couldn't figure out what to call this page. But you know when you send a pal an email, and say "you have to see this!"? That's what'll be here: Cool stuff! ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA CONVENTION, 2008 Yes, it's Nora Roberts. And she was so gracious, and so hilarious. And so generous with her time and her advice. She's an incredible writer, funny and so smart. Can you imagine how many people asked for photos like these? And she had a smile for us all. I snagged this one at the signing, before it opened, and before she was mobbed with fans, the Today show crew, and everyone else at the convention. Right before the RITA awards! Here's my agent Kristin Nelson and her clients—each one of us thrilled to be nominated for a big award or two! RITA nominees Simone Elkeles, me, Kristin, Linnea Sinclair, Kelly Parra and Golden Heart nominee Courtney Milan. The blog room! Judy Scott, RWA webmaster extraordinaire, and coordinator Leslie Scantlebury ran a tight ship in the press room—including hosting a stream of authors, including me, for the RWA blog. I was so honored to be part of it. And one of the luckiest things about having a name at the end of the R's—is getting to sit at the Literacy Signing next to the beginning of he S's—Sharon Sala. We had so much fun at the signing. What a caring and talented person. There was always a line for her books! And it was wonderful to hear her fans talk about how much they love her writing and her characters. Another Nelson Agency RITA night lineup—Ally Carter, Maggie Marr, Kristin Nelson, Caroline Jewel and me. One of the many high points of RWA—chatting with he talented and hilarious Sarah Strohmeyer. She had some terrific news to share about her books—Check her website for all the info. The Daphne awards! A beautiful party sponsored by the Kiss of Death Chapter of RWA. I'm thrilled that Prime Time was nominated—but here's me with the very deserving winner, Nina Bruhns. Yes, its true...Prime Time was nominated for two RITAs. Here are the slides from the awards show. THRILLERFEST, 2008 Steve Martini, David Highfill, Hank and Lee Child Thrillerfest got off to an amazing start. Jonathan and I listened to Steve Martini's latest "Shadow of Power" on audio in the car on the way from Boston to NYC. We're both longtime fans of his. Then we walked into the opening reception—and there he was. With Lee Child, and his first editor David Highfill. (Imagine how much fun it would have been to have gotten the first Lee Child ms. Apparently he didn't say, "Good story, Lee, but your sentences are kind of short.) Just as we were all chatting, up walks the Thrillerfest photographer, and says—do you all want a picture? Well..let me think.... Turns out, the "photographer" is AKA Alan Jacobson. His incredible thriller, The 7th Victim, is original, clever, and scary scary scary. And a great time was had by all. Yes, this is Sandra Brown. She was the most intelligent, the most generous, the most patient—she did a thought-provoking and revealing seminar, interviewed by the talented Diane Vogt (who did a very clever job, drawing Sandra into telling wonderful tales based on the titles of her books.) I tried to get a good picture of the two of them, but my little camera was hopeless. Sandra, who has written 57 books or something with NYT 40 best-sellers, was gracious to all of us, and left a lot of very happy fans with personally autographed copies of Play Dirty. (Her husband was also there. He—a former journalist if a journalist is ever "former"— is completely charming. ) Here's David Hosp, one of the authors I consider my discovery. (I know he doesn't realize this, and probably gives that honor to his agent and publisher.) I so enjoyed his first novel, Dark Harbor, and I'm sure he sold dozens on my recommendation. His latest, Innocence, is just as terrific. Funny—he's a lawyer, in Boston. But I didn't meet him til Thrillerfest. My panel on "The Rollercoaster of Emotion." Roy Johanson (who shares my love of Arthur Conan Doyle) Iris Johanson, me, Jill Gregory, Karen Rose, Sybille Barrasso, and moderator (and goddess) Joan Johnston. What a line-up! MALICE DOMESTIC, 2008 Katherine Hall Page, Agatha for Best Non-Fiction Winner Dan Stashower, Hank, Dana Cameron Hank with Margaret Maron Check out more Malice photos HERE! ROMANTIC TIMES, 2008 Roberta Isleib, Hank, Nancy Martin, Lori Avocato, Lillian Stewart Carl—in the grand ballroom before Hank's PRIME TIME won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award! Check out more RT photos HERE! ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA CONVENTION, 2008 (New England Chapter) At the New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America Convention–Virginia Kantra, Lisa Gardner, Hank, Susan Wiggs. What a stellar trio to meet! Notice Susan Wiggs' chic yellow bag...and then Lisa Gardner's....if you want a Prime Time bag like Lisa's just email me! An amazing day. Signing the guestbook at The Mystery Bookstore. In the same ledger book with Barbara Serenella, Janet Evanovich, Sue Grafton. And Mickey Spillane. Wow. It was quite a rite of passage. NEW ENGLAND CRIME BAKE, 2008 You've got to love seeing Lee Child in handcuffs. And got to figure it's a once in a lifetime experience. This is the cast of the "trial of the century," sort of, at the New England Crime Bake. The audience-jury voted on the fate of the Lee Child's iconic hero Jack Reacher—as Reacher went on trial for "murder" in the thriller Persuasion. Lee Lofland played the detective, Judge Ken Freeman was the judge, I was the reporter, Michele Martinez the prosecutor, Lee Child testified as Reacher, and Julia Spencer-Fleming was his defense attorney. In a close vote, the Crime Bake jury voted to acquit. And Lee got to take off the handcuffs. Talk about cool. Yup, it's Lee Child. He was the guest of honor at this year's Crime Bake, and what a stellar choice. You've all read his Jack Reacher thrillers, right? And if not, please do. You're in for a real treat. They're intelligent, clever, and thoughtful and suspenseful. Wry. Wise. And action-packed. Jack Reacher is an icon. And he's absolutely irresistible. And did I use the word irresistible? Lee was so patient with all of his relentlessly adoring fans... and even posed using his famous "holding the lapel" cover photo. (I'm making this one into a poster.) At Kate's Mystery Books—Kate Mattes' famous/infamous Christmas party! Here's the hilarious and debonair Robert Parker, who graciously signed his new Spenser mystery Now and Then. And didn't seem to mind the googly-eyed stares and whispers of all his fans. A wonderful event in Lexington Massachusetts, to benefit the Cary Memorial Library. What a line up! And I was thrilled to be part of it. Here are authors Bill Martin, Valerie Wolzien, Bill Tappley, Vicki Steifel, Linda Barnes, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jane Langton, Katherine Hall Page, Andrew McAleer. Best wishes to our darling Bill Tappley who is recovering from a tough illness... Where did you read Prime Time? Send me your photo with it—in your home, in a coffee shop, at the beach, on a plane, or someplace exotic—and I'll put you in cool stuff! This is the jet-setting Rosemary Harris with her copy in Tanzania, in Mvumi Village, which is 20 miles outside of Dodoma in central TZ. She and her husband are helping build a library there. And in her spare time (!) she's getting ready to launch her debut mystery Pushing Up Daisies. She is my blog sister on Jungle Red Writers. Marianne Mancusi and Liz Maverick don't always dress like this—they're the smart and savvy lead authors of the urban fantasy manga-style Shomi books...avant garde and edgy. Anyway, Marianne was my producer at Channel 7 for several years (in fact she started as my intern, but that's another wonderful story) and was one of the first to read Prime Time. I couldn't resist getting our photo at RWA—don't I look like I've got the role as their oh-so-conservative Mom? And here's the astonishing and beyond capturing on photo Literacy Signing at RWA in Dallas. Tables of authors lined the room—then thousands, I'm not kidding, of readers arrived to scoop up the books, all proceeds of which were donated to promoting literacy. Suzanne Brockmann, JR Ward, and so many more—including Sherrilyn Kenyon in a gorgeously outrageous hat—a full-sized swan. Yes, I know, I should have gotten a picture... Can you believe this photo? There I was at the glamorous RITA Awards, the main event of the Romance Writers of America Convention