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.

Cincinnati pictures and Booksigning Today

View driving into downtown Cincinnati from the North going South,

The left side view from my Dad's front yard

This is a farm just down the road from my Dad's house in Greater Cincinnati.

This is my Dad's backyard.

This is me in Dad's house.


I'll post more Cincinnati pictures in a day or three. :)

Today again, I'll be at Lori Foster and Dianne Castell's Readers' 'N Writers' Get Together in Cincinnati. I'm blogging ahead of time as I fully expect to be too busy to get online today.

If you're in the Cincinnati area please pop in and meet me at the booksigning between 3 and 5 pm at the Cincinnati Marriott North which is located right off I-75 exzit 19 in the West Chester section of Greater Cincinnati. Or you can find it on Mulhauser Road.

Keep your fingers crossed for me during my agent and editor appointments. God, don't let me blow them. Let them like my stories and me.

Dad's asleep so let me sign off as he's sensitive to any noise in the house and he wants to get up and leave early tomorrow.

I don't know if I'll get to blog Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday as I'll be at my aunt and uncle's house. I'll try to blog ahead again, but if not, I'll try to be back on Tuesday.