Diane Chamberlain's Blog - Posts Tagged "flear"
Booksellers, Friends and Food
I’m at SIBA this weekend–the trade show for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance. What that means is row upon row upon row of publishers showcasing their upcoming books to booksellers, and in many cases, giving those books away. Publishers bring some of their authors with them to meet booksellers in the Southeastern US. It’s also a chance for authors to catch up with one another.
I drove here to Greenville, SC from Raleigh, and my trip got off to a bad start. I stopped at my neighborhood bait and wine shop for coffee on the way out, and when I went back to my car, it wouldn’t start. Thanks to AAA and the Toyota dealer, I was only set back 4 hours and $500 (ugh), but I missed my scheduled dinner with bff Mary Alice Monroe. When I arrived at the hotel, I dumped my stuff in my room and headed out to find something to eat, bumping into author Karen White, whose excellent books I’ve read, but whom I had never met. So it turned into a lovely evening–the sort women are so good at: getting to know each other by talking really fast about every facet of our lives. The Italian food wasn’t bad, either.
Mary Alice and I had a very long lunch today to catch up, and that was just what I needed. I had dinner plans that fell apart, but that turned out well, too as it did last night. Here’s what happened: I spent a couple of hours late in the afternoon revising The Lies We Told in my hotel room. I was working on the scene that takes place in the Brazilian restaurant (where something terrible happens. I blogged about that not long ago) when I learned my dinner date wasn’t feeling well. So I called the sales manager for my publisher, Carolyn Flear, to see if she had plans and she invited me to join her and authors George Colletti and Nancy Knight for dinner. They had reservations at (cue Twilight Zone music) a Brazilian restaurant. I’m not kidding. So we had a great gut-busting ‘13-different-meats-served-on-skewers’ meal at a restaurant that has it all over the one in my book, plus no one was shot.
So, tomorrow morning, I’m signing books for booksellers and then taking off for home. It’s been fun, Greenville is adorable (if wet), and it was great to see old friends and make new ones.
PS!!! I saw a sneak peek of the cover for The Lies We Told. You’re going to love it. I’ll share it soon.
I drove here to Greenville, SC from Raleigh, and my trip got off to a bad start. I stopped at my neighborhood bait and wine shop for coffee on the way out, and when I went back to my car, it wouldn’t start. Thanks to AAA and the Toyota dealer, I was only set back 4 hours and $500 (ugh), but I missed my scheduled dinner with bff Mary Alice Monroe. When I arrived at the hotel, I dumped my stuff in my room and headed out to find something to eat, bumping into author Karen White, whose excellent books I’ve read, but whom I had never met. So it turned into a lovely evening–the sort women are so good at: getting to know each other by talking really fast about every facet of our lives. The Italian food wasn’t bad, either.
Mary Alice and I had a very long lunch today to catch up, and that was just what I needed. I had dinner plans that fell apart, but that turned out well, too as it did last night. Here’s what happened: I spent a couple of hours late in the afternoon revising The Lies We Told in my hotel room. I was working on the scene that takes place in the Brazilian restaurant (where something terrible happens. I blogged about that not long ago) when I learned my dinner date wasn’t feeling well. So I called the sales manager for my publisher, Carolyn Flear, to see if she had plans and she invited me to join her and authors George Colletti and Nancy Knight for dinner. They had reservations at (cue Twilight Zone music) a Brazilian restaurant. I’m not kidding. So we had a great gut-busting ‘13-different-meats-served-on-skewers’ meal at a restaurant that has it all over the one in my book, plus no one was shot.
So, tomorrow morning, I’m signing books for booksellers and then taking off for home. It’s been fun, Greenville is adorable (if wet), and it was great to see old friends and make new ones.
PS!!! I saw a sneak peek of the cover for The Lies We Told. You’re going to love it. I’ll share it soon.
