Today was the Heart of Dixie Readers’ Luncheon in Huntsville, Alabama. I was attending for the first time, and as a guest author. I’m sure I was grinning like an idiot the entire time. I’ll admit to being a bit nervous. After all, I was low on the author totem pole since I don’t have a book out yet. I had visions of no one sitting with me or being forced to sit at the “loser table” when the big authors’ tables filled up. I didn’t have anything to really give the ladies sitting at my table other than my new bookmarks. I was lamenting this last night, when my faboo roomie for the event, author Janice Lynn, mentioned that some authors in the past had bought the people at their table raffle tickets for the big baskets of books that are raffled off. Great idea!

Well, like most things I worried about, I shouldn’t have. A lovely lady named Susan came up and said she had been looking for me because she wanted to sit at my table. Color me shocked! And thankful. We started talking about my books and where we were from, and then something amazing happened. More people sat at my table! I ended up with the most wonderful group of ladies, and we had a great time talking. That’s them below. Susan is on the far right. (Sorry I can’t get the picture to post any bigger. It’s being contrary.)

Lady Luck seemed to be with our table too. Of the eight people at the table, five won raffle baskets. Three of them won two baskets each, including the biggest basket donated by the published authors of the Heart of Dixie chapter of Romance Writers of America. Dorothy, Susan’s mother-in-law, won the huge basket of goodies. And here’s the funny part. Even though she’d bought several raffle tickets, the one I’d given her was the winner of the big basket. How cool is that!? Here’s Dorothy looking very happy with her large, very cool basket.

The keynote speaker today was Roxanne St. Claire, who was just lovely and entertaining. She was so popular that she ran out of books at the book signing. Here I am with Roxanne. We evidently got the subliminal memo to wear black and white, as did many of the other attendees.

The authors in attendance also gave away special baskets. Again, since I didn’t have any books yet, I put together a basket from my Romance Bandits gals. Here is the lovely Ann Linker, who won the basket. See, she got the black-and-white memo too.

I got to meet the wonderful Pamela Bolton-Holifield (who comments as “doglady” on the Romance Bandits, Wet Noodle Posse and many other blogs). She was sporting her shiny new gold heart bin for being a Golden Heart finalist. Here’s Pam with me and then with my roomie Janice. Pam comments frequently on the Writers at Play blog, where Janice is a member.

Finally, here I am with fellow RWA board member and shoe shopper extraordinaire Linda Howard. (I think she got the memo too.)

Thanks to the ladies of Heart of Dixie. I had a wonderful time and hope I can come back next year. Hint, hint. And I’ll even have books to sign by then!

I’m blogging over at the Romance Bandits about brushes with fame. Come read the fun stories, and share your own!

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my cover!

I have the finalized cover for my first young adult book, Heartbreak River, and a release date — April 2009! This is so cool, I’m grinning like a fool. I feel the need to periodically get up and do the happy dance around my office. Waiting for a cover is crazy-making. You bite your fingernails and hope you get a good cover. It really can make a difference in sales. I have to say I’m thrilled with this cover. If I get a really good cover for my Harlequin American that is coming out this September, I’ll be one happy woman.

So, what do you think?

First off, it’s time to announce the winner of last week’s free books. And the winner is…Bunny. E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week are:

Under Siege by Catherine Mann
The Wrong Child by Patricia Kay
The Cinderella Rules by Donna Kauffmann (an advanced reading copy)

Remember, all you have to do to be in the running to win is comment on one of my blog posts this week.

On to my own book news. My YA editor and I are tossing some ideas about my second book for Razorbill back and forth. While we’re doing that, I started work on a proposal for Harlequin American today. I hope this will be the first book on a new contract. My goal is to write 10 pages a day. At that rate, I should finish the proposal this week and have it polished up and sent to my agent by the middle of next week at the latest.

Okay, on to the latest TV observations. I was disappointed in the Survivor results last night. I was rooting for Amanda and Cirie, and they ended up coming in second and third respectively. While she didn’t win $1 million, Amanda did come away with love in the form of fellow competitor Ozzy. His words to her during the final Tribal Council made my romance writer’s heart melt. I wish them all the best. Cirie’s final words after being voted out about broke my heart. And what was up with Natalie’s weirdo bedroom question for Parvati (the big winner)? I kind of felt sorry for Parv having to answer that out-of-the-blue and totally irrelevant question. Jeff Probst, the jury, and viewers were all confused.  And let me just say here, I really like Erik. Sure, he made a move that really cost him, but he seems like a really genuine nice guy. And I like to see the really nice people do well. I do think this is an experience that he’ll really treasure the rest of his life since he’s been such a fan for so long.

Looks like Survivor is going back to Africa again, this time to Gabon. This will be interesting since the first Africa season is one of three seasons I missed (Hey, it’s when Friends got good, and it was in The Time Before TiVo). I know the beach locations are popular, but I like it when they shake it up a bit like they did by going to China. The only time they’ve gone to what should have perhaps been a more memorable location and the season wasn’t good was Thailand, which goes down as the worst season in Survivor history in my book. Suckola.

