Adventures in Authorland…

So I just wrapped up an absolutely amazing, but somewhat stupid amount of travel. Seriously, I gave myself like no downtime between events… that was stupid, especially considering that I didn’t foresee being sick and, well, oops!

So things started with a first-time show for a lot of us at the end of January. I’ve done local Home & Garden shows by way of Portland, OR but we were given an opportunity to do one in Tacoma, so we did. The booth space was a lot smaller than we’ve grown accustomed to down in Portland, but it was an amazing show and being less than 20 minutes south of where I live was a great opportunity, too great to pass up.

It was four days of hard work, but worth it and I got to spend heaps of time with Roslyn McFarland, Amanda Washington, and my co-author for the Angel’s Grace project, Jeffrey Cook.

I also got really, really sick with a tough sinus infection that plagued me for the rest of my travels. I managed to recover enough in the week between the Tacoma Home & Garden show to board a plane and fly out to my next stop.

Next was Annapolis, MD and Rebels Hit The Road. I got to hang out with the best people on this trip. Tammy Becraft picked Ricco and I up from the airport and on Friday, Christina McCormick-Franco and her husband, Antonio Franco joined up with Tammy, Ricco, and I. Tammy, Christina, and Tony are all local to MD but the big treat for Friday? A reader of mine, Amber Brennan, drove all the way down from Pennsylvania with a friend of hers, Sami Lynn, just so she could meet me.

I can’t tell you how special it makes me feel when people do that. I also can’t tell you how much I will bend to the point of breaking to make time for the people who do that. I don’t care if you can afford to get into the event or not. I don’t care if you can make it on the day of an event that I am out for. If you make time for me, I will make time for you, even if all we can manage is a few minutes hanging in my hotel room.

We got lucky that Tammy had enough room to seat us all and so we all went out to lunch and a scenic drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (which gave me ideas, seriously.)

Literally, the best part of the Rebels weekend was my Friday hanging with Tammy, Amber, Christina, Sami, Tony, and the love of my life Ricco. We had a blast. I wouldn’t trade those kinds of memories for anything. In fact, it was more memorable than the signing itself. Sorry to say, but it’s the truth.

After Rebels wrapped up, Ricco and I headed south to Virginia, to see his family and we lucked out again. Heather Nostrant, another reader who couldn’t make Rebels who lived in the area of Ricco’s parents, was able to stop by and get some books from me and hang out for a while at our hotel. It was great talking to her and was a good time – if all too brief.

The rest of the trip my health kind of went downhill and by the time I boarded the plane for home, I was pretty much a miserable hot mess. I had just a week to get it together before I had to travel south to the Portland Home & Garden show for another four day stretch of hawking mine and everyone else’s books.

I made it through the doctor’s office for a second round of antibiotics accompanied by steroids just in time to head south for the super successful Portland Home & Garden show. I got to ride down with my beloved #1 badass, Ricco and my co-author for a current work-in-progress, Eric Plume. The rest of the trip I got to hang out with some amazing fellow authors across a wide range of genres. Again with the absolutely phenomenal Roslyn McFarland, Amanda Washington, E.M. Prazerman, Rory Miller, Maquel A. Jacob, Pamela Cowan, and many more.

I had so much fun from day to day and spent so much of it laughing, it didn’t much feel like work. I even managed to sell some books, which, bonus!

It ended too quickly, but of course, no rest for the wicked – Ricco and I had a three day turn-around and we were off to Spicy in Spokane.

That. Was. Fun.

Got to hangh out with S. Van Horne, AJ Harmon, Raven deHart, Gloria Hermann and man I wasn’t ready for it to end. I can’t wait for Passion in Portland so I can see them all again.

So yeah, it was a busy five or six weeks of non-stop go, go, go, go, go and we’re home. Finally. Now I need to get back into the groove of writing, editing, and turning out books while I can before another round of events come up. Wish me luck with all of that, k?

Until that time…

Bye for now!

XoXo,

A.J.

 

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