you walk up the red carpet.

Here’s me in front of Rubicon. Terry and I spend a nice bit sitting in the shade eating sourdough bread and drinking granita, a very tart frozen lemonade type drink.

After leaving the wine country, we headed for the coastal area and Muir Woods National Monument. I love National Park units, and I love trees, so I was in heaven.

It’s a bit of a standing joke that I’m a tree hugger (really), so what else did I do? Why, hug a really big redwood, of course.

After walking through Muir Woods and making a stop at the gift shop where I purchased a T-shirt for myself and one for my sister’s birthday, a redwood bracelet and earrings, postcards, and fridge magnets for the folks, we headed for Muir Beach.

I braved the cold water to stick my feet in the surf. That didn’t last long. Brr.

Then we drove up to the Muir Beach Overlook, which was stunning and very windy. This is the path down to the point of the overlook.

And to the left you can see the beach where we’d stood a few minutes before.

Here’s me at the point. I resisted the urge to face the ocean, with the wind in my hair, and yell, “I’m king of the world!”

See what looks like clouds on the horizon? That’s actually the fog sitting atop the water, making its way toward shore. I’d never seen fog like that before.

So that’s it, my photo journey through San Francisco. I had a great time and want to go back again so I can do the things I missed this time — including Fisherman’s Wharf and riding a cable car.

Awards night at the end of the RWA National Conference is a fabulous way to end a great week of conference. For those up for the Golden Heart and RITA awards, it’s equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking. This year, I wasn’t up for an award because I was in a gap year — couldn’t enter the Golden Heart because I was no longer eligible (this is the unpublished contest), and couldn’t enter the RITA (the published contest) because I didn’t have a book out yet. But being a past Golden Heart winner, I was invited to be a presenter. Pretty cool. I still got to sit up front in the primo viewing seats, and when it was my turn to go up on stage to present the RITA in the Young Adult category, I didn’t even trip on my dress and fall on my face.

Awards night is like our Oscar night, so we go all out getting dressed up. Here’s a look at some of the awards night finery.

Moi with Simone Elkeles, who was up for a RITA for her YA book Leaving Paradise (which I enjoyed reading while on the train to San Fran).

Four lovely Banditas: Kirsten Scott, Christine Wells, Susan Seyfarth (who won the Golden Heart in her category for her manuscript, Money Honey, which has since sold!), and Anna Campbell.

With fellow YA author Julie Linker.

And with good friend, Mills and Boon Medicals author Janice Lynn.

I just heard from my editor that my second Harlequin American release, set for May 2009, has a new title. What was The Willow Creek Cafe will be released as Her Very Own Family. Must start thinking of it and referring to it by its new name.

Off to change it on the rest of the site!

Time for a bit of catchup on the weekly book giveaways. I didn’t post what books were up for last week, Aug. 11-17, but Cheryl C. won the following:

Slave by Cheryl Brooks
The Cowboy’s Secret Son by Gayle Wilson
Dragonfire by Patricia Potter

And this week, I’m giving away:

No One Heard Her Scream by Jordan Dane
Circle of Gold by Diana Palmer
If Wishes Were Horses by Carolyn McSparran

I’ve been so busy the past few days that I haven’t had time to size photos for more posts. But I took my mom home and finished judging contest entries for my RWA chapter, so here are some more fun shots from conference week.

On Thursday night was the Golden Network reception. The Golden Network is a special chapter of RWA for Golden Heart finalists. Each year at the conference, they hold a dessert reception complete with a funny skit and the “boot out” ceremony for those who’ve sold their first book since the last conference. They don’t really boot you out of the chapter; it’s just a symbolic booting in which you get a certificate and a little boot pin to go on your conference badge. This year I was one of the bootees along with several friends.

Above are the Noodlers who were in attendance. Notice Noodler Charity Tahmaseb, standing next to me, also was a bootee.

Among the fun, fun, fun Writers at Play gals, Beth Andrews was a bootee.

On Friday afternoon, the finalists reception for those who’d finaled in the Golden Heart and RITA contests was held. Terry McLaughlin, middle, and I are members of the RWA board, so we got to hand out finalist certificates to fellow Noodlers. Below, from left: me, Theresa Ragan, Terry, Stephanie Rowe, and Priscilla Kissinger.

Friday night means publisher parties. I made a quick zip through the Penguin party before going out to dinner. Then it was on to the Harlequin party, where there was much dancing to be done and fun to be had. Witness it for yourself.

Kathleen Long and Beth Andrews.

My agent, Michelle Grajkowski; me; and my editor, Johanna Raisanen.

Me with Sarah from Smart Bitches. She likes to joke that I used to be her boss when I was the editor of RWA’s eNotes newsletter.

Julie Linker, with whom I did a workshop on Friday morning, and me.

Stephanie Rowe and I dance the night away. Steph was a dancing machine!

Had a totally long day with first my chapter meeting then five hours on the road to take my mom home and drive back home myself. After dinner out with the hubby, I was pretty much toast. Just did a few essential e-mails and then watched Dara Torres and Michael Phelps swim. They are both so amazing. I wished Dara could have gotten just a little more out of her 50m swim to win the gold. Ironic that she lost the gold by 1/100th of a second, which is how much Michael Phelps won the butterfly by. And she was so close to catching the Aussies at the end of the relay, but she just had too much time to make up for the team. Still, a wonderful showing for the oldest woman in the pool.

And what can I say about Michael Phelps that hasn’t already been said? I couldn’t stay seated during the relay tonight. The USA guys did awesome, and once again Jason Lezak brought it home in awesome style. I kid you not, my phone rang during Lezak’s final leg of the relay. There was no way I was answering that call, and whoever it was hung up after a couple of rings. Must not have been important.