This here is David Callis. In his non-Wal-Mart-shopping hours, he works at the office where I used to work full time and still do some contract work. He’s the government relations guy, techie on call (as in you buzz his office and say, “Yo, David, my computer isn’t working. Come make it work.”), and resident smartypants.

So when I went over to the office today to do some copy editing on a book the magazine is producing, David came by my desk with these four copies of my book — one for his lovely wife, one for his secretary, one for the office’s executive secretary, and one for a friend. He wiped out his local Wal-Mart. Gee, what a swell guy. (Don’t let it go to head, Callis!)

My sister has been good about giving me regular updates about how many copies of my book she’s seeing at various stores. She points it out to people and says, “My sister wrote this.” She took two copies up to cashiers at a store where she used to work and said, “This is my sister’s first book. These are the last two copies. You should buy them.” I call her my PR person for the Pacific Northwest.

Two good friends have sent me pictures of them with my book.

Here’s Mary (who writes as M.J. Fredrick) at her local Wal-Mart.

And here’s Steeple Hill author Merrillee Whren at a drug store in Rapid City, S.D., where she’s visiting

Remember, I’m currently running a contest in which a lot of nice prizes will go to one entrant who sends me their photo with my book and a note about where they bought it. Check out my Homepage for all the rules and prize listing.

I’m still plugging away at my revisions on Arctic Heart, which I found out will be renamed at some point. I really hope I like the new title because I’ve grown attached to Arctic Heart because it fits the story so well. But it seems an upcoming release from my publisher will have a similar title, so ixnay on the itletay for my book.

I really got to cranking yesterday and got through three chapters of revisions even though I’m only shooting for two a day. Usually after two, my brain is fried. But I was able to save some material from the original version of the book in the chapters I was working on yesterday, so that helped me get farther. I’ve gone through two today, much slower going since I was writing new scenes. So far, the new version is rough, and I already know I’m going to have to go back through and add some things. But right now I need to get the new story down in its new structure before I can go back and beautify the language, pepper in ideas from the revision letter.

Diane Gaston sent me this link to Harlequin’s eBook Boutique. A Firefighter in the Family is listed as one of the top e-books in the Protectors category. So if you’d like to read my debut in e-book form, here’s your chance.

Harlequin Blaze author Tawny Weber and I are guesting on each others’ blogs today. Instead of writing about a certain topic or doing a lengthy interview, we asked each other three random questions.

Tawny’s newest release, Risque Business, is getting a lot of buzz. Here’s the scoop on the book:

A literature reviewer out to make a name for herself and an erotic suspense author out to save his reputation go head to head in a game of sexual one-upmanship. When newly made over Delaney Connor publicly critiques best-selling author Nick Angel’s inability to bring emotion into his stories, it hits him where it hurts… his sales and his ego. In retaliation, he issues her a challenge of his own. Either prove good sex needs emotions… or admit the greatest sex in the world is purely physical.

So, how did Tawny answer my three random questions?

Which actress’s work do you most admire? Why?

Kathryn Hepburn. She was an incredibly strong woman who lived her life on her own terms. She brought a passion and true sense of Movie Stardom to all her roles.

What was your favorite board game as a kid?

Clue. I loved to pretend I was Ms. Scarlet. She had the best dress.

If you could win round-trip airfare to anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Greece. I’d love to cruise the islands there, to bask in the sun and take a step back into they history and myth of the Greek people

So there you have it — a quick peek into the mind of Tawny Weber. Don’t forget to see what she asked me and how I responded at Tawny’s blog.

I’d planned to put up a big catch-up post this morning about my travels, complete with photos, but the desktop computer, on which I do the photo work, has decided not to boot this morning. I think hubby will have to work his computer magic on it after work today. So I’m on the laptop. Until I can get the Travels with Trish post up, be sure to pop by Love is an Exploding Cigar, where I’m guesting today and talking about one of my pet peeves. I’m giving away books to one lucky winner.

I’ve been busy in the D.C. area the past few days. I’ll blog more about that, complete with photos, when I get home. Until then, I’m visible at a couple of other online spots.

P.J. has written a lovely review of A Firefighter in the Family and posted it on RomanceNovelTV. Smooches, PJ!

And while Loucinda McGary (aka Aunty Cindy) is off cruising again, I’ve been allowed to highjack her blog. Be sure to check it out to find out what totally wild thing happened to me today.

Whew, what a full, exciting but tiring day. As I mentioned yesterday, I was blogging at three places today because here. I had lots of great comments, and I appreciate them all.

I began working with Open Office Impress (similar to PowerPoint) today, preparing for the presentations I’m giving to the Washington Romance Writers on Saturday. I got through one presentation, but now that I know what I’m doing, I think I can get through the two others tomorrow much quicker. At least I hope so.

I also mailed off some postcards with my cover on them. The postal clerk got all excited when I told her my first book was out this month. That was a cool moment.

I mentioned on one of my guest blogs today that I got an e-mail from my sister yesterday. She said she’d been in her local Wal-Mart with my little four-year-old niece yesterday, and they went by the book section. She said, “Look, there’s Auntie Trish’s book.” Turns out the book stocker was there, and she asked which book it was. She said that she’d just stocked those and some had already sold. Yay!

Tonight, Hubby and I went out to dinner to celebrate my official release date. Afterward, we popped over to Books-a-Million where I signed the stock of my book. There were only two copies left, but they were at eye level on the top shelf. Awesome placement! So I signed them and put “Autographed by Author” stickers on the cover.

I’m guesting today (Wednesday) on writing pal Nancy Northcott’s site. She’s another Romance Bandit and fan of Dragon*Con. Come on by!

Today is the official launch day for my debut book, A Firefighter in the Family. To celebrate and get the word out, I’m blogging at three different places today:

Romance Bandits
Wet Noodle Posse
Writers at Play

Come on by!

Also, be sure to check out my new contest detailed on the Homepage of this site. You could win lots of fun goodies.

I mentioned I saw my book on a store shelf for the first time on Thursday but that I didn’t have a camera with me. Well, last night (or I should say very early this morning), hubby and I trekked to Wal-Mart again because he wanted to get the new video game, Spore, which released at midnight last night. On the way out of the store, we stopped by the book section and he took my photo with the book. Whee! The fact that it was nearly 1 in the morning explains the lack of makeup and hair product in this shot.

So, on Thursday, I made a trek to Wal-Mart to buy groceries and exciting things like deodorant and grass seed to plant in the part of the yard where we just had a tree taken out. While there, I cruised by the books section just to see if maybe my book was out on the shelf a little early. It was!!! It was surreal to see copies of A Firefighter in the Family on a store shelf for the first time. I even called my husband at work to tell him. Did I have a camera with me? No. So, I plan to trek to a bookstore this weekend with a camera and the hubby. Perhaps the one that’s next to Best Buy because hubby really wants to buy Spore, the new video game that comes out tomorrow.

Saw an article online this morning about the Top 20 TV Kisses. Among my favorites listed: Buffy and Angel (duh) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica and Logan from Veronica Mars, Ross and Rachel from Friends, and Mulder and Scully from The X-Files. See if you agree with the list. Do you think there are other great TV smooches that should have made the list?

As you can tell from my absence for a few days, I’ve been hard at work on the proposals to send to Harlequin American. I have all the synopses done now, and I finished up the chapters yesterday. I just have to go back through those chapters today to clean them up, then it’s off with the whole batch to my agent. Next up, reading a manuscript for Mary and working on workshops I’m giving in Maryland next weekend.