Who knew it would be so hard to get online in a hotel, when I’ve done it a thousand times before??? At last, I managed.
BEA (Book Expo America) has been exciting, glamorous, fun–and hard work.
I arrived on Thursday evening, and my wonderful editor, Joan Marlow Golan, was waiting here at my hotel to take me out for a lovely dinner at a wonderful restaurant called The Blue Fin. She had some great news for me, too–I have a little more time to finish “Tate”, and she loves what I’ve written so far. (I’m about halfway through the book.)
Sally came in later that night, and although she’s never been to New York, she really took to this town right away. Today, she rode the subway to Queens and back, on her own–how’s THAT for adventurous?? But I’m getting ahead of myself.
On Friday, I had a little time to sleep in–I wasn’t due over at the convention center until 12:30. At one pm, I signed “Logan” in Harlequin’s fabulous booth–decorated by lots of beautiful covers for books being published over the next year, including a HUGE poster of Gideon Yarbro, the hero of my upcoming Stone Creek novel, “The Bridegroom”. (Now that the show is over, Harlequin is giving me the poster, and that means the Creeds will be joined on my office wall by another of my hunky heroes!) Following my signing, I returned to the hotel and Sally and I went out exploring–as promised, I headed straight for Kate’s Paperie and McKenzie-Childs, and I sure picked up some great stuff.
Last night, there was a wonderful party in Soho–at the OpenHouse Gallery. Now through June 12, this gallery is exhibiting the original paintings of many vintage Harlequin novels, and it was such a kick to see them all and read the blurbs. Of course it was all very glam–they served champagne and all sorts of little nibbles, and I sneaked outside once to have my fortune told by a gypsy. 🙂 That was—interesting. She actually got some stuff right–and we’ll have to wait to see if any of the rest comes true.
This morning (Saturday) I was up early again–Joan (my editor) picked me up at 8:15 and we returned to the convention center for another signing. This time, it was advance reading copies (arcs) of “The Bridegroom”, and I was out of books in half an hour. At 11:30, I left for lunch with Donna and Loriana, executives and very good friends from Harlequin–they took me to a fabulous Italian restaurant and we swapped yarns and ate linguini and talked a little business, too. I’ve said it before, and I don’t mind saying it again–Harlequin is wonderful to me. They’ve spoiled me completely. 🙂
Following lunch, I signed “State Secrets”, my 1985 book re-released with an updated cover, as part of the “Famous Firsts” program.
Phew! I sure had fun talking to all those booksellers and librarians (God bless them all) but by the time this event was over, I was one tired cowgirl. Sally and I took a walk, had some dinner here at the hotel, and then I set my mind on finding out how to get this laptop online. A nice man walked me through it over the phone and here I am. 🙂
Tomorrow, Sally and I are sleeping in. Then we’re going to get on one of those double-decker tour buses and see the high-points. This is, as I said, Sally’s first trip to New York, and it’s my umpteenth. But she’ll have to teach me how to navigate the subway, because I’ve never done it before. 🙂 She’s turned into quite the traveler, my sister Sally.
More tomorrow. We’re having a blast here in the Big Apple.
