What I Did This Weekend. . .

I would love to say I did some reading this weekend--I did, but I finished nothing.  As I posted last night on FB, I have Jennifer Weiner's Who Do You Love? on CD in my car, 69 Bottles on my Kindle, and I'm trying to begin Louise Penny's Nature of the Beast in hard cover.  But last night, a Monday, I fell for Breathe, CD Reiss' standalone novella for the Submission series.  When Jonathan calls, we all answer.  A great intro to the series for the Drazen virgins, but believe me, the series itself will have you reeling.  Only a handful of writers inspire me to pre-order---this is one of them.

 http://www.amazon.com/Breathe-Submission-Standalone-CD-Reiss-ebook/dp/B014LR45JY/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8


My highlight this past weekend was the Black and Gold Author Event held in Pittsburgh at the William Penn Hotel (it may be something else now, but whatever--I've lived here long enough to remember Kaufmann's, Horne's and Gimbels and remember when Saks Fifth Avenue was a small shop inside of Gimbel's--so sue me).  I spent the morning as a volunteer keeping folks in line, then I spent some time filling gift bags at the registration desk.  In the afternoon, I was Chloe T Barlow's http://chloetbarlow.com PA .  My inability to manage taking photos with a smart phone did two things:  encourage the PROFESSIONAL photographer to take some shots, and to encourage Chloe to remember to never ask me again.  How do I know who my friends are---they feel free to tell me they love me despite what a lousy job I do at whatever. You're at the top of my list, Chloe, and I'm adopting Zak!

We were seated next to Rachel Blaufeld https://rachelblaufeld.com/, author of Redemption Lane and the soon to be released Absolution Road.

Author events are interesting.  The stars, the other authors, the organizers, the bloggers, the volunteers, and the fans.  What a mix!  I had never attended one before--I'm not sure I will again (unless Chloe asks me back because champagne is involved. . . but I doubt that will happen).  I had no idea what these folks go through to get their stuff out there, and how important these events are.  Being a library girl, I have no real desire to buy a bunch of books ( packed in suitcases, no less) to get autographed.  I love that I can shoot a PM to some of my favorites and they will respond with an honest answer.  I love that Kim Holden http://www.kimholdenbooks.com/ schlepped a t-shirt with her with my name on it so I could save a few bucks in postage--I love "Do Epic" and I love Kim's work.  I love that I've been able to befriend Chloe and have dinner with her and other members of her street team at Las Velas http://lasvelas.com, a downtown Mexican restaurant in Market Square (would have loved to see Jenna and Wyatt skating there--but the rain--thank God it wasn't snow!  We'd have needed rooms at the Fairmont!).   

I met some wonderful bloggers, readers, fans and authors.  I got to see, first hand, how much work goes into these days, and I understand how hard indies push to publish what they write.  The autographs alone would require a lot of alcohol (my choice) or ibuprofen.  A local book editor told me that these indies are a "dime a dozen".  I didn't see him there.  Bad writers are a dime a dozen, but those who knock the socks off a reader, but choose to market a different way, are an uncut diamond--working like dogs to get the word out there.

I could write so much more about the event, but I'll hold off.  I have some reading to do.. .