Rita Sawyer's Blog, page 11

Authors After Dark I'll be there! Will you?

Authors After Dark is coming QUICKLY and OMG this year is
going to be INSANE!


As always AAD is about the readers, and the amount of
awesome we have put together for you this year, you would be INSANE not to
attend….

First, our amazing Master of Ceremonies is none other than
Alexandra Ivy ! She will be doing a cool little event to celebrate your favorite
gargoyle, Levet on Friday ! Wanna know more? Check out FB groupwhere Alex will be talking about the awesome that she has going on!



Torquere and authors BA Tortuga and Julia Talbot will be
Sponsoring our Welcome event, the Midnight Rodeo… And it looks like We will
have some VERY COOL goodies and… Riding… happening… *SNICKER*



How about Parties? This year we have a special event called
the Leather and Lace Ball! Curious? We thought so! Take a ride on the wild side and let your
inhibitions fly with five New York Times Bestselling Authors of erotic romance.
Cuffs and corsets encouraged.

With:

J. Kenner, Liliana Hart, Carly Phillips, Janelle
Denison, Jasinda Wilder and Lorelei James



The ladies will be talking more about
this on the FB group starting soon!


New for 2014 is the Paranormal Party!
Join over 20 Paranormal authors who will be giving away goodies, some books and
hanging out with you to snack and chat! Wanna know what authors are involved?
You will have to join the FB group to see!





 And of course, we have the amazing
Masquerade Ball! This year it’s the SINS AND VIRTUES BALL! Are you a sin or a
virtue? Join us for a wild costumed event! Prizes for the best costumes,
including a 200$ gift certificate to Lori Ann Costumes!



Your Sins and Virtues Sponsors:

Sin
Lust

Boone Brux

Opal Carew



Sin Pride

BA Tortuga

Andrew Grey



Sin Envy

Stella Price

TJ Michaels



Sin Gluttony

Desiree Holt

Saranna DeWylde



Sin Greed

Ann Mayburn

Heather Long



Sin Sloth

Lizzie T. Leaf

Julie Morgan



Sin Wrath

Stacey Kennedy

Marianne Morea



Virtue Charity

Kerry Adrienne

Trista Ann



Virtue Chastity

Jenn LeBlanc

Annabel Jospeh



Virtue Humility

Milly Taiden

Donna McDonald



Virtue Kindness

CJ Ellisson

Alexandra Ivy



Virtue Temprance

J. Kenner

Sidney



Virtue Diligence

Denise Grover Swank

Jenna McCormick



Virtue Patience

Lousia Bacio

Kallypso masters



And if THAT isn’t enough awesome that will be going on… This
year we have an amazing off site costumed event… the Ladies on the Green event
sponsored by the AAD Anachronistic Society! This will be an hour and a Half on
the famous GREEN in Charlotte (a half block from the hotel). It will be a
Costumed event (though Costumes are not required they are encouraged!) to
celebrate Gothic, Victorian, steampunk dark historical literature! Your hosts
will be: Sahara Kelly, Amanda McIntyre, Leanna Renee Hieber, A.L. Davroe and
S.A. Price. Prizes and readings will happen, as well as photo ops!






And NEVER forget the Amazing Open bar with Mel Schroeder and
friends! They have SO MUCH awesome set up for you just before the Bookies… you
do NOT wanna miss that!



Getting excited yet? How about some info on the AWESOME mini
events we have going on? Ready?



On Wed. Night,  Join
Sasha White and Joey W. Hill for a wild party and Q&A, Also, the Blind Date
Book Party will be open to start your con right! (If you have never done a
BDBP, you are MISSING out! You need to attend, Get your blind date book, find
the author that wrote it, and hang out with them!)



Thursday?  Panels up
the wazoo, and the Bookie Awards----- goodies and books to be given out! The
hangout with The GNO girls lead by CJ Ellisson and Boone Brux for some crazy
fun! And if that wasn’t enough?  Readings
and a Blogger Sleepover party as well!



Friday? More panels, a games carnival with Nina Gooden and
Pals, Name that Author with Cat Johnson, and some other fun surprises!



Saturday? A few panels, the Big ass booksigning with 100
authors,  the  Cowboy Stampede party, theReaders Mad Tea Party with Hildie McQueen, An after the bookies event with a
special publisher sponsor, And Jess Michaels’ Birthday extravaganza!