in Dallas, and I see this gorgeous woman's back. I did a double take. A triple take. Because looking at the cover of Prime Time. This woman is wearing exactly the same dress. So I approached her, not exactly knowing the most socially acceptable way to ask a stranger if I could take a photo of her back. Turns out, she's Michelle Buonfiglio, the author of the incredibly popular Romance B(u)y the Book blog on the www.LifetimeTV.com website. And she was delighted to know she's also now a cover girl. So my husband took this photo of both of our backs. Here's every author's dream. This is the Staff Picks shelf at Willow Books in Acton, Massachusetts. It's a perfectly-stocked independent bookstore, always filled with readers and with an incredibly knowledgeable staff. If you haven't visited—well, there's a lot to do. Not only every book you could want, but visiting authors, programs for adults and for kids, a coffee shop, and live music on Friday nights. Anyway—staffer Jillian chose Prime Time as her staff pick. Which is a thrill. Also offering their books—a whole line of the NEXT authors—we corralled someone to take our photo. Check out the next authors blog for much more about all of the NEXT books. And some great contests! Here are just some of the authors: Shirley Jump, Leigh Riker, Susan Crosby, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Lisa Childs, Stevi Mittman and Peggy Webb. Do you know who this is? What an amazing experience to meet the iconic mystery author Sara Paretsky. Here we are at the mecca for mystery writers, Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She signed some of her books for me, and when I told her I had just been sent the cover for Prime Time, she insisted on seeing it! I was thrilled and flattered, and then interested to notice that she read the copy on the back cover before focusing on the front. Sara Paretsky is the award-winning creator of the V I Warshawski detective novels. When Sara introduced V I in Indemnity Only in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery novel. By creating a female investigator who uses her wits as well as her fists, Sara challenged a genre in which women were traditionally either vamps or victims. Her website is as wonderful and authentic as she is: www.saraparetsky.com He came to town. Selling butter. Well, no, that's wrong. He came to town selling "not butter." Can you believe who it is? There are many things in this photo that are worth mentioning. Look how big his hand is. Look at the woman in the orange dress. What is she doing? She has a platter with "not butter" on it. Look at the background and palm trees. We are actually inside a tiny trailer on the concourse of Boston's Quincy Market. Outside, waiting in line to get in, it was early January, incredibly cold. But once we'd committed to the line, we weren't going to give up. And we didn't even get free not butter. Do you have you Sisters in Crime Calendar yet? This is me with the inimitable Jeremiah Healy, selling calendars and having a generally fabulous time at Crime Bake. Jerry calls himself Mr. January (even though January is over, he's worth a look.) In fact, he's the only one in the calendar who's topless. I'm in April, with, as it turned out, Hallie Ephron and Jan Brogan, now my blogmates on Jungle Red. Rosemary Harris, the other denizen of Jungle Red, is in December. There's also Kate Flora, Tess Gerritsen, and Janet Evanovich. And lots more of your faves. If you don't have your calendar, let me know. I'll tell you how to get one!   Here's an amazing test that (they say) is supposed to prove whether you're right- or left-brained. (I can ONLY see it one way—I won't tell you which way. My producer can only see it the other way!) What do you see? Right Brain v Left Brain Yes, it's so funny. No, it isn't. Any author knows this is completely realistic. Or—not. Mitchell and Webb—Write this..or that..or maybe I dare you to watch this and not laugh: Bird Lovers Only This website is supposed to tell you how many people in the United States have the same name you do. Can this be true? How Many of Me Okay, you've seen this. But I watched it one more time, and realized I was laughing and laughing. Having a bad day? This might be the one that you want. Dog Dancing