TSTL

If you've been around the romance writing/reading world long you'll know that TSTL means "Too Stupid To Live".

I just had to share this sign above and the people who ignore it would fall into the TSTL category.

I've read contest entries and published books where the heroine goes into a danger zone for no sane reason. The reason is to advance the plot but that doesn't make her smart and it makes a lot of readers throw the books away and reviewers give it poor marks.

I try to give my heroines good reasons to wander into vampire mansions and graveyards marked "Danger". Perhaps their child or at least their pet is missing and very possibly in those places. They don't wander in on a lark or for curiosity's sake.

However, I've pulled some dumb stunts in real life lately. Last night I locked my keys in my car. I didn't discover this fact until after my husband had left for work with the only other set of keys in our household. Thus he had to run back home to rescue me so I could drive to work and I had to call my boss to tell him I would be late. Not good. It's particularly not good that I've done that twice in one week now. I also locked them in my car last Saturday at the mall up in Boca. My husband was away for the weekend so I had to call DS#1 who has the only other key and he came to my rescue.

I'll blame today on the full moon effect. Our donors at the day job always act crazy during full moons so why not me, too?

Or maybe it's because I so very badly wish I was attending Lori Foster's Readers' and Writers' Get Together in Cincinnati this weekend and I'm stuck in Florida gruelling over Excel spreadsheets and locking my keys in my car. I've already put in for vacation for June 2010 so I can attend. I still need a vacation NOW before I start acting TSTL worse than locking my keys in my car.

Home again

I'm home from Cincinnati. Tomorrow will be my first day back at the day job. and I'm dreading getting up early and getting back into the grind.

I'll be okay once I'm at work. I always am.

HOWEVER, I once was demoted right after I returned from vacation, even though shortly before that same vacation, I was praised for doing so well, so I have to admit it makes me very nervous to go on a long vacation. I tried not to let it spoil my vacation.

After I got home and took a long nap, I took the kids to see "Made of Honor". We loved it. Why couldn't I have come up with that idea? It's so cute. So my style - I think so anyway.

I hope to attend Lori Foster's Readers' 'N Writers' Get Together every year in future. However, I'll have to see about next year as my daughter will be graduating from high school, so I hope it won't conflict. If so, I may have to skip a year.

Pictures from Lori Foster's Event: Also, Do you want to be interviewed?

As you may or may not know, I attended Lori Foster's Readers' 'N Writers' Get Together this past weekend in Cincinnati. I had a great time. I made many new friends. I learned a lot of good things. I had appointments with one agent and a few editors and publishers. I signed my books. In short, it was awesome.

As promised, here are some pics. Better late than never. :)

* Also, if you're an author or a reader or a reviewer or an editor/publisher and you would like to be interviewed on my blog, please answer the interview questions below and email them to me and I'll feature your interview on my blog. Be sure to answer all the questions that apply and return them to me at:

chinara@aol.com

Since I get a LOT of spam, be sure to put in the subject line: "Interview with Ashley/Your Name"

If you have a book coming out or something time sensitive, let me know and I'll try to post your interview on or very near your special day. This goes for all my old and new friends, and those of you I haven't formally met.

The questions will be below the conference pictures. Just copy and paste and add your answers. If you're an author and would like for me to post your book cover or pic, email that to me with your answered interview questions.



Cerridwen author: Joanna Waugh

Wendy and 1st Lt. (I'm sorry I forgot your name)

Author Lori Foster

Author Kelly Nyrae

Above and below: Authors Ashley Ladd (in pink), Trenea Sumter (sitting), and Autumn Bell (standing, in costume). This was 3 out of our 4 woman dinner/movie girls' night out crew. We went to see "Sex in the City" and we had a blast. I can't wait to hang out with them again.

Author Autumn Bell

Authors Lucy Monroe and Susanna Carr (We signed at the same table and they were both extremely nice and helpful with writing and promotion advice.)

The "Power of Love" anthology authors

Rhonda Penders (left) publisher of Wild Rose Press, and author Ashley Ladd

Authors Trenea Sumter and Ashley Ladd

Oops! I HAVE TO go on a diet (again). Soon as I get back to Florida I'm going back to eating mainly fruits and veggies and working out daily!!!

As you can see, we had a blast. I've not had so much fun in a long time.

And now, for the Interview Questions:

1) Are you a writer, reader, book reviewer, edit, agent, or publisher?

2) If you're a reader (and what person above isn't) what genres are your favorite to read? What are your favorite books and authors?

3) What is your all-time favorite book?

4) About how many books do you read in a month? A year?

5) What makes you like a book?

6) What makes you hate a book? What makes you throw a book against a wall? (Have you ever thrown a book against a wall or given up in the middle in frustration?)

7) Do you belong to a readers' group?

