RWA Annual Conference & Blogger Bar Bash!

The Romance Writers of America annual conference is right around the corner (::gulp::, next week) - and in preparation for that, I've got some news and general blog-keeping announcements to share.

First, there will be a Blogger Bar Bash again this year!  It will be Wednesday night, July 25, at the conference hotel bar (the Anaheim Marriott), after the Literacy Signing (which "ends" at 8PM).  A contingent of SoCal Bloggers will be on hand to chat the night away, while washing down what are sure to be overpriced cocktails.  The Literacy Signing is open to the public - you do not need to be registered for the conference to attend!  Seriously, if you are going to be anywhere in the area, as a romance novel fan it is your civic duty to attend.  All of the nitty-gritty details on the event can be found on the RWA web site.  And even though it's called the Blogger Bar Bash - everyone is welcome to stop by and say hello after the signing.  Readers, bloggers, authors, agents, editors, Fabio, Mickey Mouse, Mary Poppins - come one come all!

I am going to try to put in an appearance, but I'm not sure if that will happen.  I'm working with RWA to pack up the leftover books after the signing, which are being donated to my library.  I'll be staying behind to help them pack up, and load up the Batmobile.  And since I'll have been "on the go" since 7AM that morning (Wednesday is also Librarians Day!), I can't vouch for what kind of shape I'll be in.  I literally might just pack up, and head home for the night.  But!  I will try to make the Bar Bash because hot diggity, I love hanging out in the bar at RWA.

Since the conference is local for me this year, it also means I'm commuting and not staying on site at the hotel.  What does this mean?  Well, for the last several (uh, since 2007?) I've made a habit of blogging about the conference, during the conference.  This usually entails me staying up until 2AM and running on so much caffeine that I morph into a hummingbird-like creature.  Not this year.  I have to be in a coherent enough state to drive my car home and fall into my own bed.

So for my sanity, and to insure I'll get some sleep - I'm shamelessly stealing an idea from author Victoria Janssen.  Back in 2010, when the conference was in Orlando, she did a series of blog posts that were basically photographs she had taken.  Here's the post she did about the Literacy Signing that year.  Between the running around at conference, then having to drive to and from the hotel and the Bat Cave?  I just don't see long-detailed blog posts happening.  So yeah, I'm going to try to do the photograph thing.  Let's see if I can pull it off!

At the very least - I'll shoot to be on Twitter.

Harlequin Holiday Goodness, Toy Bat Caves, And The Real SoCalBloggers

If you haven't heard already, today marks the first day of the awesome sauce Harlequin Historical Holiday Giveaway. Twenty-two Harlequin Historical writers are hosting an advent calender, where every day you'll visit a different writer. Daily prizes will be offered and at the end of the whole shebang - one random commenter from one random day will win a Kindle 3G! Wowzers! Contest is open to residents of the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia. Full list of rules can be found here and the advent calender, complete with links, can be found here.

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For the librarian who has everything, behold! The Fisher Price Super Friends Bat Cave! It's got a working draw bridge and comes with a grappling hook. It also comes with a neato Batcycle. What it doesn't have is a library. I mean, I know Wayne Manor must have a library, but I'm guessing it's full of musty ol' leather bound editions. Uh, not romance novels. Bruce Wayne is pretty awesome, but something tells me he doesn't have Harlequins in his library. Oh well, no man is perfect.

Many thanks to one of my longtime Internet buds, Barbs, for the link. Oh to be a kid again....

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Ever wish you could jet off to sunny southern California and hang out with the fabulous babes that are the SoCalBloggers? Do you get pea green with envy when you read about our get-togethers at area bookstores and restaurants? Do you curse our very existence when we admit that we were all lazy sods and none of us took any pictures? Well wonder now more! Because here is artist Vinnie Tartamella's amazing life-like rendition. Yes, this is what it's really like!


