Liz & Marianne’s 2009 RT Booklover’s Convention video (hijinks!)

You were wondering how we spent our time.

Australian Romance Readers Conference – Day 2

Woke up the morning of the final day of the con and realized…I’m on deck!  Susan Grant and I were set to go back to back as the morning speakers to kick off the day.  I was surprised and delighted by how many people were able to wake up to listen to us that early after the prior night’s gala.  Susan talked about her path to publication and how her writing intersects with her other full-time job as a United Airlines pilot.  (How kick-ass is that?) 

I talked about the different phases of readership and my own discovery of the romance genre.  There is something a little daunting about writing a speech that is supposed to be funny.  In any case, I had so much fun up there, and it sounded like the audience enjoyed it.

After lunch we had the second book-signing event.  There were still tremendous numbers of people coming up to us even after signing the day before.  It was so lovely.  It occurred to me that I would have loved to have a kind of yearbook of the event.  Maybe next time, anyone who wants to participate can pay an extra $5 or something and email a picture along with registration.  All the names/pictures would be compiled into a sort of yearbook.  It would be a great way to collect both signatures and contact information from the people at the event…but would also go a long way in terms of keeping names associated with faces.  I don’t know when I’ll see everybody again (sniff) and it would be great to have that.  Well, if you’re reading this and want to stay in touch, you can find me on facebook.  That way we’ll at least have the pictures there.

After the booksigning, I had my last set of panels.  This one was about cross-genre writing and featured Jennifer Brassel (who was a brilliant, prepared moderator), the effervescent Denise Rossetti, Sherrilyn Kenyon and yours truly.  Another panel full laughs, what can I say.  I think my smile hurts.

Sherrilyn and Dianna Love closed the conference with a special session.  (Double yay for all of the Dark-Hunter/BAD fans!).  And then suddenly it was over.  I couldn’t stop thinking about how different this was–at events in the states it’s very much, “Well, see you in a couple of months or so!”  Here, it could be a year or two.  Alas.

Well, I want to thank the ARRC organizing committee as a whole for inviting me.  I had a brilliant time.  (Even though I accidentally ordered a tall instead of long coffee AGAIN this morning.)  I seriously can’t wait to come back.  Next time, I’m bringing a suitcase full of books–I had no idea what you Aussies were up against with the pricing. 

I should mention that just because the conference was over, it didn’t mean the fun was!  Susan and I went to “tea” with writers Erica Hayes and Tracey O’Hara.  They’ve got some pretty kick-ass books coming out, and I can’t wait.

Ack!  I’ve got to catch the shuttle bus to Melbourne airport.  It’s time to start the voyage home.  And here I didn’t tell you about me trying to buy a pair of Uggs in this town.  Well, more later.

Liz

Australian Romance Readers Conference – Day 1

The Australian Romance Readers Conference opened with a lovely evening reception followed the next day by a slate of panels, keynotes, and signings.

Five out of six of the main speakers  at the event were American (MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love and me!), and to my great pleasure I knew them all from prior events.  MaryJanice Davidson set the bar high with the opening keynote.  She’s as hilarious in person as she is on paper. That’s her on the left and Sue Grant on the right.

My first panel session, This One Time At Band Camp (anecdotes by the authors about things in their personal life that influenced scenes in their books),  followed in the afternoon.  Alongside me on the panel: MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, and Australian author Amy Andrews who writes medical romances for Harlequin. 

Susan talked about being a pilot and a fighter jet instructor and eradicated any interest in The Mile High Club the audience might have ever had.  

Amy described the assorted and sundry items some of her patients had “stuck up their bums” (she said one of them had a kind of moose jammed up there and only after I parsed the accent did I realize it was not a kind of moose but a can of mousse.  Sigh.)  

I shared a couple of tales from my Antarctica years (favorites included my description of the hot scuba diver scientists killing their own hotness by wearing brown furry onesies out at the bar plus the story about the dude who thew a party for the fruitfly he found in the lettuce shipped out from New Zealand).

MaryJanice mostly mocked the rest of us panelists, which had everybody in stitches. 

