Tag Archives: Ali F

Special Guest: Ali F!!!

Hi friends! So it’s the (ack!) third Saturday of the month! Which means it’s time for our monthly reader guest post! Whee! Today we’ve got Ali [F] visiting with us!  

Hello everyone!! 🙂

When Limecello reminded me that my day to blog was coming up, my mind went blank as to what to write about. She told me I could write about anything… even mowing the lawn. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with a post about mowing the grass…. mainly because I don’t mow my lawn, lol

What I did want to talk about today is romance reader conventions. If you haven’t visited my blog yet, I’m throwing a month long birthday bash, and the grand prize includes registration to the 2012 Authors After Dark Convention in New Orleans. This year will be my third year attending and I can’t wait!

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend various romance reader conventions at one time or another: Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, Lori Foster (and Duffy Brown) Reader and Author Get Together, Readers ‘N ‘Ritas, RAW (Reader Appreciation Weekend), and Authors After Dark.

I actually met Limecello for the first time at the RT Convention in Ohio :). (She totally did! Best time ever!) That convention experience definitely wasn’t as scary as my very first convention which was the RT Convention in Houston. I have a fear of people, lol, so it’s no surprise that I was doing my best to be a wallflower.

Maybe it’s because I’m shy that I tend to enjoy the smaller conventions more. They definitely allow readers more of a chance to get to meet and speak with authors… and of course other readers. One get together that packs a punch in a little time is the Readers ‘n ‘ritas conference in the DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX) area. The conference lasts about a day and a half, but by the time it’s over, I feel like I’ve been gone for a week almost, lol. There’s always one great panel or another going on and a fun masquerade ball. Last year, they had their first Hero Bachelor Auction, too. That was loads of fun… especially thanks to author Nikki Duncan.

No matter which conference or convention I end up at, I always tend to have fun thanks to great friends, fabulous new readers I get to meet, and the awesome authors who attend. For those who have not had the chance to attend one of these gatherings, I hope one day soon you will be able to, and maybe we’ll get to meet. For those who have, I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have… ooh, and maybe I’ll see you at one of the ones I plan to attend this year 😉

I didn’t arrive empty handed to Limecello’s blog today 🙂 I have a giveaway! (Ali is so polite!!) Whoo-hoo! I just love being able to do giveaways, lol. Today, I have a bag of goodies that I was given at my last Readers ‘n ‘Ritas conference to giveaway. This tote bag is not only filled with great promo items but lots of books, too!

… >.> Ali’s totally lying by the way. She’s sending that bag to me. She just doesn’t know it yet. I’m going to create a ton of socks and rig the drawing. Just thought I’d let y’all know so you don’t bother. <.<

Heh. Seriously though – what do you think of the romance conferences and conventions? Have you ever been to one? Got a story to share? Which one, if you’ve been to multiple ones do you prefer? Or, if you’ve never been – which one would you most like to go? And if it’s a moving conference, where would you like to see it?

Special Guest(s): Ali & Joy! (And me!)

Today, we’re going to play a little game of fact or fiction. I’ve talked about when and how I met Ali and Joy – over twitter, and than in person at RT10 in Columbus, Ohio. Anyway we’ve become really good friends, and keep in close touch. They’re also the reason I’m going to NYC over my birthday (which you know, is also during RWA). Because Ali wanted to do a guest post during her birthday month, I decided to keep the theme running with the three of us… so we’re doing a joint post!

Ali, Joy, and I each wrote six facts, and six “fictions” about ourselves. I mixed them all up, and will list them below. Your task is… to assign them to each person. Which six are my facts, and which six are my fictions. The same for Joy, and Ali. Or at least, you know, which ones are fact, and which statements are fiction. It’s the same concept as “three truths and a lie” – just you know, an even/same number of each.

If it proves too difficult maybe Ali, Joy, and I will provide hints in the comments. Of course, posting answers in the comments somewhat defeats the purpose, so you are to email your answers to: * And because this is kind of crazy, let’s say you get three guesses per person. HOWEVER to keep track… I’d like you to leave a comment each time you send an email.

