Thursday Thirteen #25 - Welcome to The Club

Not so random things about today.

1. Today was the Romance Writer of America "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing.

2. I brought my 9-year old daughter with me. She had a blast.

3. If you need tons of freebie, Chana is the girl.

4. I didn't know how many signed bookmarks she collected until she had them all spread out on our dining room table.

5. She has tons of candy too.

6. Not to mention sexy bookmarks of books she won't be able to read until she's 16 at the very least, 25 would be even better.

7. This is our first major grown up event together. We really had a blast.

8. She has pictures with several famous authors. I'll post it after I find my camera thingy.

9. It was fun meeting some of the ladies from my favorite author's bulletin board.

10. I got a few books for my friends, but didn't get the ones by Jill Barnett. The books were there, but I couldn't find her.

11. Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood weren't there also.

12. I got a hug and a picture from Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockman, and Linda Lael Miller. The others I got a hug from, I got too excited about talking to my favorite authors, I didn't get a chance to digiment it.

13. I don't think digiment is a real word. It's a slip of my finger. I meant to say document it with my digital camera, and digiment just seem much shorter word.


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I'm So Excited!

In less than 3 hours, I will be meeting a bunch of friends from my favorite Bulletin Board, and my favorite authors too. I can't quite decide whom to buy a book from and take a picture with.

This year, my daughter is going with me. She's 9, but she's into reading. My friend Jovy will watch my kids. There's a dinner afterwards, but I don't think I can go to that one since my husband works nights and it's too late to not be home with my kids.

I heard by door bell two hours ago, and surprise! My mother came to visit me from Oklahoma. It's always wonderful to have her here. I wanted her to sit and relax, but she's like a whirling dervish when it comes to my house. She had washed my dishes, which I had planned to wash later on this evening. I should really sneak out now and pamper myself with nail polish and waxing (my brows) but I think I'll stay and gossip with her instead.

Yoash is asleep for about 2 hours now, which means he's going to wake up soon. Check out his picture on the sidebar. Isn't he cute? I also better check yahoo maps on the best way to get to Hilton Downtown for the signing. At least, rush hour will be going to opposite direction, so I won't be stuck too long in traffic.

It's so hot here right now, and muggy too. I almost didn't want to get out of my 69F temp house... but really, Romance Writers of America Convention doesn't happen everyday.

What Got You Started?

Wordless Wednesday Entry too:

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I was just visiting my favorite author's board, and I have seen this thread about how someone likes reading a romance author's book, but is not fan of romance. It just got me thinking that I am foremost a romance fan.

I started sneaking at nine to read my mother's Silhouette Desire. I love the stories about relationship. I must have been so young because I actually skip the "loving" bits of the book. I should have paid particular attention to them. That's how one can learn all about sex and keep their hymen intact.

Anyway, I only read romance for a long time. I was in my mid-twenties before I started venturing to another genre. I listed to John Grisham's THE FIRM on audio and feel in love with the guys stories.

I could not stand first-person-singular type books. I feel like I am missing so much and I get frustrated not being able to "eavesdrop" on what the other characters are thinking. Then along came John D. MacDonald and his Travis McGee. What a fun series to read, and I got over my hang-up quickly. I enjoyed J.A. Jance, then Sue Grafton and many more.

As for general fiction, books which read like a movie, Robert Crais and Matthew Reilly broke my cherries. Hostage by Robert Crais became a movie with Bruce Willis in it. I am pretty sure Matthew Reilly's book will turn into movies soon. It's very good and action-packed.

So, if you're into reading, what got you started?