SEE? SO MUCH AWESOME! All the authors that are involved with
parties will be talking about their involvement on the FB group, so join up and
get ready to rock.



Oh? You say you’re not registered for AAD yet? You need to
be! All registrants get put in the hat for the welcome party prizes, and these
prizes are AMAZING! Breakfast with authors, Booze and Books, side trips to
Carrowwinds…. We have a minimum of 90 special prizes…. So…



You need to rock this con! And as if this wasn’t enough….
AAD will be giving away something really awesome to registrants…. Wanna know
what?
 

How about 5 VIP registrations for THE NOVEL EXPERIENCE 2015
in LAS VEGAS? YES… 5!





And…
 How about this… If we hit 100 more registrations from TODAY
April 10th to June 10th, we will give away 2 AAD
registrations for 2015…  2!!!!! So get
registered, get your room and get ready for one HELL of an amazing year with
us!


 JOIN US! WE CANT WAIT TO HANGOUT WITH YOU!



AAD REGISTRATION

Books! Fabulous readers! Awesome authors! What more could a girl ask for?

 Sleep. I'm kidding, because I'll go without that for a good time.  So I thought I'd let everyone know I made it back from my trip to Atlanta in one piece and with only a slightly muddled brain. We packed a lot of action in a six day trip.
 Kids at Denny's for breakfast before
 hitting Stone Mountain.I'll break it down a little. We left Massachusetts on Wednesday morning and drove down to Georgia. Stopping along the way to visit Dinosaur Land in Virginia. We arrived Thursday and after going to Stone Mountain and the Atlanta Zoo hubby dropped us off at the hotel in Atlanta around 11am. Then he and our youngest went to Tennessee to visit hubby's mom and Bill for a few days.





They went to see the dam that Harrison Ford jumped off in the movie The Fugitive. Sunday morning they picked us up and we drove home.


Friday we spent the morning setting up my space for the book signing. Friday night we went to the Georgia Aquarium with a bunch of authors and readers.







Saturday was the signing from 10am until 5pm. To the left is my table and to the right is the goodie basket I gave away. I had a great time at The Novel Experience Event book signing and parties. I got to meet some new authors and visit with some I already knew. The readers were wonderful.





After that we had dinner at the Hard Rock with Nina Gooden, Diana and Sara York. Diana and I shared a big decadent Brownie Sunday. She deserved it and I never turn down ice cream.

It was my daughter's birthday and the waitress had them turn down the music and everyone in the restaurant yelled "Happy Birthday". Later I got to hang out with Brandy Walker, and Fitzpatrick sisters Jackie and Rhonda.














We stopped at the Natural Bridge but it was closed. I did get a few pictures from inside the gift shop.






So now that the TNEE2014 craziness is over I can gear myself up for my appearance in August. I'll be attending Authors After Dark in Charlotte. More info on that awesomeness to come soon!

Trips and Trials

I've been working hard to get Book 3 in my Blackridges Series done. It's now in the hands of my publisher. Not sure when this one will come out, but I'm really happy with it.

IF you have had a chance to check out this series now would be a good time. Book 2 (the one on the right) is on sale for $2.49 until February 26th along with some other great Jupiter Garden Press titles.

 
I have taken some time to stop and smell the roses. Every so often it's important to recharge your mental batteries.


Hubby took me to New Hampsire and we went on the Budweiser Tour at the Merrimack plant. I'm not much of a drinker, but I loved the Lime, Strawberry, and new Mango Rita's.
 
 
 
 


   And my gosh the Clydesdale Horse are amazing. They huge and beautiful. I offered to trade my three kids and the family's six cats for just one of them, but the hubby said no.
 
 
 







We also had a great time at the Melha Shriners Chili Cook-off. Hubby heard about this on the radio and insisted we go check it out. I love that he drags me out sometimes. Our favorites were #'s 4, 8, and 14. No idea who won, but it was fun to go and try all 25 varieties.

Starting New Writing Schedule (acutally going back to old one)

When I started writing I was working 3rd shift and had some down time. It's actually what got me writing. Once I left that job I tried a few different schedules, but nothing has really stuck. So I talked things over with the hubby, which went something like this.

Reasons to write at night 11pm-5am:
Me: I'm more productive
Him: I'll get the bed to myself
Me: There will be less interruptions, as in hopefully none
Him: I should hope so
Me: I won't miss any good TV
Him: That's why we have a DVR
Me: I'll be less bitchy
Him: What are you waiting for?

