I got home so late last night, I ate, unpacked, visited with the family, and crashed. Until…oh…about 30 minutes ago, when I woke up panicked, realized I didn’t have a blog for my day at Happy Endings or here. I have one there, now–just a quick overview of the panels. I’ll do more here in upcoming days. Iffy has reminded me that she needs the computer for her interview tomorrow. I think I’ll grab another nap while she talks to Moira.

Winner of the last semi-finals in the Mr. Summer contest (by a narrow vote!) is Gilles! He’ll go up against our other two winners this Saturday. (Don’t ask me who they are, my brain is running on a few sips of caffeine and I’m not even sure of my name at the moment!) Winner gets a full spread.

Winner of the WFNO bag and choice of 2 romantic suspense or 2 contemporaries by way of random.org is JANET! I’ll get the prize in the mail, along with the books I still owe Ev and Ban because…uhm…my brain was/is running on fumes.

Here is a brief rundown of the weekend: L. A. Banks (yes, THE L. A. Banks and I are soul sisters — her words, LOL). SEASON OF THE WITCH was very popular. I think I walked six miles in 2 1/2 hours on the vampire tour Sunday night (my knees are STILL complaining!). I still love New Orleans and shall have to set one of the Penumbra books there…oh…hrm. OH! Lightbulb! *plotplotplotplot* Sorry about that. And last but not least, Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches coined the best phrase of the weekend: Bat crap crazy pants.

On that note, I have 569 emails to sort through, 77 blog posts, bills to pay, and plans to make on submissions. What did y’all do while I was gone? Oh! And RWA members…have you voted yet?!? This friendly reminder was brought to you by your local candidate for Region 5.

…why do you ask? Here’s the 4-1-1, to use one of Iffy’s favorite terms!

Well, it wasn’t quite a landslide, but the Cowboy and his horse won last week’s Mr. Summer preliminary round. This coming Saturday, he goes up against George Eads, aka “Deke” from FAIRY TALES, and Gilles Marini to see who goes into the finals!

As most of you know, I’m leaving Thursday for New Orleans. *happy dances* Heidi, my CP is going with me. I love roadtripping with her! We get so much plotting done. There will be posts here while I’m gone and I’ll check in to reply, though it’ll be in the odd spare moments during the weekend. Don’t forget, any of you in the NOLA area, there’s a book signing at the Hotel Monteleone featuring all the authors at the conference, including yours truly. Stop by and say hi! I’ll have goodies to give away.

Iffy will be here Wednesday visiting with Professor Michael Shannahan from FAERIE FIRE. At some point this week, I’ll try to post some pictures from the Ranch Rodeo I attended Saturday night…speaking of cowboys!

FYI, both FIRE and FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE are up on the front page of The Wild Rose Press as upcoming releases! Anybody want a guest blogger around the middle of the month so I can shill the books? AND FAERIE FIRE IS LIVE AT B&N.COM and AMAZON!

I’m guest blogging at MURDER SHE WRITES today. Drop by and say hi. Swag is going in the mail today. I hope. LOL I suppose I should get off my arse and run errands, huh? But before I go, I guess I should give away something this week, too. What do you think? And what should I give away? I still have books. OH! And I have swag from the WFNO conference. How about a messenger bag from that with…two books?!? You can have your choice of romantic suspense or contemporary romance. You know the drill. Comment to enter all this week with a winner picked next week when I get back (completely randomly, of course!).

Today is a travel day. After a wonderful lunch with Justin and his lovely bride, Stacie, at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, they’ll drop me off at the Tampa airport and I’ll be winging my way home. As much as I loved RWA10 and visiting, I’m ready to get home. Of course, this is what’s waiting for me:

Want to win a Nook? Click on the Long and Short of It button over there on the right, toward the bottom for information. See y’all tomorrow!

Normally, I’d let Iffy have her day here but she’s at home (with the character photos for her interviews) and I’m still in Florida on the laptop, sans photos (or manuscript for that matter!) so we’ll just have to struggle through until next week without learning more about the characters in FAERIE FIRE. Next week, I’ve told Iffy she can interview a couple of people to make up for two weeks off.

