I'm featured on Another Blog!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that my author friend, Sandy Lender, author of Choices Meant for Gods, is featuring the first chapter of A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles on one of her blogs: www.fromthestart.wordpress.com. She's also got my bio posted, so check it out!

Tags: From the Start, Sandy Lender, Choices Meant For Gods, A Prophecy Forgotten, The Elysian Chronicles

My First Book Signing at Barnes & Noble!

Well, on Wednesday, I got a call from Jessica at Barnes & Noble telling me that they had a slight problem with my book signing. They were down to 12 books total in the store out of the 50 that they had originally purchased, and they didn’t have time to order more. I guess that’s a good problem to have, running out of books because people want to buy them…. Fortunately, I had 100 books at home, so I lent them 50 more that Wednesday night.

Friday, May 4th, was my first book signing at Barnes & Noble—a whirlwind of a day. First, I went to Praise FM, where I was on the radio with Arnie. Then, I tried to race to PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans where the first part of my book signing was supposed to be, but I got stuck in traffic, and had to make a highly illegal u-turn in the median. I reached PJ’s, but with no time to copy my first chapter brochures for Out of the Shadows, so I sent my mom to Kinkos with my credit card, while I sat in PJ’s and signed books.

I was so excited by the turnout at PJ’s. My friend, Lundy Hedges brought a bunch of kids from her son’s school with books for me to sign, and it was great getting to meet them. A bunch of kids from my youth group and writing group also showed up, as well as some teachers from Barron Collier High School, and some friends of my parents. It was great, and the best part was that I got to introduce everyone to the phenomenal coffee at PJ’s!

Then it was off to Barnes & Noble, where I signed books for three hours. I’m not sure how many books I sold. I know that the store had negative 4 to start with because they never recorded my 50 as being received, so I figure that they had about 46. At the end of the night, we were down to 2 from what we could find, so I might have sold 44 books, which is pretty good for a book signing! A bunch of my friends from the Florida Writers Association, including Sandy Lender (http://www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com/) and Tina Murray (http://www.achancetosayyes.blogspot.com/) came as well as my friend, Tracy (www.myspace.com/tmmercury, from Lakeland.

The most exciting part is this: my publisher was there, and he loved the energy, the crowd, the kids, and the sweet T-shirts (that are soon going to go on sale on my website). It inspired him to….

You’re going to have to wait for my next blog to find out my exciting news!!!!!

For more pictures, visit my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com/May_4th_BookSigning.htm.

Above all, I want to thank everyone who came out to support me. This first book signing was a big deal. I needed a good sell through rate with my books at Barnes & Noble, and I got it—they were almost left with negative 48 books by the time I left! To put it bluntly, they received the first 50 books on Friday, April 14th. Three weeks later, they sold almost 100 books! You guys, all of you, rock! You absolutely rock!

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

My Adventures at the Naples Press Club Writers Conference

I had a grand weekend at the Naples Press Club Writers Conference as a volunteer. So many things happened there that I'm going to have to sum it up with obnoxious bullets.

• I got to know the members of the Naples Press Club. What a generous bunch of people. They made me feel included even though I didn't know anyone well. They even invited me to have dinner with them on Saturday night. I had to wait until my sister's birthday party was over, but I stopped by for fifteen minutes and brought the hubby. I'm going to join the Naples Press Club as an Associate Member as soon as I can steal $50 from my food budget. (With Weston Commercial Cleaning, Inc. still a startup business, $50 is a lot.) For more information on the Naples Press Club, visit www.naplespressclub.org.
• I got to reaquaint myself with Dr. Molly Barrow, Ph.D. Molly is a fellow ArcheBooks author. She's a psycologist, and her first book, Matchlines, is about relationships and finding a good match. I've read the book, and she's right on. If you're in a serious relationship or thinking about getting married, I encourage you to read Matchlines. Now you wouldn't believe it, but almost 7 years ago, I was the manager of a small coffee shop called Java Java, and Molly and her husband used to come in all the time. I can't believe that both of us are now fellow ArcheBooks authors. Find out more about Dr. Molly at www.askdrmolly.com.
• I got to know Robert Dean Bair. Bob is an ArcheBooks author whose book, The Cloisters of Canterbury, was published by ArcheBooks in September. Bob was part of a secret special forces Army unit back in World War II. My husband immediately liked him and wanted to know more about his experiences, so I bought him Bob's book.
• I got to hang out with my friend, Sandy Lender (see the Today the Dragon Wins link), and ArcheBooks authors: Linda Bilodeau
  (www.lindabilodeau.com), Prudy Taylor Board (www.prudytaylorboard.com), and Penny Lauer. We formed an author speaking group called the ArcheBook Divas. (Actually, they formed it. I just chimed in every now and then because I kept getting called away, but they included me anyway because they are a great bunch of women.)
• I got to hang out with Linnea Sinclair, a RITA award winner (think Oscars for the Romance genre) and writer of a bunch of science fiction/romance books. She gave me a lot of practical advice, and even offered to help me become a better writer. I love Linnea's personality. She's honest and intense--my kind of woman. (I love to hang out with intense women. It's one of my requirements.) She's also the secretary of the South Florida Romance Writers of America--more on them later. What I love about Linnea is her desire to help other authors. I watched her give writing advice and even offer to refer other authors to her agent all days. What a generous woman. For more about Linnea Sinclair and her books, visit www.linneasinclair.com.
• I got to watch my publisher, Robert Gelinas, solve a rubics cube in less than three minutes. I'm telling you, the guy is a genious. I'm going to have to catch him at a dull moment and get him to teach me how to do it. (He kind of gave me a start at a strategy, so I might be buying a rubics cube in the near future....)
• I made some valuable contacts, and new things might be on the horizon.... I'll keep you all informed.

If you're a writer, and you want to get published, I really encourage you to go to writers conferences. I probably made three contacts this weekend that might pay big dividends in the future, and that's just at this conference. Last conference, I had (endured might be a better term) a fifteen minute pitch session with a man named Robert Gelinas (which turned into an hour long conversation), and six weeks later, he offered me a contract for a book called A Prophecy Forgotten. Who knows where a writers conference might get you.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

Naples Press Club Writers Conference Pictures

Okay, from top to bottom:

1. Me, RITA & Linnea Sinclair (RITA is the golden RITA trophy that's heavy enough to use as a dumbell.)
2. Robert Dean Bair & Dr. Molly
3. Me (with my eye make-up basically melted away) & Dr. Molly
4. Sandy Lender & Me

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.