Anyone watch Bones tonight? If you didn’t and plan to, SPOILER WARNING. It was a perfectly fine episode until the end when it turned into a great episode. Loved Tempe singing Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” on stage, loved how Booth was really enjoying himself watching her, and gasped when crazy stalker chick shot Booth. Okay, we know Booth has to live because there’d be no show if he didn’t, but I’m so interested in seeing what happens in next week’s season finale. Oh, and Gormagon will be back, and someone in the lab is going to betray the rest. If it’s any of the main characters (as in Angela, Hodgens, Zach, or Tempe), I’m so not going to be happy. I really don’t want it to be Angela or Hodgens because I don’t want them to split up. That leaves only Camille or some minor walk-on character as the culprit. Hmm…

I haven’t watched my TiVoed episodes of Smallville and LOST yet, but I thought I’d comment some on my favorite night of television.

Survivor — Poor Erik. I’m of two minds about his ouster tonight. On the one hand, it really was an incredibly dumb move to give up his immunity necklace to conniving Natalie (Please don’t let her win!), especially after what had happened at Tribal Council in recent weeks. Don’t trust anyone! But on the other hand, I hated that he was trying to do a good thing and, I think, honestly preserve some friendships for after the game was over, and the girls repaid him by not only voting him out but rubbing in how “stupid” he was. I do feel sorry for him. I wonder what the jury members said to him when he joined them.

Supernatural — The clock is ticking down to when Dean’s deal comes due and the hellhounds come for him. How in the world do you think he’s going to get out of this? Or do you think they’re going to have him really die and go to hell in the finale and not bring him back until next season? And do you think we’ll see Bella again? I feel like there’s more story to tell about her.

LOST — Haven’t watched it yet, but there was an interesting link to a theory a fan has in the May 9 issue of Entertainment Weekly. I don’t know if any part of this time loop theory will prove true, but it was interesting reading. Check it out at www.timelooptheory.com.

On the writing front, I finished and turned in a freelance article today and read some interesting articles on promotion. Soon, I need to come up with a master plan for promotion for the weeks surrounding the September release of my first book.

When I returned from running errands today, the box of bookmarks I’d ordered was sitting on the front porch. I admit I kind of held my breath when I opened them, hoping they looked okay and were of good quality. They’re bee-yoo-ti-ful! I’m so happy with them, and with the new business card I’d already received. Instead of doing new bookmarks for each new book (which can get expensive and lead to leftovers when the book is no longer available), I decided to brand my Web site’s look on my other promo materials. There’s a peek at the bookmark at the bottom of this post.

I’m guessing you all have seen the news stories about the horrible devastation left by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Author Ann Aguirre is running a contest that encourages everyone to donate to charities helping those affected. When you provide Ann with proof that you’ve donated, your name goes in the running for a prize of 150 free books. Click here for more info.

I mowed the lawn again for Travelin’ Hubby. I’m thinking I just might mow enough this summer to get in some smaller jeans.

Several weeks ago, someone whose screen name is catlady won one of my week free book drawings. She has, however, not e-mailed with her mailing info to claim her prize. So, catlady, if you’re out there, let me know by e-mailing through the Contact page on this site and I’ll get your books out to you.

So, anyone out there still following along with Survivor? Poor James had to leave the show last week because of injury. That’s two people gone because of injury and one because she quit. Of those left, I’m rooting for Amanda and Eric. The finale is this upcoming Sunday. Who is everyone’s bet for final two?

The winner of this week’s three freebie books is…Teri Brown! Teri, e-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this upcoming week are:

Night and Day by Anne Stuart and Gayle Wilson
Drive Me Wild by Julie Ortolon
Forever Beloved by Joan Van Nuys

Hubby and I had a date day today. We went out to eat and then to see the new movie, Iron Man (click here to watch trailer). I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of superhero movies, so I’ve been looking forward to this one since I saw the first trailer. And the movie did not disappoint.

It had action, funny lines, intrigue, kickin’ music (I still have “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath playing in my head), and Robert Downer Jr. was great in the role. He put the necessary snark in Tony Stark.

If you plan to see the movie, a tip — stay until the end of the credits. There’s an extra scene that gives a definite hint that we’ve not see the last of Iron Man.

So, I’m curious — any other superhero movie fans out there? If so, what is your favorite? Superman? Spiderman? Fantastic Four? X-Men? Batman? Iron Man?

May is the one-year anniversary for the Romance Bandits, and we are celebrating big time. In addition to our normal fun posts, we’ve got a lot of great guests coming throughout the month beginning with New York Times best-selling author Eloisa James tomorrow.

We’re also having lots of drawings for prizes ranging from bookstore gift cards to signed books to critiques of first chapters. Be sure to visit every day and comment to be in the running for the prize drawings.