As the resident Batgirl, I have to say that I normally don't look that snotty. My guess? Hey, I like poker, but where for the love of God is the cheesecake?!?!?!

Thanks to Big Sis for posting this gem on her Facebook.

Booktastic Bus For Sale

My Mom isn't much of a book reader. She apparently used to be, before three kids, working her way through college, a full time job, and taking care of a household sucked up all her time. What she has always done though is read the newspaper. Every day, without fail, every section, all of it. She is also "one of those" who clips out newspaper articles and sends them to people. Oh, like her daughters. I can always count on her sending me any clippings that have anything to do with librarians, libraries, romance novels, or books in general. However, every so often she joins the 21st century, finds the article online and e-mails it to me. Which is what she did last night. And behold! The most wonderful blog fodder ever!

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the dormant Bookmobile for the Kalamazoo Public Library. The 1994 Venture Farber Specialty Vehicle has 119,000 miles on it and is currently for sale for the bargain price of $19,000, or any reasonable offer.

Like many libraries across the country, KPL is shuttering it's bookmobile due to declining demand for the service and a craptastic budget. Mom thinks I should buy it to put my TBR Mountain Range on wheels. Frankly, I'm thinking the So. Cal. Bloggers should buy it. Just think of the possibilities! We could be like a traveling band of book gypsies! Like the romance genre equivalent to the ice cream man! It could be like Travels With Charley minus the dog! Like Smokey And The Bandit, but instead of bootlegging Coors beer we could be transporting romance novels over state and county lines!

I wonder, does the Bookmobile come with a CB radio?

Frankly, I think the idea has merit, although when I told My Man about it he seemed less than enthusiastic. Some nonsense about "where would we keep it?" and thinking $19,000 could be better spent on something other than an old Bookmobile. Personally? I think he lacks vision.

The So. Cal. Bloggers traveling the country spreading the lurve of romance novels. A totally kick-ass idea if I do say so myself. Sort of like in this clip from one of my favorite South Park episodes. Um, back when South Park was still funny. Here the boys hop on board the Booktastic Bus and discover the wonder of...romance novels. That could be us. But with more swearing, and less "chicken loving" (seriously, this whole episode is warped, which is probably why it's one of my personal favorites).

Blogger Fun, Facelifts, Book Anticipation, And Johnny Mac

To start off today's hodge-podge of linky goodness, I'm "on the road" today over at Access Romance Readers Gab talking about "why romance novels?" Think of all the reasons you like to read romance, throw those reasons in a pot, let it simmer on the stove, and what are you left with? Why not go on over, read my post, and let the whole Interwebs know?

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All About Romance has had a face lift! Go on over and take a gander. At first blush, I really like it. I haven't had a chance to poke around, navigate, or do much of anything other than glance at it - but it sure is pretty, and the front page is definitely loads more eye-catching! Congrats to the entire staff over there.

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On Saturday a whole horde of So. Cal. Bloggers and authors got together in honor of Pearl being in town (and since she lives in Europe, it was a big occasion!). I suck and did not take any pictures, but several others did, so be sure to make your blogging hopping rounds in the next few days. We had a great time, and the parking lot book exchange was off the hook - as usual. I restrained myself and didn't buy any books at Borders, and only snagged three books from the exchange (all from the trunk of Lori's car - I'm pretty sure). I've been trying to restrain myself in the book buying department of late because 1) my TBR pile is beyond embarrassing and 2) Yes, I am going to RWA next month.

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Holy crap! Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen comes out next week on June 29?! Why was I thinking it was a mid-July release? I mean, I already ordered our copies for work, but Gerritsen is one of those rare (rare, rare, way rare) authors I buy new and in hard cover. The release date sort of snuck up on me. Guess what will land in my shopping cart when I'm at Costco the weekend of July 2?


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This warmed the cockles of my heart when I made my blogging hopping rounds this morning. John MacDonald (AKA "Johnny Mac") of Toronto Blue Jays fame, hit a home run yesterday on Father's Day. His father passed away earlier in the week after a battle with liver cancer.