After the panel I went to lunch at Victoria Market with Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love who seem to be on permanent tour. Surely world domination should be within their reach by now, already. As always, spending time with them is a hoot–I should have had them on my Band Camp panel because the stories they tell…

A booksigning followed in the afternoon and the welcome here from the Australian readers was FABULOUS.  Everybody seemed so happy the Americans had made the trip; it was such a delight.  I sat next to Sue and we both signed books and programs and cover flats and met lots of readers–some who were already fans of our work and some who were just excited to try our work for the first time.

Amongst the readers was Tez Miller (there in the middle!), whom I knew prior only as an online friend.  Tez has always been so supportive and it was really a treat to meet her in person.

The infamous Rosemary (center) of Rosemary’s Romance Bookshop in Brisbane was also there. Here she is with Sue (left) and Sherrilyn Kenyon (right).

A few of the readers had made the trip to the U.S. to attend a prior RWA or RT event, but most were new friends. Here are a few reader snaps:

After the signing, we had a short break and then reconvened for the gala dinner. (I so love the word, “gala”) Everybody went upstairs and made themselves all swanky-looking and then we met downstairs again for dinner.

Sue, MaryJanice & Anthony, and I were all assigned to the same table. Our table included several lovely readers and a couple of the most entertaining academics I have ever met. (Yay, Toni and Glen!) The food was incredible. The best conference food I have EVER had, no contest. And the wine did not stop flowing. Hilarity ensued. I seriously don’t remember the last time I had so much fun at a, ahem, “professional” event.

BONUS VIDEO:

Sue Grant and I had a lot of problems ordering coffee. Of all things to cause a great cultural divide, it was coffee that threw us for the biggest loop. Our barista, Simon, was Seinfeldian in his disdain for our inability to order properly, and I believe he actually started screwing with our minds. On one day, a TALL BLACK was two espresso shots cut with hot water, the next it had no hot water in it, and the next the order itself simply didn’t exist as a coffee form at all.

Here’s a track of Australian Bek explaining some slang and then Sue explaining her coffee issues.  The video quality is kinda funky at first but it smooths out when it gets to Sue Grant.  I think I figured out that I need a higher-powered computer, believe it or not.  This sad, little fujitsu chip isn’t processing the Flip video easily.  SIGH.  Buy a $200 video gadget only to find out you need a new $1500 computer.  Whatevs.  Press Play.  Have a go.  See what you get.  I’ll work on getting better quality in the future.

Cheers!

Liz

Melbourne: Mmm. Food. Good.

Personally, I’m still recovering from the majesty of Marianne puking into her makeup bag at NYC Fashion Week (I told her she sounded like a very special episode of Ugly Betty and that her solution showed true calm in the face of crisis.  I’m also making a mental note never to borrow her lipgloss again.  Not even the stuff from Dior.), but since I can’t be there with my own special brand of mockery/commiseration, I’ll just get back to the business of blogging the con in Australia.

When last I blogged, I was off to dinner.  Dinner turned out to be a fantastic Greek feast at Melbourne’s Tsindos.  Platter after platter of seafood and meat and dipping sauces and pita and salads arrived at the table in a orgy of food the likes of which I haven’t seen since the last time I stuffed myself in wild culinary abandon.  (Which wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t suppose you need to know that sort of detail.)

While I must give MAJOR PROPS to Melbourne for living up to –and surpassing– the expectations of this here foodie, I do have one small quibble.  There was a lot of food left over and we weren’t able to take it because it’s illegal for restaurants to send food home with customers.  Yes, you heard me.  The city government of Melbourne is concerned that I will not properly refrigerate my leftovers, will contract some hideous disease due to lack of said refrigeration and will die.  Thank you for your concern, Melbourne, but I’d really like some of that leftover souvlaki right about now.

Except now that I mock my host city I realize that clearly…CLEARLY if Marianne had been similarly culinarily legislated in such a way back in the U.S., she would not have found herself vomiting amongst the socialites in New York City.  Clearly. 

Except now that I mock Marianne, it occurs to me that vomiting amongst the socialites in New York City is a really good bonding experience.  I mean, they’re probably ALL vomiting at Fashion Week.  Nice networking move, Mare!

But I digress.

