Yesterday's signing went really well--the mall was crowded and Barnes and Nobles and the coordinators from CFRWA did a wonderful job making sure everything ran like clockwork.

You can see two pages of event and author photos at Terry Odell's Website and also at Lucienne Diver's blog. I was yakking away with readers, shoppers and my table-partner, Pamela Labud, who writes paranormal historical and fantasy romance. It was also great seeing good buddies Bonnie Vanak, Linnea Sinclair, and Lucienne Diver.

I haven't been to the mall in a long time so it was interesting to people-watch as well as converse with interested and curious passers-by. CFRWA was giving out goodie bags--one's choice of naughty and nice--and I'm not surprised that the naughty ones disappeared a lot faster ;-). There was much laughter among the ladies when they were asked "naughty or nice," I tell you. Good times, good times.

When I got home, there was an email with the awesome news that Virtually Hers could be pre-ordered at Amazon!

Perfect end to a great day!

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I Time Traveled For My Birthmonth

I thought TODAY was 09/09/09 and was all planning to look for something GREAT or MEANINGFUL happening. Ha. So me. I'd never make a good astrologer, no matter how I try. No wonder I celebrate my birthday the whole month ;-).

09/09/09 did turn out to be quite a good day for me. I have wonderful news about VHers print book (good for readers too!). Deets later, when I have more info. But it put a smile on my face.

So, what happened yesterday that would be considered an Event for you?

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Favorite Freedom Quote

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

Yeah. I'm off to do my patriotic duty today. Happy 4th of July to all my friends and readers!

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Different Kinds of Candy

I hope you guys had a great Halloween! Jiggle Low and I sure did ;-). Taking along my box of Halloween party stuff, I took him over to a neighbor's house and we parked ourselves in the porch and had a grand time being kids.

My neighbor had her doggies dressed up too and her SO set up the table with our goodies and toys. One of the gadgets I brought over was my crawling hand, that would move across a surface when a button was pushed. Then there was Jiggle Low with his funny glowing skeleton suit. The kids loved that, esp. when I shone the ghost light on him and he kind of looked pinkish.

Anyway, the best part was the kids, of course. This was their time and I enjoyed watching them as they went from house to house with their bags and pillowcases. It's funny how different their reactions were, too.

Some of the kiddies screamed when they saw the crawling hands. Then there was one who cracked me up. He was just so "Operation Candy" about it. When the hand bothered his feet, he calmly stepped on it to hold it down and took his time adding stuff from the candy bowl into his bag! Now, that had me laughing. A kid with total focus, that one! Then there was the kid that started throwing candy at Jiggy and of course, he was in heaven, since I never gave him candy before.

The adults had their own magic potion to share and we were all in a cheerful mood when we started talking about books (my friend's SO love to read). I told them how my shelves were toppling over from the overload and it just so happened that one of their friends was trying to get rid of a bookcase.

So it was Halloween night, the kids were filled with candy, and the adults had their potion fun, and now I had a new bookcase. My neighbors came over to help me put it together and the whole evening ended up with us playing with books. As you know, when booklovers get together, it's just not about the bookcase for too long! I got my friend interested enough that he took a few romantic suspenses home to try out: the ever sure-bet JD Robb, a couple of Suzanne Brockmanns, Cindy Gerard, and he wanted to try a historical because I told him they were more than just "bodices" and "pirates," so I gave him Joanna Bourne's "The Spymaster's Lady."

Loaded down, he went home smiling. Books are like candy for some of us, you know!

If a curious male friend asks you to recommend a historical romance that is not too "gooey," what would you pick from your own Keeper Shelf?

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Post #2: Good Times II

Have to start another post. Vimeo Videos (previous post) are hard to embed and I don't feel like messing with them now that they're working.

Here's author Eliza Gayle's video montage of her experience at RT. The Asian girl you see is Su, aka SUNAMI, who always have a great time at RT.



Heehee, and here's Fabio, who nearly kicked My George Clooney's ass not too long ago ;-). He snuck into the SOS Military Mixer, which honored military personnel (RT runs a special operations to send things to military in Iraq). Also present was a World War II veteran, who came in his uniform. It was an honor to shake his hand.




Here's the Ellora's Cavemen performing their rendition of Greased Lightning for Ellora's Cave's Hollywood Party, which was held on the first night.

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Want A Book or Monkey Nuts for Thanksgiving?

Awesome Shiloh Walker is offering my book, Virtually His, in her Book of the Month contest at her blog. It's still open to those who are interested till end of November.

I thought I would also offer one of Shiloh's books to introduce her to some of you who've never read her. She has so many releases in paperback and e-books that it's hard to catch up with her! ;-) Anyway, for those who love futuristics/urban fantasy and want to read HUNTING THE HUNTER, just comment in today's blog for the rest of the week.

Here's the book description from Amazon:

Bounty hunter Kane Winter has spent two years looking for the mysterious woman who was there when his partner was killed. But when the hunted turns out to be a seductive vampire, Kane is consumed by a desire greater than vengeance-a hunger to possess this woman for himself.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

***********************************************

It's Thanksgiving next week and I'm tempted to tempt my fate with Delta and visit family in Ohio. You know me and Atlanta airport--we have a history ;-). Sometimes it's sad to live in a podunk town with only two airlines in the International Airport. Also, Jiggle Low doesn't like it when mommy is out of town. That possessive bad puppy does mean panty raids when I'm away for a few days. Yup...nice Victoria Secret panties lost forever to puppy teething frenzy.

Do you intend to cook a turkey and entertain (NOT YOU, SQ!!!) or are you planning to visit and be entertained?

