When Readers and Writers Unite!

Since I forgot to put my name on my last blog, please note, this is LORI trying to find something worthy of a Quill blog ...
- and not having much luck.

I had planned to discuss Alpha males, and what I consider some major misconceptions. But alas, I'm behind on... everything. My book ( due today!) and appointments, which I've rescheduled twice, and life, which is getting away from me - all have me crunched for time. So Alphas will have to wait until next time.

Instead, I've decided to do a recap of a great weekend spent with readers and authors at my and Dianne Castell's annual event.
Maybe y'all can give me some ideas for next year, and you might even consider joining us in 07!

On Friday June 9th through Sunday June 11th, readers and writers came together for the 2nd annual Lori Foster & Dianne Castell "Reader & Author Get Together." (Catchy name, right?) I'm still exhausted, but wow, what a great time we all had!




















In case you're unfamiliar with the incomparable Dianne Castell, this is her with her snazzy pink promo hat, inspired by her newest novella in the "Texas Bad Boys" anthology.
Dianne passed out the hats to a lot of people, which made for a colorful weekend.

Dianne and I host the event here in Ohio as a hearty THANK YOU.
It's our small way to give a little back to the readers who have given us and other writers so much support, friendship and enjoyment. Our annual Get Together launched in 05. When Dianne and I planned that first event, we kept thinking that if we got 20 readers to show up, we'd be happy.

We got 100 - and were thrilled!
For the 06 event, we grew a little... by 50 people!

The photo below is of a portion of the attendees, probably during a raffle.



We joined together in the Marriott in West Chester, Ohio to talk, talk, talk. (Dianne and I are a wee bit chatty.)

Our focus for this event is to keep it fun, to provide a casual atomosphere where readers and authors can get to know each other better, where we can put faces to online names, and share the love of reading. Attendees wear jeans (or whatever they're most comfortable in) and it's all very unstructured for the most part, providing more time for everyone to mingle.

We had a rotating author lunch where authors switched tables every 10 minutes so readers had a chance to chat with them all.
We had a wonderful volunteer who read Taro cards - and told me some very interesting things! We had field trips, photo ops, critiques, prizes, an editor and an agent, and a bookfair hosted by B&N and one of my best, long-time friends, Linda Keller.

All for a registration fee of $35 - to cover the costs of meals.



This part cracks me up, but we also had James Denton's travelling pants! Until last weekend, I'd never heard of it, but apparently a radio DJ won James Denton's pants in an auction. She had them framed and now loans them out to groups. LuAnn McLane brought them, and showed me how the back of the frame has a little spot open so you can "feel" the jeans.



Here we are, paying appropriate tribute to the famous pants.

The donated author, reader and publisher baskets were the highlight of the event. Proceeds from the event go to the local Battered Women's Shelter. This year, we made over $2500 on raffles alone, with more $ coming from the bookfair!



That's Christy above, our official registration volunteer, helping out with the raffle. Christy and her mom, Cheryl, keep everything in line and moving smoothly. We'd be lost without them.

The gal below is none other than LadyB, our lovely volunteer in charge of organizing and distributing raffle prizes. LadyB makes the raffling of the baskets feel more like a Las Vegas show!



This year, 45 authors showed up offering critiques for new or unpublished authors, amazing raffle baskets, fun promo items, lots of smiles, and an enthusiastic desire to show the readers just how appreciated they are!



Dianne and I flew in an agent and editor. The agent was Emily Sylvan Kim (but my photo of her didn't turn out - bummer). The editor is Cindy Hwang, of Berkley.



To the left is amazing author Erin McCarthy, with Cindy Hwang next, and that's me grinning like a fool on the end.

Did you note my shirt? Each year we have items - T-shirts of all styles, mugs, mouse pads, calendars, journals, etc... specially made for the event with images of attending authors' bookcovers on the front and urls on the back. The itms are very affordable (available at www.cafepress.com/lorifoster ), and proceeds from the sales go to the Battered Women's Shelter.

My husband wore a shirt that said, "I sleep with a famous author." But he's a real joker, so whenever someone commented on it, he mentioned Stephen King, not me.



This is the dear husband standing between Johnny Depp and Alan Jackson.

Below: Dianne and I schmoozed with Johnny and Alan too!



Many of my "Bookjunkie" friends attended.
(My yahoo email loop is LoriFosterBookjunkies)



Saturday night, authors Dianne Castell and LuAnn McLane organized a fieldtrip to a local nightclub for some line dancing. I, being an old fuddy duddy, headed home to bed so I could be back bright and early Sunday morning for breakfast with everyone.

But the brave ventured out - and reported a rompin' good time!



Above - whoopin' it up!

Below - my sedate (and tired) group after a delish breakfast the next morning.

Dianne and I hope to have the event every year and we'd love suggestions from everyone.

If you were to attend our event, what would you most like to do there?

So many of the readers commented on how nice and "down to earth" the authors are, and the authors raved over how friendly and happy the readers are. Sort of a big "love and respect" fest, huh?

Have you been to any events where you met an author, and were surprised at how much you had in common?

For the raffle baskets I donated, I included a foreign copy of "Say No To Joe?" (showing Joe nekkid on the cover!) and some arcs of my upcoming single title, "Murphy's Law." What would you most like to find your favorite author's basket? An out of print book, or a not-yet-released title?

If you could get your photo taken with any author, who would it be?

My husband's shirt was such a hit, we're planning a whole section of shirts for husbands, so we can we make even more in proceeds for our charities. Upcoming sayings will be: "I am the inspiration," "Not on the cover, but between the pages," "Wanna do some research?" and a few others.

Can you think of a really catchy saying to go on a writer's or reader's shirt?

(One of the shirts I wore said: "Be careful or I'll kill you in a book.")

It really was a wonderful time, and I'm already looking forward to next year. We made the Battered Women's Shelter our main focus, but we also collected for a special project of mine, "Eyes for Josh," and for the troops. Everyone was generous beyond belief.

If it weren't for the incredible volunteers - too many to name - Dianne and I would never be able to do this. A big THANK YOU to them all, and a special hearty THANK YOU to Linda Keller who organized the bookfair of 47 authors. Amazing women, all of them.

That's it from me. I have to finish my book now. Thank God for email and an editor who doesn't mind technology, saving me the extra days it would have taken to snail mail this puppy!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!