Now, pictures! First, here’s my room at the Swan. When I arrived, I was informed they’d upgraded me to an “alcove room” which is basically a mini-suite. There was a dining area with work desk and then the bed/sitting area with a fold-out couch. The last picture is the good view out my window. (The other windows looked out over the AC units on the rooftop. )

Jen Lyon emailed me some pics from her camera so I’ll post two of them:

Jen won the Paranormal National Readers Choice Award, for those of you who didn’t know. We celebrated with an ice cream sundae. The first pic was taken by Kate Carlisle at the Literacy signing. The second pic is from the impromptu get-together of the gals from the Murder She Writes blog. I hope I have decent pics on the camera from the party. We’ll see when I finally get home.

I’m still a participant in the Long and Short of It Third Anniversary Party. You can click on the button over there on the side for more info and trust me, there is a Nook icon hidden around the site somewhere if you are looking for it.

And here’s the question for the day…If you went to RWA, who did you really want to see/meet and did you get to? (Besides me! LOLOL) And if you didn’t go, who would you have wanted to meet?

Most of you might be too young to catch that reference. If you don’t, Google “Tuesday” and “Belgium” to see. Uhm…when dd Google become a verb? LOL I’m also over at Happy Endings Blog today. There’s a contest going on for a free book to be given to one lucky commenter this month. I’m talking about RWA and getting involved.

For those of you who don’t hang out at the SBTB blog, you probably missed this:

I’m in a “music video”- LOLOLOL! Sarah Wendel is just the best ever! I have pictures but no way to transfer from the camera card to the computer. I forgot my little plug-in reader thingy. *headdesk* I’ll have lots of pictures next week! Tomorrow, though, I’ll give a quick rundown of things seen, heard, and done at RWA10.

In the meantime, don’t forget the party at the Long and Short of It.

What about Friday, folks? Shall we continue our Friday Flash? And I’m still waiting to pick a winner of the Mr. Summer contest from last Saturday, to make sure all the votes are in. If you haven’t voted for Mr. Military, go now and do so! Next Saturday is another semi-final round to see who moves on to the next level to challenge LL Cool J in the finals.

Last week, other than a few brief appearances, I was pretty much MIA from the shadows as I dashed through the sunshine of Orlando and RWA. As I type this (on Sunday evening), I feel a bit stunned, slightly hung over and seeking a moment of peace and quiet. Two thousand women in an enclosed space is…like drinking from a fire hose of sparkling wine where all the bubbles shoot up your nose. When you finally pass out, your ears still “hear” the buzz of conversation, and when the conference finally ends, you are left feeling lethargic, slightly headachy, and wondering just what the hell you did! (Of course, if you aren’t careful, EVERYTHING you did will appear on Twitter, Facebook, or somebody’s blog!)

This week, I’ll be posting some of the things that happened last week at RWA. Tomorrow is my regularly scheduled First Tuesday post over at Happy Endings. I’m not home yet–won’t be until last Thursday night because I’m visiting my Tech Guru(tm) and his lovely wife for a few days before heading back to the land of heat and humidity. Oh. Wait. I’m still in Florida. This IS the land of heat and humidity.

Today starts the third anniversary party for Long and Short of It, which runs through Friday, August 27th. The party finishes up with a crazy, wild, and busy two day chat on LASR and WC Yahoo groups and a chat on Sunday with Aurora. I’m scheduled to chat (I’ll give you the times closer to the dates) so please make sure you are already a group member if you want to drop by to chat. During the last hour of each chat on Sunday (9 pm Eastern Time) the winners of the Nook eReaders will be announced. Click on the banner for full details!

And while you’re there, check out their review of FAERIE FATE. Four books!

So…what do you think? Did I do something that will (or has!) appeared on someone’s blog or twitter feed? And which ereader would you like to have? Or do you have one? If so, what kind and do you like it?

I’m up, up, and away! Come see me at Chicks of Characterization’s THE WRITER’S LIFE blog. There’s a giveaway each day for one random commenter.

And don’t forget, starting August 1, you can join the 3rd Anniversary Party at Long and Short of It Reviews. There are lots of prizes donated by the participating authors plus the chance to win a Nook! Click on the banner for details!

Come see me at Chicks of Characterization’s THE WRITE LIFE blog. There are prizes every day, including a .pdf ARC of FAERIE FIRE. Winners are chosen from the commenters.