8) If you're a writer, what genres do you write in? Why?

9) Please tell us the names of all your published books and where we can get them.

10) If you're a writer, who do you write for? If you're a reviewer, who do you review for? If you're another publishing professional, who do you work for?

11) Are you running any contests, spotlights, or other promotions you'd like for us to know about?

10) Do you have a day job also, and if so what is it? Did you hold any other jobs before this one? If so, what were they?

11) What are your hobbies and passions other than reading and writing?

12) Where do you live? What do you like best about your home town? Were you born here or somewhere else?

13) Tell us a bit about your family and pets.

14) What is your daily routine?

15) What conferences, book signings, or other appearances might we meet you at in the next year?

16) Tell us any other interesting tid bits about yourself or your books you'd like for us to know.

(Please feel free to delete any questions you may be uncomfortable answering).

Thanks in advance!

** Sometimes my mail overflows my email box so please, if you don't hear from me within two days, email your questions and answers again until you receive a response from me.

Conference Notes

I'm back from Lori Foster's Readers' 'N Writers' Get Together. I met a lot of very nice people and picked up some good tips and ideas. I went to one agent and four editor/publisher appointments. All asked me to send partials with synopsis. There's so much I want to talk about but I'm dead tired. Four of us had a great girls' night out last night - we went to dinner and then to see Sex In The City. We took a lot of those silly photo booth pictures as if we were teens again. People looked at us weird, but it was really really nice. BWT, the movie was great. I was never a big Sex in the City fan, but it sounded like a fun thing to do with the girls, and I really enjoyed it. I'd even see it again. I took several pictures of the event and the people I met which I'll post soon as I've not downloaded them yet. Lucy Monroe and Susanna Carr and Alan Foster (Lori Foster's husband) were all very generous with giving me tips and just very sweet people. We sat at the same booksigning table. Susanna's really inspired me to submit to Harlequin Spice Briefs which I'll do asap. If I've forgotten anyone, please forgive me. Treana Sumter, Autumn, and Beckie Davis were my movie-dinner group and they were so much fun and so nice. We'll definitely keep in touch. So were Joanna and Mary Ann and Wendy and the Novel Talk reviewer. Please forgive me if I'm forgetting last names at the moment). I met a 1st Lieutenant recently returned from Iraq. I'm afraid I don't recall her name but she was very sweet and an avid reader. I sat by her at lunch and was fascinated by her tales of life in Iraq on active duty. I must say that Lori Foster is blessed to have such a nice and supportive husband as Alan. He's a real gem and it's obvious they're still very much in love. They were high school sweethearts at my first high school. I, of course, bought several books - Treana's, Lori Foster's anthology Power of Love, Susanna Carr's latest release (I'll report on them all after I read them). Lucy Monroe's books were sold out before I could grab one. At least I couldn't find them. There were so many more I longed to buy but I'll have to get them when I get back home. I read Lori's story in the Power of Love anthology and it's excellent and very sexy. I can't wait to read the rest. It's a must read and all proceeds go to help the Cincinnati/Hamilton County YWCA for battered women. I spent a lot of time at the YWCA in the next county up when I was a kid - I learned to swim there, took art lessons, played sports, and even went to their camp every summer and loved it. The YWCA holds a special place in my heart. There's so much writing and reading I'm yearning to dig into and yet I'm still here with Dad and the aunt and uncle want me to come to their house for at least two days. I think I have to take a nap first or I'll never make the drive. Why can't there be 48 hours in a day? Or 72? Why can't I do four things at once? I am a pretty good multi-tasker - not just my opinion - my day job boss says that's my biggest strength. (Funny, two bosses ago, the boss thought that was a detriment. I think she thought I was hiding stuff flitting between things so fast. The current boss is much smarter.) I met Rhonda Penders, Sr. Editor of Wild Rose Press, and just as special, sister to my blog friend Nicole McCaffrey. Rhonda sought me out specially per Nicole's request just to find out we'd already met and spoken a couple times. LOL. I enjoyed it - she's such a nice lady and I'm very impressed with her and her company. I hope to make this a yearly conference as I'd love to see my friends again, it was very helpful, and a lot of fun. Plus I want to see Dad at least yearly. I'll see what I can do.

World Domination!

