Thursday, August 10, 2006

August Blahs and RWA Thursday

Ugh. It's over a hundred every day here in Tulsa, and I'm mired in edits. Can you guess what kind of mood I've been in? GRRRRR. LOL!!! That said, there's not much to report in the way of new news.

Yesterday, Margaret and I did a last lunch and movie of the summer. I HATE it when she goes back to her day job!!!!! Having no one to lunch with is a serious bummer. We saw My Super Ex-Girlfriend which was very cute. Plus, the theater was nice and chilly!! We had time to spare before the movie, so she dragged me to this super-fabulous new florist/home decor store. Very, very mean of her!!!!! I could've dropped an easy $50,000 in five minutes. Seeing how after Atlanta, there's approximately $4.87 in checking, all I could do was drool!!!

Back to conference news, here's Thursday . . .

Thursday was one of those days that was so good, it makes up for all the icky stuff that sometimes makes writing feel similar to ditch digging on the fun meter!!! LOL!!! As usual, Margaret was off first thing in the morning, while I lounged in bed, reading. I think I finished my Janet E. book, as well as the cappuccino cookies I'd bought at Ikea--YUM!!!! I took my time getting ready, then headed down for the Harlequin American booksigning.

The signing was held in the Harlequin suite, which had been decorated with about fifty red, white and blue helium balloons. They touched the ceiling, and had a couple yards each of curling ribbon flowing down, so you walked through this party-forest to reach the head table where we sat. Way, way, fun and festive!!! I also heard there were awesome snacks, but I didn't get any!!! What's up with that???

Anyway, Pamela Britton was at a NASCAR race, so it was just Marin Thomas, Debbie Macomber, Ann Defee, and me!!!!! The signing began, and droves of people showed up!!! My editor, Jen Green, acted as my *handler*, handing me pre-stickered (with autographed copy stickers) books that were already open to the title page. The whole thing was quite surreal, and aside from my blechy hair, made me feel like Jessica Simpson at a CD release party!!! Oh--I think I have a couple hundred pounds on her, too, but we won't discuss that!! LOL!!!

From the signing, we piled into cabs to go to a restaurant called, Canoe. It's on the Chatahoochee (sp?) River, and super elegant, while at the same time, being not so elegant that it made you feel uptight. We sat at a round table, and I had Paula Eykelhof (Executive Editor) to my left, and Kathleen Scheibling (Associate Senior Editor, American Romance) to my right!!! How's that for cool company??!! To Kathleen's right, was Marin Thomas (Code name, Brenda!! ) She is so much fun!! Kind and gentle and all around cool gal--and taaaallll!! I'm so jealous!! Next, was Jen Green (Editor, American Romance), Ann DeFee (double Rita finalist!!!). Ann's also way fun with an infectious laugh!! I very much enjoyed her company!! Next, Loriana Sacilotto (Executive Vice President, Global Publishing & Strategy), then--taa daaaa . . . Debbie Macomber!!!!! I had a creamy potato soup appetizer and salmon--double YUM!!!

Back at the hotel, I was late in meeting with my agent, Michelle Grajkowski, so once I found her in the lobby, I yanked her up to my room for girl talk. We were supposed to be discussing the State of the Laura Marie Altom Union, but Michelle's so fun and giggly, whenever we meet in person, we never seem to get much done!!

From this quasi-meeting, we had to settle down and meet with Jen and Kathleen to further discuss me!!! By this time, I could tell my editors were pooped, and still had appointments to make, so I kept my questions brief, and seeing how much by this point in the day, I was LOVING my job, I certainly had no complaints!!!! From here on out, whenever I whine about how hard writing is, I'll just think back to how much fun the results are!!!

Okay, so like this wasn't already enough partying for one day, Margaret and I met up with my Winnie and Beth, and headed to the PASIC, Editor of the Year party. From there, we went to KOD's Death By Chocolate party. And from there, quite near death from exhaustion, we went straight to bed!!!!!!!

2 comments:

Christa said...

Our heat wave broke and we have really been over 75 in the last 2 weeks.
Sounds like a great but exhausting day.

Laura Marie Altom said...

Christa--no fair that you're having fabulous weather!!!! I'm happy for you, but ready for August heat to be over for us!!!