Excellent Mail Day

I just had the best mail delivery! One large box, and a small bag arrived on my desk from Sandra Brown. Yes, that Sandra Brown. Nestled inside was a letter from her assistant (who I now want to marry) and 38 foreign editions. Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean to be exact. What a lovely way to start out my Monday morning!

For those of you who are wondering why Sandra Brown's assistant is sending me foreign editions, no it's not because I'm all that famous. Several months back RWA put a notice in their Romance Sells publication. Librarians were encouraged to send in their shipping address and their "wish list" for foreign editions. Then authors who might have foreign copies of their books cluttering up their offices would have a place to donate these titles. It's really win-win for both parties. Authors clean off their bookshelves, reach a whole new set of readers, and librarians get fresh titles for our neglected-because-our-budgets-are-sad foreign language collections. It's a big, shiny, happy love-fest people!

So big fat squee to Sandra Brown and her lovely assistant! Now I'm off to write a proper thank you note.

Lil' Sis Throws Down

Disclaimer: I have not read Breaking Dawn, and if the fact that I'm currently slogging through Twilight on audio is any indication, I doubt I ever will. But my Lil' Sis, The High School English Teacher, is madly obsessed with this series. I'm surprised girlfriend hasn't rented a car, driven to Forks, bitch slapped Bella, and shown Edward how fabulous a real woman can be. But I digress.

Ring, ring

The Boyfriend: Wendy, it's your sister!

Me: Hey chica, what's up?

Lil' Sis: OMG. I had to call you. I know you don't read this series, and likely don't care, but I had to bitch to someone and knew you'd understand.

Me: Ohhhhhkay.

Lil' Sis: Stephenie Meyer has just crapped all over her legacy. I can't believe what she has done with this book. I am so glad I grabbed a copy at school and didn't spend $20 on this stinky pile of poo.

Me: Yeah, I've seen some rumblings online that people aren't happy with it.

Lil' Sis: Cripes, some of my girls are writing better fan fiction than this! I've read 500 pages and had to stop. I only have 200 to go and could slam dunk this thing before bed, but I have to take a break, that's how bad it is. She has a couple of natural endings in this story but she just keeps going on and on and on. Ugh, and the melodrama! And did I mention how terrible the writing is?

Me: Yeah, I think you might have mentioned that.

Lil' Sis: OMG, you know what this book is? It's Godfather Part III! You know how when you watch The Godfather and you think, "Damn, this is a great movie." Then you watch Godfather Part II and you think, "Damn skippy it's better! I thought the first one was great but this one is amazing!" And then you get the steaming pile of crap that is Godfather Part III. Yeah. Sophia Coppola having sex with her cousin. I don't care if your cousin is a hot piece like Andy Garcia, you do not have sex with your cousin!

Me: Can I quote you on that? I never can pass up blog fodder.

Lil' Sis: Yeah. I still have 200 pages, but Breaking Dawn is Godfather Part III. Totally.

My sister, she amuses me.

Flash Gordon!

I should have known I wouldn't turn out to be the only superhero in my family. Look what happens when you mate a woman who loves to write letters to the editor with a man who has a graphic novel addiction. You get Flash Gordon!

And how cool is my nephew? He's a superhero who has his own theme song. Granted it's from a truly horrific and terrible movie they made about his life - but nobody's perfect.

No need to thank me for the ear worm folks. Just doing my part.

In other news, I feel the need to publicly apologize to anyone who got sick while at RWA. For all of you who saw me, I felt fine! I just didn't have a voice. Then on Tuesday I woke up with a full-blown head cold. So was I incubating while at RWA? Am I Typhoid Wendy? I don't think so. But I still feel guilty as hell. Feel free to stick pins in your Little Wendy Voodoo Dolls.

I'm off work today, which means I hope I laze around and concentrate on getting healthy. Although I do have a project. I still have my collapsible crate full of books I picked up at RWA I need to do something with. The Boyfriend looked at me this morning; pointed to the crate and said, "Ya gonna do something with those?" To which I cattily replied, "Yeah, like you never leave anything lying around the apartment that I trip over."

Did I mention I morph into Psycho Bitch From Hell when I'm sick?

But he is right (don't tell him that though!). I need to get them cataloged on LibraryThing and put away properly. Which will be my project just as soon as I decide on whether or not I'm physically up to it. Lying on the couch and whining seems to be more my speed of late.

Top Five: While Wendy's Away

Part of my job is monitoring "the holds list." Those books that are popular enough to generate a waiting list amongst our library patrons. Now that most library catalogs are on computers, keeping up with "the holds list," is a lot easier than it used to be. Basically, we run a report, and the computer spits out what we need to know. I then look over the list and make the executive decision on whether or not to order more copies. Since I was gone all last week at RWA, I missed a "holds list." Looking over this week's list, I noticed several titles that jumped up in demand while I was away. Here they are:

In Bed With The Devil by Lorraine Heath - I hate to shatter the Super Librarian myth, but I do not order every single brand new romance title that is out every single month. I just don't have the budget for it. So I tend to pick and choose, then wait for any patron requests to roll in to mop up my slack. One trend I've noticed? Despite my whining about their No American Historicals policy, Avon's historicals are insanely popular among our patrons - with Eloisa James and Julia Quinn being the front runners. Now it looks like Heath is gaining some ground. Intriguing. I would have thought it would be Loretta Chase, but so far she's still in "modest" territory for us. Go figure.


Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich - Man's wife, who apparently had oodles of secrets, dies and thrusts him into the path of an assassin and international manhunt. This is a thriller, so naturally there is also a global conspiracy involved. I knew this would do well for us, and I ordered several copies of it right out of the gate. Still, I didn't expect it to take off like a rocket.






Treasures by Nora Roberts - This is a reprint featuring the stories Secret Star and Treasures Lost, Treasures Found. This came in as a patron donation at some of our branches. Yes, yes - I always order Nora. I'd lose my job pretty quickly if I didn't buy Nora's books. But I passed by this reprint because we already own the two featured stories in different anthologies. I'm chalking this up to our library patrons not realizing the stories are available elsewhere. Oh well. It happens to the best of us.




The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - Otherwise known as The Little Book That Could. It's 1946 and an author finds inspiration for her next book in her pen-pal correspondence with a native of the island of Guernsey, who tells her the story of how a book club proved to be an alibi during the German occupation. I've seen and heard buzz already on this book, and given that the story is told in the form of letters - well no shock that it's starting to pick up steam. Also, it has The Book Club Stink. This one is going to have legs folks. Take my word for it.



The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Large Print Edition - Suffering from terminal cancer, professor Randy Pausch passed away while I was on vacation. His "last lecture" already an Internet sensation, this book has quickly become the new Tuesdays With Morrie among our library patrons. Demand for the regular print has stayed steady, but news of his passing saw holds jump for the Large Print edition.

Last Random Tid Bits About RWA

As much fun as going on a trip can be, the best part about "vacation" is coming home. It was an uneventful car trip home, although every time Rosie and I stopped to tinkle, there was a line of about 45 women waiting to do the same. I swear that's why it took us an hour longer to get home than it did for us to drive up to San Francisco. I'm so glad I carpooled with Rosie this year, because it made the drive go by that much faster. And even though we both picked up many goodies at the conference, I was able to fit all of it in my Honda Civic (my father, car packer guru, would be ever so proud of me).

Once I got home, The Boyfriend was quite happy to see me. He did a nice job of picking up after himself, so I shouldn't have too much cleaning today. Although I'm thinking of writing a screenplay called The Laundry That Ate The Librarian. Seriously. It's just the two of us. For goodness sake, how can two people generate so much laundry? Sigh

So that's what I'm going to be tackling today after I get motivated and buy some groceries.

A couple of last minute thoughts on RWA:

1) They need to hold the conference earlier in July. Why? Because the baseball trade deadline was July 31 and I can't be expected to enjoy the conference while my team completely loses it's damn mind. RWA board members - are you reading this? I think this is a perfectly reasonable suggestion and y'all must cater to my every whim.

2) I just wanted to say something about the hotel. We did have a few snafus, but the staff was helpful, courteous, and the problems were resolved in a timely, efficient manner. Hey, with that many people descending on one hotel, there are bound to be some problems. There just is. But we had very good costumer service, and I thought the staff handled the craziness well.

3) I know San Francisco is an expensive city, but I thought it was ideal for hosting a conference of this size. For one thing? I didn't feel like I was "trapped" in the hotel. It was terribly convenient to walk to a restaurant for a meal. I was able to park my car at the hotel and not move the darn thing until we left on Sunday morning.

4) I met and chatted with so many people this past week that I know I'm forgetting some. A big shout out to all the readers/bloggers I met, the local RWA chapter folks I met, and to The British Brigade of Portia Da Costa, Madelynne Ellis, and Saskia Walker. It was lovely to meet all of you ladies in person!

Because I learned my lesson after last year's conference, I took today off of work. I have laundry to do, groceries to buy, some light cleaning, and new books to pet. Tomorrow it's back to the office, where I plan to pass out goodies I picked up to coworkers. This was more of a working conference for me than in years past, so I also have to put the finishing touches on the "work stuff" I had to deal with at this year's RWA. On that score, it was a very productive trip indeed, and I hope to put some of my current projects "to bed" starting this week. Amen.

Oh The People You'll Meet

I thought it might be fun to talk about some of the awesome people I've had contact with while at RWA. When I come to this conference, it's basically the one time of year I reach deep inside myself and find that tiny little extroverted woman that I normally keep locked in a closet. This year the poor gal must have been so refreshed to be out of her cage, as evident by my still throaty, non-existent voice.