Today, I'll be at Lori Foster's Readers' 'N Authors' Get Together at the Cincinnati Marriott North. I'm really excited to be attending. I'll get to put faces to names and meet people I've been talking to on the internet. I'll have appointments with one agent and four editors over the course of today and tomorrow - and I'm very nervous - so wish me luck. And I haven't been to a conference in several years. I'm not as shy as I used to be, but I can still be shy. I volunteered to help fill goodie bags and set up so hopefully that will let me meet a few people before the crowds come. I think about 270 plus people have registered. That's not including how many more may attend the book signing Saturday at the Marriott (between 4 and 5 pm). My dad was asking me if publishers promote authors. He was under the impression they play a big part in promotion. Unfortunately, not usually, unless you're already a big name - and then you'd have the money to hire a publicist and promote out the ying yang. It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? But that's how it works. However, I'm lucky in that TEB is doing their fair share and I'm very happy with them. Ellora's Cave has done a lot of promotion, too, so I can't complain. Again, I can't rely on them to do enough promotion for me souly. I have to get out there, too. What Lori and Dianne and their friends are doing is brilliant and also so very nice. I don't know that I'd have the organizational skill but if I did, it'd be very difficult while I'm still working a full-time day job. Besides, my name isn't big enough yet to draw anybody. Notice, I say "yet". I fully plan to take over the world. :) Meanwhile, I can join in events like Lori's and blog here and do booksignings and write short stories (check out UK's Scarlett Magazine in July - I have a free short story in the special TEB section.) I also plan to attend the 2009 RT Booklover's Conference in Orlando.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow I'm leaving on a Jet Plane to Cincinnati. :)

I'll be there in plenty of time so I can go to Lori Foster's Reader and Author Get Together (see below). If you're in the area, please stop into the book signing. I'd love to meet you. We'll be having a lot of fun on June 6th, 7th and 8th. The Barnes and Noble BOOK SIGNING will be inside the hotel from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at the Cincinnati Marriott North

(Just north of Cincinnati on I-75 at Union Center Blvd, exit 19) West Chester, Ohio, 6189 Mulhauser Rd, West Chester, OH 45069-4842

And if you're curious about the READER AND AUTHOR GET TOGETHER, you can find out more at Lori Foster's website, at: http://lorifoster.com/community/readergettogthr.htm
This year around 270 people are registered, including authors, agents, editors, publishers, industry professionals, and of course, READERS!

Lori Foster, Dianne Castell, and their group will be helping many worthy causes such as
our troops and Lori's favorite no-kill animal shelter, the ANIMAL ADOPTION FOUNDATION, and the Hamilton Co. YWCA Battered Women's Shelter.

I know not everybody's lucky enough to spend next weekend in Cincinnati, or in my view, heaven on earth, but there's still a great way to help the causes they support.

Lori's groups' anthology, The Power Of Love, will be released June 3, 2008. Be sure to pick up a copy. All proceeds will help the Hamilton Co. YWCA Battered Women's Shelter.

Ten copies of the Power Of Love signed by ALL the authors in the book, and then they’ll auction them off on Ebay with proceeds to go to one of our charities. So if you want a copy signed by everyone, check out the blog www.runningwithquills.com

I'll try to blog steadily this week, but honestly, I'll be visiting with my father, the neighbors I grew up with, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, so I can't promise too much. I'll also be preparing for Lori's Readers' N Writers' Get Together next weekend. Of course, I won't be at the day job and I won't be taxi cab to the kids, so I may actually have more time online and writing. I'll play it by ear.

I'll check in as often as I'm able.

I'm excited to be going although I'm rather nervous of getting on that plane. (I hope I get the happy plane.)

I don't know why. I used to love to fly and I know the statistics say that it's safer to fly than ride in a car, but then if the plane engines go out, it crashes from several thousand feet. If a car's engine stops, I just sit on the side of the road (safe) till help arrives.



I thought that was it for my blog tonight, but I just found this present in my email box that I have to share.

"Brit Party" was just awarded 5 hearts by Night Owl Romance.

Quote "All six of these writers are clearly talented, having written several stand-alone books throughout their careers. They don’t disappoint this time around by giving expertly complied stories of romance filled with erotic pleasure that leave us breathless and wanting more..."

Thank you Night Owl Romance and Priscilla Petty for the great review.

Romantic Times Convention

I'm jealous. I'm envious. And I have no right to be. This week authors and readers are going to the RT (Romantic Times Convention) and I'm not. I made the choice not to go. I think it had something to do with lack of $. It might have been also lack of vacation time and wanting to see my dad and have ear surgery so I could hear better, and also that I'm going to Lori Foster Readers and Writers Get Together in Cincinnati while I visit my dad and go to my 30th high school reunion. Guess I can't have it all. But now that the week is here and everybody's been so excited and all they can do is talk about it, and blog land (at least in writer's world) is pretty barren and deserted already and most don't leave on their planes till tomorrow, I'm wishing I'd signed up to go anyway. Like I read in Carol's blog today at TEB, I'm shy and don't do too well mingling with people I've never met before, even in blogland and cyber space, much less at all. I worry too much, too, about what people with think. Worse, my mind often goes blank when I meet someone new and I can't think of anything to say, much less something witty and eloquent. I still have no clue why the day job ever thought they wanted to put me on a telephone with donors. I did try to warn them. I guess I got over that as I did work my way up to manager, but then of course, I'm surrounded by a group of people I've known for years, some of them for ten years, that I see 5 days a week - my second family. It's even very likely, that after all this, I'll do the same thing next year - go to Lori Foster's event in Cincinnati (if it works out well this summer, that is) so I can also see my dad and my family and have my vacation from the day job do double duty. I'll probably not get to too many RT's until I can retire from the 9-5 world, in say, 15 or 20 years. I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing... To all my friends, blogging buddies, fellow authors, and readers, have a great time and bring back lots of pictures to share.