If you're a casual baseball fan and don't know who Johnny Mac is, that's not all that surprising. He's a career utility player, having spent the bulk of his years in Toronto (he did have a cup of coffee with my Tigers a few years back). He's very solid defensively (short stop and second base) but is not known for his bat. Well, at all. Most of the time he can't hit the broad side of a barn. But he played long ball yesterday, and don't that just beat all? Brings a tear to my eye it does. You can watch the video of his bomb here.

Way to go Johnny. Dad would be proud.

Suggestive Chocolate And More Books

Like a lot of Americans, I'd classify myself as a bit of a mutt - and I say this with much affection. One of the things I truly love about my country is the sheer amount of diversity among the people who live here. My blood line is pretty much a mess, although if you boiled me down to my essence, you'd largely be left with English and German. Most days, I honestly think the English is winning out. Besides the very dusty B.A. in British History currently in the Bat Cave office closet, there's my long-standing tea addiction and my love of Cadbury chocolate. A lot of Americans will say Cadbury is "too sweet" to which I say, "Oh goodie - more for me! Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

Many moons ago I ran across a Cadbury chocolate bar that is not sold retail in the U.S. I devoured it, I loved it, I wanted more of it, and then promptly forgot what the hell it was called. Looking back I should have done a blog post asking for help, but I honestly didn't think of that. All I could remember was that it was a Dairy Milk bar with white chocolate sitting on top of the milk chocolate - and for some inexplicable reason "milky mounds" was lodged in my brain. Which (naturally) My Man found uproariously funny.

Well today's shopping excursion to World Market (I needed tea) netted me the Holy Grail. Behold, Top Deck! And I wasn't making up that "milky mounds" bit either. Tee Hee. If my Internet searching is to be believed, this particular candy bar is no longer sold in the UK, but is still widely available in Australia. Any of my overseas readers - please feel free to correct me. But wahoooey! Milky Mounds Of Deliciousness! Now I just have to hope that World Market keeps carrying them. I held myself back and only bought two.

In other news, as others have already blogged about, the So. Cal. Bloggers added to our masses and met last weekend in honor of Lisabea's triumphant return to our sunny shores. Drinking, eating and merriment ensued, along with a trip to a fabulous used (and new) bookstore in our area that is essentially floor to ceiling romance novels. Old Skool, New Skool, and just about every Skool in between. Between Lisa, Nikki and that bookstore, I walked away with lots o' goodies.

A couple of books of note:

Lisabea decided to clean house and gifted me with her beloved (and well-loved) copy of Fair Is The Rose by Meagan McKinney which is (in her words) "my favorite western of all time." And she gave it to me! How sweet is that girl? Sweeter than Milky Mounds Of Cadbury Deliciousness, says I.

I'm also pretty sure I now owe Nikki a vital organ because she gave me her copy of Wildstar by Nicole Jordan. For those of you who don't know - a long, long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away, Nicole Jordan wrote westerns. This is one of them and it's damn hard to find. So hard to find that I've been looking for it for several years (I refuse to pay outrageous sums online for hard to find mass market paperbacks - won't do it). Nikki was cleaning house - and voila! 'Tis now mine! And after talking with her, I really need to pull that equally hard to find copy of The Savage (also by Ms. Jordan) out of my TBR.

Oh, and these photos will blow up to a larger size if you click on them. You know, in case you want to see all the books I scored or if you simply want to bask in the glow of milky mound goodness. Heck, I know I do.

Frothy Goodness

For those of you who know me in my mild-mannered librarian guise, you know that I'm the last woman on the planet to ever get excited about kitchen gadgets. I'll be blunt. I don't really thrive in the kitchen. Oh sure, I love to eat. I don't like to cook. My time spent in the kitchen can be be compared to the sexual misadventures of a teenage boy. His heart's in the right place, but most of the time he's fumbling around in the dark, not quite sure if he's "doing it" right.