So we had this AMAZING Greek meal and chatted with our lovely conference hosts.  A perfect way to start the week.  But it gets better.  What’s as perfect as great food and great people in a great city?  Number one bestsellers come mighty close.  Here’s me at the dinner shooting video of Dianna Love toasting Sherrilyn Kenyon for her sixth consecutive Dark Hunter #1 bestseller…with a bonus shot of MaryJanice Davidson throwing in a shout-out to…Evil. 

You sure you got all that? 

That’s Sherrilyn on the left, Dianna Love toasting on the right, me saying “And that was MJ”  and MaryJanice laughing at the end.

I’d left NY at 6:10pm on February 17th and went to bed in Melbourne at 10:30pm on February 19th.   Boo-ya!

Liz

P.S. I put the camera into service today.  Good snaps in the next post.

Liz

Puking at Fashion Week? Priceless.

So while Liz is off throwing shrimps on the barbie or whatever it is they do over in Australia (Evidently it’s not wearing UGGs, but I understand cause it’s warm there.) I was supposed to have a fun-filled adventure at New York’s Spring Fashion Week. I had the backstage access to Rebecca Taylor and was working two stories for Better TV. Instead it turned out to be a nightmare. (WARNING: Not a good post for sensitive stomachs or those eating – though I’ll try not to be too descriptive!)

I started feeling a little weird at work. Really tired, run down. I was a bit worried since I’d gotten like nine hours of sleep the night before, which is a lot for me. Not to mention Jacob had just gotten over a horrific stomach something-or-other that we attributed to possible food poisoning. I mean, he was messed up hardcore for two days- couldn’t keep anything down.

Anyway, I ignore the symptoms, hoping they’ll go away if I have a little lunch. After all, I HAVE to do this shoot. And I want to! So I eat and feel a tiny bit better and my photographer and I head down to the tents. I’m wearing some pretty intense high heels and my feet are killing me, but I figure I won’t be walking much so no big deal. More important to look fashionable, I decide. After all, once we finish part one of the story, we’re heading over to the Rebeca Taylor after-party to shoot some more footage and mingle with some regular Better TV interviewees. Fun!

We go through the backstage. See Jamie Lynn Sigler (who I’ve interviewed before), one of the Real Housewives of NY (Ramona – who I am shooting a story with in a couple weeks.), and in the tents we see Tori Spelling and her husband Dean. She looks pretty in real life. Very polished. I can’t wait til she’s on the new 90210 again!

ANYWAY we get our set-up shots of Mina Jacqueline-Au, the socialite who we work with all the time at Better, and Mary Rambin of Nonsociety.com who we’re also doing a piece on. (About bloggers at Fashion Week.)

Mina urges me to find a seat, but I suddenly feel extremely sick. Faint and sick to my stomach. I want to see Rebeca’s collection SO BADLY – I loved her spring show back in the fall and her clothes are so feminine and pretty. But I realize I need to suck it up and head outside. So I walk out the front door, watching mobs of people trying to get into the show. Hopefully the girl who took my seat is a big fan and was worthy of admission.

I walk out and sit down and wonder what I should do. At the very least I’m supposed to interview Mary for my blogging story after the show. But I feel so badly! I can’t find a free bathroom and the heels are stabbing into my feet like knives as I try to push through the crowds. I find a Starbucks, finally, but it’s one of the bathroom-less kind. I start to panic. What am I going to do? I can’t walk. I can’t hide. I can’t get in a cab or on the subway.

All I can do is puke in my makeup bag in the middle of Bryant Park with fashionistas all around. (Yes, I managed to dump the makeup out into my hand bag first.)

So embarrassing! Though someone at work joked that I was just like the models now.

Now I’m in bed. Have thrown up everything I’ve drank this afternoon. Feeling weak and yet bored. What a horrible sickness! Now I know what Jacob was going through. Major bleh! And I’m sad I missed the show and the party and that my story might not work out anymore. Booo!! Also we’re moving on Sunday and I should be packing, but there’s no way I can get out of bed at the moment. I will definitely need to stay out of work tomorrow.

I guess it’s horrible to feel sick anywhere, but NYC is particularly bad. There’s no place here to be alone. You’re often in spots with no bathrooms. And you don’t have a car to drive home with. I figured a cab would make me sick so I ended up taking the subway.