I’m running around like a mad woman getting last minute stuff done, packed, and finally to drop exhausted into bed tonight for an early start tomorrow to the airport. Looks like three of my RWA Chapter mates will be on the flight with me. That should prove interesting. But…y’all don’t care about that. I know what you’re waiting for. First, the winner of this week’s Mr. Summer “heat-off” is Joe Manganiello. Like big surprise, huh? Erika, once you see him as Alcide in this season of TRUE BLOOD, yeah. You’ll see why!

And now, our chapter of Friday Flash:

She could never focus on it, though; never place the memory. “It does not matter anyway, does it?” she said.

“No need to run little man,” one of the rogues taunted, his voice scrapping like gravel. It took time and effort to shape an effective medical team, and there would be a certain attrition rate. Oh, no, she didn’t want to fall asleep, as welcome as it might have been.

Today they will find her body. Or she has already left for work, but is running late. A.J. Sutherland was captivated by the stallion the first moment she saw him. Everyone else just took up space.

This week’s schedule is going to be a bit hodge-podge due to RWA Nationals. You can find me at THE WRITE LIFE all week, I’ll be tweeting, which will roll-over to Facebook, and if something really cools happens, I’ll blog about it here. Be sure to stop in Friday, though. I’m “pre-posting” our entire Friday Flash story to date. And Saturday, we will definitely have the next round of the Mr. Summer contest!

I’ll see some of y’all in person soon! And the rest of you, catch you round the ‘web!

EDIT: New final paragraph because Paula added some late sentences to our FLASH!

First, Iffy has been hounding me to have a contest for FAERIE FIRE. So… I’m over at Sky Purington’s Blog this week and she’s giving away an ebook copy of FAERIE FATE and a gift certificate to Wild Rose. Since most of you (ALL I hope! LOL) have FATE, I thought I’d do a Just For Penumbra Peeps contest. If you drop by Sky’s this week and leave a comment (not to mention you might learn something about Ciaran you don’t already know… ) I will randomly pick the name of a Penumbra Peep to win a .pdf ARC of FAERIE FIRE. Sound like a deal?

Wow. RWA ’10 starts in two weeks. ACK! I’m soooo not ready! For those going, I’ll be at registration helping out on Wednesday morning, the literacy signing Wednesday night, the AGM on Thursday morning (more about that in a moment), the PRO retreat on Thursday afternoon, where I’ll be the Official Photographer(tm). Thursday night is the OKRWA NRCA reception so I’ll be out of pocket. Friday and Saturday days and Friday night, I hope to have some time to kick back, visit, and enjoy the convention.

I’m also headed back to New Orleans over Labor Day weekend for Heather Graham’s Writers For New Orleans conference. This is such a fun time! Heidi, my stalwart road trip companion and CP extraordinaire, is going with me again. There are costume parties, great panels, great food, and I’ll get to participate in the book signing on Sunday afternoon. Anyone around N’awlins, drop in and say hi!

I’ll need to get posts for the Mr. Summer contest and Friday Flash done in advance. Hotel wifi is iffy at best.

Are you making fun of me?!?

No, Iffy. I’m not. Do you want to tell the readers about tomorrow?

Sure! I’m gonna chase Silver out again tomorrow–with my scissors if she’s not careful! Then I can do more interviews. Sort of. I thought I might share a scene that was cut from FAERIE FIRE so you can get to know Senator Patrick O’Connor and his good friend, Allan Steele. (Yes, that would be Margaret’s husband.) By the way, it’s about time you started giving away ARCs of FIRE! Just sayin’…. You guys be sure to go to Sky’s blog and leave a comment. Trust me! You realllllly want to read FAERIE FIRE. OMG! It’s HAWT!

No pun intended, right, Iffy? Now…as mentioned above, I’ll be attending the Annual General Meeting at RWA. Why? Because I have declared for the Region 5 Board of Director position. I’d appreciate votes from those of you who are members when the time comes this fall. Changes are coming fast and furious to the romance publishing world, and I’d like to help RWA meet the challenges.

On that note, back to work on FOOL. I’ve left Rory in a very dire predicament and he says he’s been dangling long enough. OH! One other thing. Any suggestions for a category for this Saturday’s Mr. Summer contest? Not the contestants themselves, but a category!

I wish this was moving pictures, but it’s not. You’ll just have to follow the link and scroll. Trust me. It is worth the effort. I am still cleaning cafe au lait off my monitor. (And I find it rather fitting that somewhere in the world today, there is a total solar eclipse.)

LOLCat Repertory Players Strike Again.