Something unfortunate happened to me recently. I got myself addicted to Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes. This is not good people. And frankly, no good can come to me (or my wallet) by getting addicted to anything at Starbucks.

I'm a hard core tea drinker, and I tend to drink it "straight." Sweetened. No milk. So color me surprised that I got myself addicted to a tea confection that takes steamed milk. Mmm, mmm, good!

But, back to my poor wallet. The siren song of Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes was getting quite loud. So while out shopping with My Man this weekend, I came across this handy steamless milk frother. Yep. For $20 I was willing to try it and break free of the shackles of Starbucks. And boy howdy, it works! I'm now enjoying myself a nice tasty, English Breakfast Tea Latte as I type up this blog post. Mmm, mmm, good! Tasty!

In other news, our dear sweet Nathie is in southern California right now thanks to a family wedding. A bunch of us got together yesterday and hit Borders. Today, me, Nath, Tracy, Renee and (maybe) Lori are hitting a local used bookstore. I suspect I'll just end up browsing. I looked at my wishlist recently, and it was so woefully out of date, I just deleted the darn thing (I know, the horrors!). Plus, I'm still in a dreaded reading slump, and even I can't justify buying a crap-load of books when I'm not, um, really reading.

Sigh. Nobody likes a whiner Wendy.

Big News From The Bat Cave

The So. Cal. Bloggers are spread out over such a large area, that we're currently experimenting with finding different places we can meet. Sort of like on a rotating schedule, that way one part of our group isn't always stuck with a crap-load of driving. Yesterday we headed north, which worked out great for me, since it was literally right around the corner from where the Lil' Sis lives.

So I get to her place, and tell her I brought a copy of Kiss It Better by Portia Da Costa for her to read. I turn my back to her, and as I'm rooting around in my book bag, she says, "I have something for you too. I have this really great bookmark...." I turn around and she's holding....

Ultrasound pictures!

Squeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Lil' Sis is pregnant!!!!!

It's Baby #1 and Pregnancy #1 for her and the Super Genius Brother-In-Law, which is why she waited until the end of her first trimester to tell any of us. The lil' stinker. I should have known something was up when we were at the L.A. County Fair, on a day hotter than blue blazes, and she turned down the opportunity for an ice cold beer. How obtuse is Wendy? Yeah. Very.

She's due in early April, and feels pretty good right now. A little nauseous, but doesn't have full-blown morning sickness. Her main issue is exhaustion. She's really, really tired - which if you know my Lil' Sis, you know it hasn't been easy for her. She's very much a go-go-go kind of person.

So finding out that bit of news just added to an already great day. Seven of the So. Cal. Bloggers were able to make the trip. It was me, Rosie, Nikki, Tracy, Lori, Renee, and Rowena. Books were bought, swapped, discussed, food was eaten, and much merriment ensued. It's always so great to see everyone, and catch up not only on book-related "stuff" but also on our personal lives, husbands, kids, jobs etc. A greater bunch of chicks you'll never meet. A super-duper fabulous day!

Where I'm At Today

I'm abandoning My Man with a full slate of college football (yeah, he's bereft - not!) to hang out with some of the So. Cal. Bloggers today! Yippeee! And better still? We're hooking up at a new meeting place (have a mentioned we're spread out all over the damn area?) which just happens to be, literally, right around the corner from where the Lil' Sis lives. So I get to see my sister, bring her a copy of Kiss It Better by Portia Da Costa to read (cuz that's how I roll) and hang out with some of my most favorite blogger, book-geek, peeps.

Wahoooey!

What are you all doing this glorious weekend?