So that was my “glamorous” day at Fashion Week! Oh well, there’s always the fall shows!

Marianne

10,000 miles later…G’Day Melbourne!

I landed in Australia today.  Over 10,000 miles/3 flights/1 spectacularly hideous-looking untouched meatloaf dinner later.  Old friend and fellow author Susan Grant was on the flight.  She was somewhere upfront on a reclining first class seat (She’s also a pilot.  Perks, yo.) probably having grapes fed to her by a scantily clad twenty-something Australian boy. 

I was in the cheap seats trying to close off all five of my senses for the duration of the voyage.  I would like to give a shout out to my seatmate, Joseph, who kept me entertained when it began to feel like one of those war camp stories.  (It’s sweaty and cramped and we’re considering a) an escape plan and b) weevils as a source of protein.)  Sue and I dovetailed in Sydney, made our last flight leg to Melbourne and then were picked up by the fabulous Bek who drove us to the conference hotel.  We met the also fabulous Maggie as we were checking in.

I’m one of those people who believes that you must go local immediately and in order to avoid napping, I showered and changed (I wouldn’t put in such a boring detail were it not for my fear that leaving it out would make it sound like I walked around Melbourne with 36 hours of travel ick still on my skin.)  and went for a walk where I promptly annoyed everybody by periodically forgetting to walk on the correct side of the street. 

I changed some money, bought a samosa at the Curry Bowl (Melbourne already gets extremely high marks for the awesome international cuisine) so that I wouldn’t pass out from hunger before the official dinner, and then realized I was severely coffee-withdrawn. 

I then behaved like a lunatic ordering said coffee.  The lovely coffee-girl spent some rather long minutes explaining the difference between a long black and a flat white.  In the end, I went with the long black which was basically hot water mixed with two shots of espresso which you can then “pollute” with milk.  Better too strong than too weak, I always say and the flat white sounded worrisome.

Ack!  It’s suddenly time for dinner.  Here’s the first scrap of video from my new gadget. 

Liz

Marianne’s Valentine’s Day Recap

With Valentine’s Day on a Saturday the celebration can go all weekend long!

On Friday we pre-celebrated by grabbing some BBQ and then seeing the 10:00 show of the Friday the 13th remake. I thought it was a very worthy remake (or reboot/reimagining whatever you want to call it.) I didn’t think the new Jason was as good as Kane Hodder, but only true fans would understand my reasonings why so I won’t get into it too much here. But I thought it was a lot of fun and in the true spirit of the originals. (And certainly a lot better than certain installments (*cough* nine *cough).

But you want to hear the romantic part of the weekend, I know, I know!

On Saturday I woke up to a dozen red roses, a bottle of champange (for the evening, not breakfast!), and some Teuscher chocolates.

If you’ve never had Teuscher chocolates – they’re these special chocolates flown in daily from Switzerland. So delicious! Jacob picked a box of champagne truffles and one of chocolate mints. They’re made with no additives or perservatives so they have to be eaten within 10 days. I think I’m up to the challenge.

He also gave me a fluffy bathrobe and some of the softest flannel pajama bottoms – two things I’ve been really wanting. Shows he pays attention to my rambling.

After having breakfast and watching the Valentine’s Day 30 Rock, we started packing. We’re moving to our new apartment in a week and decided to bring some stuff over today to get started. (We have storage space to put stuff in before the apartment is ready.) So we packed up a zipcar SUV and headed to Jersey City.

I know you’re probably saying JERSEY? You’re leaving NYC for Jersey? (Though actually I’m leaving Queens so it’s not like I’m not already across water.) But truthfully, it’s just over the river – one stop on the PATH train and you get SOOO much more for your money there! Our apartment is almost a thousand sqaure feet for one thing, whereas similarly priced buildings in NYC only give you 650 sq feet. It has a washer/dryer IN the unit (unheard of for NYC), a dishwasher, two bathrooms, and a balcony that overlooks the Statue of Liberty. In fact, I think that’s what I like most about the place – it’s right on the water. There are also tennis courts and a fitness center downstairs.

