Mina Vaughn's Blog, page 7
July 28, 2013
Here’s a little quote/pic mashup from How to Discipline...
Here’s a little quote/pic mashup from How to Discipline Your Vampire, made by my friend Lucia!
July 25, 2013
In Which I Unashamedly Fangirl Half of #RWA13 Attendees
Ok, so I’m finally settled after the amazing journey I took to Atlanta for the Romance Writers of America National conference. It took a few days to process the fact that I had dinner with about 25 Simon and Schuster authors and played Heads Up with Alice Clayton, Enn Bocci and Jenn Probst, but I’m finally ready to talk about it without my head exploding.
So, one of the first things I got to do in Atlanta was meet my homeslice Alice Clayton, author of mega-hit Wallbanger and The Redhead Series. Alice and I have been friends for a while, and we’re actually part of a super-secret club, but we had never met. After I arrived, pretty much the first thing I did was text Alice. We chilled and had breakfast and she’s just as funny and delightful as her books are. I’m over the moon that we finally met and are as compatible in person as we are behind the keyboard.
Then, for lunch (you’ll notice most of my activities at RWA are meals) I met up with Alice again and we dined with the INCREDIBLE Tara Sue Me. Dear lord, I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement. The Submissive has been a story near and dear to me for a long time, and getting to sit with the author herself was just awesome. She is possibly one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Her writing is brilliant and I can’t recommend her enough. I told my husband we had lunch and he remembered the time I forced him to read excerpts of her book. He liked it, too.
Later in on the day I got to meet up with the absolutely lovely Angi Black, an NA novelist and assistant to the vivacious and witty agent, Louise Fury. Angi and I had a lot of laughs, especially when we hit up the Smart BItches, Trashy Books mustache party. With delightful handlebars on our fingers, we chatted and drank and mingled with all the other writers. Blues played in the air, fancy glasses of gumbo and shrimp and grits were served, and it was an all-around winning event. Sarah Wendell did a great job putting it on, so kudos to her! After meeting fellow vamper Amber Belldene, who I’d wanted to meet ever since Traci Olson recommended her, I worked the room a bit more and was totally starstruck. I struck up a conversation with Shoshanna Evers, who is as gorgeous as she is sweet and industry savvy, and we spent a good amount of the conference together since she’s also a Simon and Schuster author. Also with Shoshanna was the snarktastic Andrew Shaffer, author of some spectacular parodies and also boyfriend to Tiffany Reisz. I met Tiffany at NECRWA in April and she’s just so freaking awesome and fun. Anyway, that was just day one. Seriously. Best trip ever already.
The next day was really something else. I felt like I had gone from being a writer to an author. I had lunch with my editor Micki Nuding, who’s a senior editor at Gallery and Pocket. She is just incredible— brilliant, hilarious, beautiful and super stylish. She’s my idol. We also had the opportunity to dine again at dinner, which was possibly one of the best nights of my life. The evening began with all the Simon and Schuster authors gathering on a bus, where we were served champagne. There I was, sitting with Alice Clayton, Shoshanna Evers, and my new bestie Delilah S. Dawson (whose Blud series is my new FAVE). Also on the bus were legends like Cherry Adair and Sabrina Jeffries. I was in a stupor of awesome. When we arrived at Rathbun’s Steak, we were escorted down to a room that looked like a library…how appropriate. We were given little name tags that looked like our books and I nearly died of cuteness on the spot. There were little swag bags for us and the wine was some of the best I ever had. I met some of the other editors, such as Abby Zidle and Lauren McKenna, who were really fun to hang out with. I was also lucky enough to sit next to Lisa Renee Jones, author of the Inside Out books. I was, again, starstruck. But all these people whose names and titles blew me away were in actuality some of the kindest and most lively people I’d ever met. We laughed and drank and had an all-around killer time. And that was just day two.
Day three held some special moments as well. I got to do my first signing, and even though it was only postcards, I felt like I was finally legit. Sitting next to the BRILLIANT Jenn Probst helped, too. Her line was huge and they all had to walk right by me. So of course I said hi and passed out my little postcards as I watched Jenn’s magnetic personality at work. I think she may be the most energetic and happy writer I’ve ever met. The woman is made of pure positive energy. Thousand watt smile. Love her. Then, after the signing, I got to moderate BDSM 101 for Roni Loren and Tiffany Reisz. I feel like Tiffany was a good friend by now (which still makes me feel giddy), but I was nervous meeting and fangirling Roni, who was really friendly and their presentation was beyond insightful. The crowd seemed totally rapt; it was awesome! I also got to hang out with writer/editor Gwen Hayes, who is an agency-sister of mine. We had a really delicious lunch and superb conversation and I totally understand that my agent Jessica SInsheimer has positively superior taste in writers. ;) Lastly I met Collette Auclair, who will also be a debut Pocket Star writer like me. It was nice talking about the ins and outs of e-first debuts and being a first-time novelist. Her book Thrown comes out this winter.
The last day was a blur of workshops. I had spent the first half of the week networking and eating my way across Atlanta, but the final day I buckled down and attended a number of really great seminars. I did a few here and there on the previous days, but I was sort of in a haze of food and awe.
Anyway, that was my wonderful RWA adventure. I hope to do it again next year!
How to Discipline Your Vampire Drink Contest!
In honor of the release of How to Discipline Your Vampire on August 19, I’m hosting a little contest. On release night, I’m inviting readers to a twitter cocktail party with the hashtag #htdyvparty. I’m also posting a list of cocktails submitted by readers. Winner earns a mini-flogger keychain and the rest of the entries make the official list of drinks for the party!
Drinks must be vampire themed or cherry themed, since Cerise’s nickname is Mistress Cherry.
My good friend, publicist extraordinaire Enn Bocci, tweeted a sample recipe called “Pop Your Cherry"— sprite, Stoli WIld Cherry and a pop-rocks rim. See, easy and fun! Submit your drink here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11nzj0wOnH5R1v2FwZvsyT-c3qI0JogM0AJfRTcGWqIU/viewform Entries will be accepted until August 17th.
Good luck and happy mixing!
July 24, 2013
Adagio Teas
Yummy treat! Here is a $5 gift certificate to Adagio Teas: 73019579. Expires in 24 hours.
