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.

My Space

Who here is good at working their My Space? That's if you have a My Space page. I do. But I hardly ever attend to it. I don't mean to be lazy - I don't think I am. There's only so many hours in the day and the day job and family and writing and this blog, take up a lot. I also try to squeeze in exercise - walking or the gym. It shouldn't be that hard, right? So why am I lacking when it comes to it? When I was at the conference this weekend, we were told to work our My Space page, that it's a powerful tool, that some authors, Holly Jacobs, whom I first knew as Holly Fuhrmann on a loop before she ever published as Holly Jacobs, used just recently. Supposedly, Holly thinks it's her use of My Space with this last book that made her most recent release sell out in 3 to 4 days and go to second print. Wow! I've got to get on board. It was also mentioned, by the lady at Author Island, I think, that there's a way to post just one blog and have it automatically distribute to our My Space, blogger, etc. blogs in one fell swoop so we reach 15 or more different audiences and not waste time. After all, we're not called "writers" because we play on line. Our job is to actually "write". (Not that I don't love to play online - it's addictive - and why I tend to take myself away from the Internet and go to Borders or Barnes & Nobles to write where I'd have to pay (a lot) extra to go online). Of course now, (sigh) I have to pay a mint for the gas to get to Borders. So, I'll check out Author Island and cos productions and Lucy Monroe's website, etc. where it was suggested we check for help with all this good promotion stuff, as soon as I can. I think Dad gets a bit irritated when I'm online or even the computer, too much, here at his house. Plus his connection is deadly slow and clunky. On top of that, I'm heading out to my aunt and uncle's house in a few minutes and I doubt Uncle Bill will let me on his computer at all. Yes, I'll be in computer and internet withdrawal for a day or two. The person who accused me of being "internet needy" is sadly right. Oh well, I accept it. I'm an author and I don't know any author who doesn't use the internet a lot. It's been our salvation as writing can be a lonely profession otherwise. Soooo, if any of my bloggy friends out there knows how to use My Space, all and any help will be greatly appreciated. Let me know. :)

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.