When I stay in town, I usually spend Thanksgiving with a close friend and her family. She's a marvelous cook and her sweet potato dish is to die for. For my part, I offer fried rice. Yup. Every year, I make that family Gennita's Fly Lice for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so much so that her son, who turned seventeen this year, thought EVERY family had fried rice for those occasions until he spent Thanksgiving at his girlfriend's place one year.

He told me they looked shocked when he asked, "Where's the fly lice?" Bwahahaha. I've destroyed his and his siblings' adulthood expectations forever. I still remember fondly when I gave them "monkey nuts" for Halloween one year as a "Trick." I call the Ichiban sour limes "monkey nuts," for you Asian girls who know these things ;-). I had, in my mean bad youth, chased away many eager Jehovah Witnesses who came calling at my house with "monkey nuts" offerings. I don't do that any more, of course. Really!

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I Need Your Uber Help

My feet feel as if they have grown into elephant size. Walking on pavement is so not like walking on a rooftop. And on heels! Arghhhhhhh. How do y'all do it everyday? My feet are killing me.

All my fault, of course. I went exploring and shopping after my meeting with my editor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fifth Avenue jewelry and clothes. All the way to Broadway to see whether I wanted to catch a show this time. Decided not to. Took the subway to Chinatown. Walk, walk, walk while I munched on everything I have been hankering after. I started limping after about three hours of shopping and had another foot massage again ;-). This time, the woman had just come from China, so I got to pseudo-interview her for a future book's material while she pressed down on all these pressure points on the bottom of my feet.

Refreshed, I stomped all the way back to Grand Central to say goodbye to Stacey Agdern. I treated her to some traditional Malaysian "cakes" that I've bought in Chinatown. She bought me a New York cheesecake that melted in my mouth. I guess the walking around is good in the sense that I get to walk off all the calories I put into me!

Anyway, I declare this short trip very successful and enjoyable. I love my agent and my editor, the two most important people in a writer's world. When you get the right ones, it's an unbeatable feeling!

Here's the update on the e-book I want to give to you through eharlequin. My editor says that she's still talking to the PTB about it and so far, doesn't have an answer. She thinks that it's a great promotional idea and really wants to help me do it, but the publisher, like every other publisher, is all about meetings and going through various departments and feedback.

My editor says that it would really help if I can get her PAPER feedback from my readers so she can keep them in a file which she can use to show her PTB during her meetings with them. E-mails are easily lost or deleted because no one prints them, but all snail mail is filed. If you can help me out by sending two snail mails about how you are enthusiastic about an e-book from me, one to the NY HQ and one to the Canada HQ, then, when they have their video conference about me, they will all have a copy of your feedback in their respective files ;-).

Here are the addys:
Gennita Low's Editor
c/o Keyren Gerlach,
233 Broadway, 10th Floor,
New York, NY 10279

Gennita Low's editor
225 Duncan Mill Road,
Don Mills, Ont. M3B 3K9
CANADA

Thank you so much for doing this. I know I can just simply give away a book from my site, but I think if I do it through my publisher, it'd be more professional and simpler. They have the net tools all set up and of course, I represent them and vice-versa, so everything would look good.

You would think that it would be so simple when I'm giving this e-book for free, wouldn't you? Apparently not! ;-P Nothing is simple when there are levels of inter-departmental redtape, I suppose.

Okay, now I rest for a few hours before catching my cab at 5am. Wahhhhh. Watch me turn into a bitchy elephant in the morning. I don't. do. AM.

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Call Me Uber Speaker!

The Colorado Romance Writers conference is done. It was, IMHO, a total success. I made new contacts, reconnected with good friends, and actually survived being a closing speaker ;-).

The food was fab. I'll have you know that Bob Mayer was impressed at how quickly I destroyed this beautiful work of art.

That's Mr. Bob Mayer, with his books (also the one he co-wrote with Jennifer Crusie), and moi, with mine. I sold out of all my copies of Virtually His, hurrah!

We had fun and informative workshops. Just ask multi-talented author/pal, Pamela Clare, who somehow lost the key to her handcuffs ;-). Let me tell you, there were some doubletakes as she walked around the hotel like that.

Here's me, looking like a dork:

Yes, the closing speech moment. Notice the deer in headlights stare. The clenched fist. You can't see the wine glass hiding behind the podium ;-).

BUT

I KILLED IT, BABEEEeeeeeeee!

Woohoo!

I talked about desperation and what it meant in my life, how it developed me into the person and writer that I am today. I joked a little about my crazy background--the day I was lost in the market back home, the day I flew to the States with all my luggage, the day I had no money and no electricity. It was all somehow tied back to my love of writing a good story. Anyway, it worked and my audience was very happy with me, which was the goal, right?

I came away very relieved and very shocked that everyone loved the speech. I was even invited by a few people to do this again at several other conferences. Hahaha. Hahahahahahaha. You know that big NO was hanging at the tip of my tongue, right? They then SNEAKILY added that this would really help promote me and my books. Sigh. I dunno. Maybe it's just a fluke today that I didn't embarrass myself.

I talked to Sue Grimshaw, Romance Book Buyer from Borders and an all-round great romance reader/friend/expert, and she told me that Virtually His is selling quite well at Borders. She also confirmed, through her own sources, that Walmart and Target were cutting down on their romance buying. Sue told me that this gave her the opportunity to buy more stock for certain authors and promote them. She gave many tips to attending authors on how to get their name out there. This is why conferences/networking is important.

I have more pics to share but need to do some packing now. Just wanted to show off our SUITE. The bed was take-homeworthy. And we had a whole sitting room to party in, with a little kitchen-bar. This is the way to do it, girls and boys ;-).

Now all I need is to borrow Pamela Clare's handcuffs and we're set! Heeheehee.

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