I *heart* romance readers

I'm just back from the Romance Writers of America convention in Atlanta, where I got to meet scores of romance writers and readers. I hereby make this vow: If anyone has anything bad to say about these women, I will personally bitchslap them on the spot. These ladies are the warmest, friendliest, most supportive and enthusiastic group I have ever met. I had the pleasure of doing my first book signing at this convention, and what a way to get my feet wet! It was tremendous.

The only down side of the trip was that I flew AirTran. Ugh. If you can avoid this airline, do. If not, be prepared to spend an hour just checking your luggage, which you'll have to drag through this long, snaking line. And get this, when I departed from LaGuardia, I waited on this hot and horrible line to check my bags, and after I did, the guy hands them back to me! They don't even put them on a belt for you! You have to shlep all your luggage yourself to the X-ray area. Yikes.

Departing from Atlanta, the slow and ghastly line was outside, in the 100 degree heat. Of course, by the time I got home I was sticky and exhausted. But seeing hubby and the kids picked me right up. What a greeting I got! Maybe I should leave home more often ...

Anyway, I woke up this morning to this fab piece by Aileen Jacobson in Newsday:


Click the image to enlarge. But if you can't make out the text, here's what it says:

SEX, SCANDAL . . . PTA?

Six years ago, long before "Desperate Housewives" hit TV, Ellen Meister of Jericho looked around at other mothers at a PTA meeting and thought of her own lifelong dream of writing a novel. "I felt, none of these other women know I have this dream or any inner life at all. They only see me as a smiling PTA face. " That's when she decided, she says, that she'd dig beneath the surface of the carpool set for her first book. In "Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA," the prospect of a George Clooney film being shot at their school gets three moms hot and bothered. The sex and scandal are "figments of my imagination," says Meister, a mother of three using her maiden name for the book. She'll speak at 8 p.m. Thursday at Huntington's Book Revue, 631-271- 1442.

So, this is truly the home stretch for me, as my official release date is this Tuesday. And if that's not exciting enough, my darling friend Myfanwy is blogging about me all week. How incredibly generous is that? Here's a link: Myfanwy Collins.

ETA: Speaking of friends, a whole bunch of mine are featured in brand new anthology from Rebel Press. Here's the lineup:
Robin Slick • Susan DiPlacido • Tom Saunders • Steve Hansen • Katrina Denza • Myfawny Collins • Marcus Grimm • T.J. Forrester • Grant Jarrett • Matt St. Amand • Tripp Reade • Donald Capone
These are all incredibly gifted writers, so check it out. Click here to order.