California's Burning Down

I'm currently carrying around Highland Rebel by Judith James and wouldn't you know it? Southern California is on fire. Some of you may recall that last November, I had just checked out a library copy of Broken Wing when My Man and I were hustled out of the Bat Cave under mandatory evacuation because of the Freeway/Triangle Complex Fire. I left all my books to burn (which thankfully, they didn't) but did rescue Broken Wing and a cozy mystery I had snagged from work. I know. I'm such a good little worker bee.

In fire news, I'm currently safely out of harm's way. In fact, you wouldn't even know parts of the area are in the process of burning down if you were just looking at my neighborhood. The only visual evidence I've had is spying a giant white mushroom cloud off to the west as I went to pick up a pizza for dinner on Saturday evening. So yeah, except for the ungodly hot weather we're having, the Bat Cave is fine.

I did send out an e-mail to the other So. Cal. Bloggers this weekend, and everyone is fine. Nikki, Rowena, Lori, Tracy and Renee are probably getting the worst of it because the smoke is so hellish and the air quality is shit. But everybody is currently safe, although worried about friends and family that are in the path of the fire. My Lil' Sis (along with Kassia Krozser of Booksquare and Quartet Press fame) live in the Pasadena area, but neither are in harm's way - just suffering because of the piss poor air quality.

This is honestly the only time of year I hate living in southern California. It's insanely hot (at one point it was 109 at the Bat Cave last week!) and some part of the area is always trying to burn down. Luckily the winds haven't been bad, but with the heat, terrain, and the never-ending drought, our firefighters have been working their asses off. Then of course you end up reading about some dumb ass idiots who ignore the mandatory evacuation orders and try to protect their homes with a garden hose.

Yeah. Seriously people. Use your brains. If you're there, you are hindering the firefighters from doing their jobs. Like your garden hose is going to beat back a raging wild fire? Why not spit in the ocean while you're at it? Geez. Besides, no amount of "stuff" is worth your life. When I evac'ed last year, yes I was worried. I'd left behind so much (including a quilt my grandmother made me - d'oh!) - but you know what? It's just stuff. We can always get more stuff. Our health, well-being, our very lives? Yeah. Not as easy to replace. Just sayin'.

Be safe everybody. Feel free to use the comments section here to check in and give updates.

Hangin' With The Girls

This is a busy time of year for just about everyone, but the So. Cal. Bloggers decided that one last get-together before RWA was in order. Unfortunately between family "stuff" and illness (get better soon Tracy!), only four of us ended up hanging out this afternoon for our usual gorge at Borders and The Cheesecake Factory. Myself, Rosie (who is not dead in a ditch), Lori (blog template fixin' goddess!) and Renee (Queen Urban Fantasy). Much talking, much laughing, and all around general merriment ensued. I properly sucked up to Lori for fixing my blog (thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you!) and between Borders and Rosie I came home with way too many books.

Because, you know....I don't have enough books. D'oh!

One thing I wanted to be sure to pick up at Borders was the July issue of Romantic Times. I'm still on a couple of romance-novel-related e-mail loops, and one of my long-time buds from one of those lists (waving to Fatin!) told me that I was "blurbed" in an ad for Megan Hart's latest book. Sure enough, there I am on page 119. Now during my tenure with The Romance Reader I was blurbed quite a bit. Still am on occasion. The thrill here? See.....there's my name! Usually the quote is just attributed to "The Romance Reader." But see! There's my name! I'm famous. Famous I tells ya! Ha!

Also, a much shorter version of this quote is on the actual back cover of Deeper. But yeah - just attributed to The Romance Reader. Not me. But still.....

Oh, and look....

There's Anne! Anne is famous too!

So there's my cheap thrill of the moment. Honestly, this is all it takes most days. But hey, my Mom will think it's cool and my boss will probably get a charge out of it. The rest of you? Yeah, probably not so much.

In case you're curious, Dirty was actually one of the last books I reviewed for TRR and dang, my review was pretty good. I used to write really good reviews. I'm not sure what happened. And Anne's quoted review can be found here.