Oh, silly me.......what was I thinking, saying I'd touch base from the Romance Writers of America Conference in Orlando?  I should know by now....there's barely time to breathe when I attend that conference!  And it wasn't any different this time.  It's non-stop go, go, go.....between my book signing, workshops, having lunch with my editor, meeting with the CEO of Kensington, along with the Director of Publicity and Director of Marketing, cocktail parties, networking, etc.....it was extremely busy.  I think I did manage to post a couple updates via my iPod to my Facebook page, but beyond that....sorry, but I never found time to get on my laptop.  So here I am, back home now, still tired but ready to share some of it with you.

I arrived last Tuesday at the Dolphin and Swan Hotel at Disney.  I had a lovely room...........

And I was on the tenth floor, so I also had a great view..........

After I got unpacked I got registered for the conference and headed to the lobby bar at the Dolphin for a relaxing glass of wine.  This is where I met my new friend, author Julie Klassen.  Poor Julie was a bit frazzled........she'd just arrived from her flight and the airline lost her luggage!  Not a pleasant thought that you might be stuck for five days with nothing more than the clothes you were wearing.  They did tell her they'd make an attempt to get her luggage delivered to her by late that night.  Which I believe they did........because I saw Julie at the Literacy Book Signing the following evening and she had a different outfit on.  I really enjoyed talking with her and found out that she was a finalist for a RITA award Saturday night for her Inspirational Romance, The Silent Governess.  (I just love that title!)  So here we are enjoying a glass of wine..............

On Wednesday I participated with 500 other authors in the Literacy Book Signing and I want to send out a huge thank you to all of you that stopped by my table to say hello and purchase a copy of SPINNING FORWARD!  

One of those stopping by was my Facebook friend, Monica Parrete from New Jersey.....we had briefly met for the first time last year (in the elevator) at RWA in Washington, DC, but this time we got to chat a bit more, which was great.  

And I had a wonderful seat-mate at the signing, author Leigh Duncan, also from Florida.  Leigh writes for Harlequin and I really enjoyed chatting with her.

The 2010 “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing was a huge success with approximately 3,600 attendees and 500 participating authors. This two-hour event raised $55,000 for literacy, with the proceeds going to ProLiteracy Worldwide, Orlando’s Adult Literacy League, and the Nashville Adult Literacy Council. Thank you to all the fans and everybody else who made this event so successful!  I was extremely proud to be a part of it!

There's more to share with you about the conference, so join me here next time and I'll do just that. 

See you then........................