Blog Hopping - the things I've learned

I've developed a new addiction, one that's not as bad as my eating, diet coke, or night owl addiction - I don't think. I've become a blog hopper (no pun intended). However, I need a much spiffier name for my blog and that would be an apropos one for me. I don't know that it talks to my romance reading audience, however, so I'll have to give it some thought and get some other opinions. I've come upon a lot of cool and helpful things the past couple weeks since I started hopping from blog to blog. I discovered www.romvets.com of course and I've had my application email answered and so I'll be joining up with them. I learned at http://calamityjenni.blogspot.com/ that an ad spot that claims they put relevant ads on your blogs don't really look after all. LOL. Go check out her today's entry to see the ad about foot fetishes. I don't exactly think that's relevant to her blog... I also discovered on her blog about a few blog awards for which I nominated some really cool blogs I visit daily. Hope they win! I had been wondering about adding one of those ad thingies to my blog, but now, I'm not so sure that's the best idea. Let me ponder that awhile longer... I found out about Lori Foster's readers' and writers' conference in Cincinnati this June, from a blog - and I made a new friend as well who talked me into going. Truthfully, she didn't have to twist my arm very hard. I was drooling to go the second she mentioned it and I stumbled all over my stubby little fingers to go and register. Of course, it was partly because I wanted to go to a romance conference and partly because (a huge part) that it's in Cincinnati where I grew up and where my family still lives - so that I can use my precious day job vacation and see my dad AND get in a romance conference. I've had my new blog friends email me resources to help my children with some of their special needs. Because of another blog I read tonight who has their cat on a diet, I'm thinking I really should put my cat on a diet. Dion, or "Mr. Paws", "Mr. Mittens", "Big Daddy", "Houdini" as we also call him is a big, adorable, extremely cuddly all-black Hemingway. (Obviously, I'm not superstitious). He's probably so cuddly because he is overweight. I just love to hold him and he's so mellow that he lets me cradle him like a baby - in fact, that's his favorite position. Off topic, he gets his other nicknames because right before we got him fixed, he, uh, got our Stacey in the family way and we kept one of their kittens, Prissy (also often called "Miss Priss" or "Missy Prissy" because she really is prissy), and so he is the cat daddy in the house. Of course he's got the paw type names because he's a polydactyl-Hemingway. "Houdini" comes because he's always trying to escape to the outside. When he sees one of us go out, he hides and waits by the door for us to come back in and then dart out. Since he's been neutered and gotten slower and gained the weight, we usually catch him, but he's getting by us more and more again. I wish I could let him outside like a normal cat, but my neighbors complain and even threaten to take him to the pounds, so I can't risk it. We have to chase him and bring him back right away when this happens. Do you know how impossible it is to find an all black cat in the dark of night??? Prissy got her daddy's Hemingway paws and she looks like she's all black until you see her belly where she has just a teensy tiny splotch of white. Stacey and Prissy have maintained their girlish figures and we give them the same food as Dion. So either he's eating way more than his share, or he's just genetically predisposed to be chunky (hypo-thyroid like me perhaps? can cats have thyroid problems?) OR, and I suspect this is the biggest culprit, is that Dion's eating the dog's food too much. Of course, the dogs eat the cat food until we chase them off. I think my dogs and Dion have identity issues... Guess I'll know for sure when Dion starts barking and Andy and Meiko start meowing. I've been invited to participate in author contests and chats which I probably wouldn't have been. I found the 5 Minutes for Mom's site and their special promo week in March 08, "The Ultimate Blog Party" (don't miss it!) - look at the hot pink button on the upper left hand column of my blog. There's been so much more, but it's late and my brain is getting foggy. No, I didn't get beaned by a softball at my daughter's game. Unfortunately, one of the other mom's did at last night's game. She was walking into the ladies' room by another field and it came out of nowhere - she said no one called "heads up". She was in pretty bad shape for awhile but she seems to be better now, thankfully. I probably won't blog hop for the next couple days, or at least not much. I have to have to have to finish my edit and get the book to my editor. It's called "Best Mates" and it will be part of the Bound Brits anthology for TEB at www.total-e-bound.com