So I have decided that starting tonight I'm going to go back to my original time frame. So what does this mean? Hopefully that I'll start getting a lot more done.

Free Period Ending Soon!!!

Countdownr I spent too much time trying to find a countdown widget to put up. Here's what I came up with.

Busy Weekend Here.

Have spent the past 2 days cleaning, cooking, and trying to get everyone organized. We've made quite a dent. Of course it helped that we took a trip to IKEA and picked up some storage stuff. And I even managed to get some writing done too, though not as much as I want.

Oh and the print proofs of the Heiresses In Aprons series came yesterday. Need to make a couple of tweaks to book 3's cover then they'll go live.

Day 3. Slight back slide, and Next Goal.

I'd love to say I got the office finished and wrote a lot. Hell if I was going to lie like that I could say I wrote a whole new novel.

However the truth is I spent the day trying to stay awake. Off and on over the past few weeks I've felt yucky. This brings us to my next goal. With diabetes I should be watching what I eat and getting plenty of exercise. Both things I have been slacking on.

I know my tiredness and dragging feeling has a lot to do with this. So it's back to an eating schedule. Eating at regular intervals seems to help, but that's not enough. I need to start monitoring what I eat, and cutting out a bunch of stuff I know I shouldn't have. Drinking more water is on my list too.

 My 1st attempt at Etouffee I've decided that I'm going to try 1 new recipe a week. If your a friend Facebook you've probably seen me post food pictures there when I try something new. Over the past few years I have found a few great recipes the whole family likes. I think I'll make them on Fridays since the whole family is usually home then. So on Saturdays I'll post picture and nutritional content. Along with that I'll let you know what the family thinks.
 Me with Diana Castilleja at Authors After Dark in
New Orleans in 2012As for exercise I'm going to use the stationary bike my hubby bought me a few years ago. On nice days my son has offered to walk with me. I weigh 263lbs as of today. Hopefully by August I'll have lost at least 60lbs.
Wish me luck!!!

I should be cleaning, but...

I know I said just yesterday that I was going to work on getting my office clean and organized. I'm sticking to that, but today I spent cleaning out my computer instead.

I went through over a dozen plot ideas I had typed up. I trashed a few, but most of them still sounded good so I just moved them all into a plot bunny folder. There were a select few that I kept out thinking maybe they might work sooner rather than later.

Then I organized all my royalty statements from my different publishers. I'm pretty good about keeping track of them so I just needed to print the few I missed.

I'll admit I  did sneak online a couple of times. I managed to order a couple of promotional items for the two events I'm attending this year. The Novel Experience Event and Authors After Dark. I can't wait to get together with readers and other authors.

If you're an aspiring author or a reader looking to mix and mingle with a wide range of authors, industry people and other terrific readers I'd suggest checking both of these events out.


Now back to work for me. Sweet dream and Happy reading!

And So It Begins...My Not So Resolute Aspirations

To start with I'm making myself a vow to work in my office more and hopefully away from distractions. This year I'm going to focus more on my writing and everything that goes with it. Like what you ask? The list is as long as my arm. Promoting is at the top of that list.

As for the writing I have 2 series I'm currently working on the Heiresses and the Blackridges. I'm planning to have them both finished by August (if I'm diligent they WILL get done).

Waiting in the wings is a fresh new series that I have just about melded to where I want and hope to start soon. They're going to be hot fun sexy humorous romances. I really can't wait to get this series rolling.

I also have 2 story left in my What Are Friends For series with Siren Publishing that I need to get done. And a few people have asked when the follow ups to Set Her Up' Watch Him Fall are going to come out.

I have so many ideas and a limited amount of time. I need to learn to write faster, which is why working in my office is first on my list of goals.

Not A New Years Post.

I am planning a to do a post about my goals for 2014 starting tomorrow, but I've decided to get everything together today. During this process I've realized that WOW! I need to step everything up. Not just my promoting, (which needs to be amplified by huge amounts) but my writing and just getting my name out there more.

I think I'm going to break my goals down in a seven day posts, because seriously it may take that long to organize my thoughts. Actually in typing that it may make more sense if I don't limit myself to just seven days.

Stay tuned to see where my wayward thoughts might take me.