Here’s the skyline view from one side…

And here’s the sunset view from the other.

And you can walk along the water on a little promenade.

I’ll post more photos next week – of the actual apartment – once we move in. But I’m very excited to leave Queens and become a resident of Jersey. Who knew?!

After dropping our stuff off we went back into the city for dinner at Rosa Mexicano, a delicious upscale Mexican restaurant in Union Square.

They make guacamole by hand right at your table.

And serve it in a molcajete shaped like a pig!

They gave us a free jar of salsa as a Valentine’s gift and I tried their signature drink of the night – a Passion Margarita. Served with a rose petal floating on top.

It was a delicious meal and I left feeling so full, but happy! Jacob definitely made Valentine’s Day memorable and special for me!! Even the packing was fun.

Today our three day weekend continues with a Game Night scheduled by our friend Jenny. (Actually game afternoon to be more accurate.) And then we’re going to a Vampire Ball that’s being held tonight at a local club. Must figure out what to wear for that!

So all in all a good weekend! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Marianne

Marianne on TV

On Monday, the show I work for, Better TV, is airing a segment about me, fellow YA author Melissa Walker, and our books. But you don’t have to wait – I have the clip right here!

Enjoy!
Marianne

Comic-Con Break (Stormtrooper Alert!)

Photographing someone in full stormtrooper gear is a yearly tradition for me, so I had no choice but to take a small break from deadline this weekend to stop in at Comic-Con.  It’s business.  Research, yo.  Went with con buddy Alisa Kwitney Sheckley who is ramping up promo for her upcoming werewolf series, and we took a couple of snaps. 

Alisa about to sign her book cover poster!

What? Does this seem odd to you in some way?

Alisa left, Liz right, seriously kick-ass retro-future babe center.

Yum.

Alisa working the top hat like nobody's business.

Our pals at Pendragon Costumes. (They always make us smile when we get con-draggy.)

Okay, here we go with my Star Wars fix.

The year's first stormtrooper photo. Please notice the appropriateness of the symbols.

Where there's a stormtrooper, there's usually a jedi knight.

 

Where there's a stormtrooper and a jedi knight, there's usually a scantily-clad Leia con-babe. Or three.

 While I was there I saw some dear friends including  Crimson City team member Jade Lee , Dianna Love, and Publishers Weekly’s Barbara Vey.   So that was an extra bonus and assuaged any guilt I was feeling about taking the afternoon out to visit the con.  I should also mention that Sherri Kenyon was there though I missed her (I’ll see her in Australia in a week along with Dianna Love.  Speaking of which, I’m sending happy thoughts out to Melbourne.  Take care, you guys.)  except I didn’t really miss her because as you can see  by the photos of her incredibly fabulous booth and enormous con banner, she was impossible to miss.  (I’m sure you can imagine how loud my squee sounded when I saw it!)

World domination may now commence. Boo-ya!

Liz with eye candy at Sherri's booth.

It was as good as it looks.

 Back to the grind, now.  Hope you enjoyed the snaps!

Liz

Football? What football?

Re: Previously blogged about Super Bowl

It was supposed to be a short break from deadline.  I was only planning to be there for a couple of hours and then dive back into the soup.  That’s not how it panned out.

I drank.  A lot.  And then I ate super hot chili.  A lot.  And then I jumped up and down playing Dance Dance Revolution.  A lot.  And then I didn’t feel so good.  I still don’t feel so good.  I was supposed to attend  Hope Tarr’s reading at the Lady Jane event here in Manhattan, but it ain’t gonna happen. 

Note to self: Large quantities of alcohol mixed with large bowls of chili added to excessive dancing in time with high-pitched Japanese techno equals Defcon 1 on the Morning After Ick-O-Meter.

Not to mention that I lost this year’s Super Bowl bet to Marianne.  (Last year I won lipgloss.)  Her second DDR dance mat is already on the way.  Notice how this year the bet was win-win, ’cause that is definitely not the last time I get my Dance Dance Revolution on and now we can challenge each other in side-by-side, head-to-head, dance maniac-to-dance maniac competition.   Hopefully with a lot less chili and alcohol on my part.

I don’t even know the final score.  Heh.

Liz