Every conference I go to (not just RWA), there seems to be this phenomenon where it doesn't matter how many hundreds of people are in attendence, I always see the same five people. This year, one of those people is Joanna Bourne. I have seen this woman e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. In line at the registration desk. Walking through the lobby. At publisher signings. She probably thinks I'm stalking her. Nice, funny, smart, and she used to work at the Library of Congress as a researcher! How cool is that?


I also finally got to meet the fabulous Megan Frampton, and her cohort in crime, the equally as fabulous Carolyn Jewel. Megan and I have the shared belief that it ain't a party until the DJ plays the Jackson 5. Seriously, it's like in the offical DJ-ing handbook or something. Carolyn has a new paranormal out now, but I made sure to tell her that I know scads of people who read one of her early historicals, Lord Ruin.

I met the delightful Kassia Krozser (from the Booksquare), and Stephanie Feagan. It was a big squee-ing fangirl moment all around. I also saw HelenKay Dimon again (who I first met at RWA Dallas 2007).

Big shout-outs to Harlequin Historical authors, Michelle Willingham and Deb Marlowe - who are just the nicest women you'll ever meet.

In news that will likely impress the hell out of my mother, I met Shari Shattuck today. For those of you not addicted to soap operas, she used to play Ashley Abbott on The Young And The Restless. She told me that she knows when she's recognized as Ashley, the person is a diehard Y&R watcher. She left the show when she had her second daughter, who is now nine!

But by far, the big treat for me this year was meeting the famous, totally kick-ass Gwen Osborne. Gwen is the expert on African-American romance novels, and I swear she just about knows every author in the universe. I've "known" Gwen online since 1999, when I started reviewing for The Romance Reader. We're both Michigan gals, and hey - the Gwens and Wendys of the world just need to stick together. Seriously. I had no clue she was coming, and she was standing in line behind me at a booksigning. I turned around and that's when I saw her name tag. I practically tackled her, but she seemed to recover from her shock quite well.

It's also great fun to watch other conference attendees meet their favorite writers. When I met Lisa Kleypas it was probably the biggest letdown in the world for her because the young woman who came before me had a total out-of-body-fan-girl moment (but in a cute way, not a creepy stalker way).

On top of all that, there were the reader/bloggers that attended this year and all the people I talked to in the course of doing "networking" for my library gig. (Lots and lots of that this year).

Tonight it's the RITA/Golden Heart ceremony and tomorrow it's off for home. So I have a long night ahead of me, followed by a long drive....oh, and no voice. It should be a grand adventure!

Blazin' Fun

Well after the full rich day that is Wednesday at RWA, Thursday at the conference marks the formal kick-off. I skipped the Opening Session and opted for sleeping in (ahhhh!) then breakfast out with Rosie, Lisabea and Katie(babs). Kristie is a girl after my own heart, and opted for a more leisurely morning decompressing in our hotel room.

After breakfast we came back to the hotel where Harlequin was hosting a signing of Blaze authors. Turn out was fantastic for this event, and I think that took them a little by surprise. I theorized with one author (I think it was Cara Summers) that it was probably because the work shops hadn't started yet and there was no "competition" for peoples' time. The highlight of the signing for me was getting a copy of the Blaze anthology, What I Did On My Summer Vacation featuring the fabulous Thea Devine. It was funny because Lisabea, Rosie and I had just been talking about Devine during breakfast, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Lisa and I both reminisced about our favorite Devine stories, and how - whether you like her books or not - she was a true pioneer of the genre. I mean, where the heck would all these erotic romance authors be without the ground work done by Thea, Susan Johnson, Bertrice Small and Robin Schone?

Given the long line for Blaze, we finished just in time to attend the Keynote Lunch, which featured Victoria Alexander. I've never read Alexander before, but after her very amusing speech, I plan to! I sat at a table with Kay Thomas, whose debut Harlequin Intrique title is coming out in January 2009. She had the most awesome business cards! Given that she writes suspense stories for Intrigue, her card had a "bullet hole" through them. One of the great things about attending RWA is meeting new, up and coming authors.

After lunch, Rosie, Katie and I attended the "Chat With Nora Roberts" session, which was very interesting. That's exactly what it was....a chat! The entire affair consisted of Nora taking questions from the audience. I loved hearing about her writing process, her experiences in the industry, and even "silly" things like what type of stuff can found on her desk.

After Nora, I booked it up to the room. I really wanted to get a blog post done, check my e-mail, and I had a dinner invite I needed to get ready for. As Rosie would say, I needed to "fluff and fold" my hair and slap some lip gloss on. Then it was hooking up with my roomies in the bar. That didn't last too long though, because dang - my voice isn't getting any better. More wine, and more trying to talk over the noise level hasn't helped either.

On a final note, again I apologize for the "bare-ness" of these posts. Also, for the lack of linkage. On my agenda is cleaning these up once I get home, and back on my good ol' bulky desk top computer. Seriously, I'm just not a lap top girl.