Why on earth would you want to do this insane thing? Well, why wouldn’t you want to know any of the three of us better? 😉 But really – there are prizes. Open internationally!

Ali is offering a $25 GC to Amazon.com… or, if you’re international, up to $25 in books at The Book Depository.

Joy’s throwing out for those in the USA:
Addicted to You by Bethany Kane & Romance Trading Card Package
Demons Prefer Blondes by Sidney Ayers
Fallen by Michelle Hauf

Or if you’re International:
Books 1 & 2 of The Harmless Series (e-book)
A Little Harmless Sex & A Little Harmless Pleasure by Melissa Schroeder

And me? Well, I’m going to offer up a kindle book. Of some sort. I’m actually still thinking about it. To offer one person a prize? (Forewarned I don’t like agency pricing and don’t support it…) Or to offer maybe 5 random people a novella? Giving them a choice between a few of the indie ones out there? We’ll see. Also mine is a bit different because I’ll be giving my prize out to commenter[s].

Anyway, all three of us are offering prizes.

Ready? Set? Go!

I don’t know how to drive.

I am prepared for either a zombie apocalypse or in the event that computers take over the world.

I grew up in Switzerland.

I am addicted to video games.

I’ve never been to Europe.

The first RT Convention I went to, I hid for three hours.

I was in a choir that sang for the President

I took piano lessons for about eight years.

Each car I’ve owned was picked by another person… because I don’t much care what I drive as long as it gets from point A to point B.

I’ve never gone skiing.

I do not pack until the night before a trip… or in a couple instances, an hour before I have to head out the door… makes things interesting, lol.

I was born in Canada.

One of the ladies here once gave me a tequila shot… it was so strong I actually couldn’t breathe for a moment there.

I was treated to a public humiliation & got a spanking one year for my birthday (in a bar in NYC).

Sometimes I will rehearse a whole conversation in my head… even if I don’t end up talking to the other person about it.

I got married and divorced in Vegas… all in the same week.

My middle name is Rose.

I make lemon blueberry gelato every summer.

I could have had a picture taken professionally with Barack Obama.

I go on a cruise every year.

I sang the jingle for a commercial on TV.

I love mowing my lawn.

I’ve burst into spontaneous song in random places, most notably on Capitol Hill. More than once.

I go golfing every week.

I waited in line overnight for Prince Tickets.

I haven’t worn sneakers in five years.

I have had pet cats since I was eight.

I used to call friends at midnight on their birthday.

I am afraid to swim in deep waters.

Nobody in my family (including extended) knows I read romance or go to conventions.

I freeze like a deer caught in the headlights when frightened.

I met Fabio.

I was home schooled.

My birth place is New York.

I met Hugh Jackman.

I wrote a poem that was published.

And that’s all of them! So remember – email your answers to *. We’ll keep this open for *TWO WEEKS. And you get three tries. Also – authors, you’re welcome to enter, and I hope you do! If you don’t want any of these prizes we can figure out something else – like I’ll feature you on my blog or something. Yeah?

Anyway, this is another part of birthday-palooza, so yay! Also, feel free to ask questions in the comments. Who knows – one of us might answer them! 😉

Very Special Guest: Ali!

Miss Ali, who is one of my most favorite people ever, was supposed to guest last week. I think we can all agree that it was fortunate she didn’t because we wouldn’t have heard the following story otherwise. And yes, this is the story/post I was hoping she’d share/text me. 😀 Isn’t Ali the best?

So many things went through my head as I wondered what my topic for this guest post would be. Shall I share about my frustration over planning an upcoming surprise birthday party on my own… or my latest obsession with Doctor Who… or maybe how my co-worker was convinced that this guy, who had spent about twenty minutes talking to her, was going kill us (um, yeah, she had a few drinks)… better yet, I could whine about all my unfinished home improvement projects.

Which one am I going to write about today? I’ll go with the crazy episode I had with my co-worker, lol.

The day started out normal enough, I had lunch planned with my co-worker (we’ll call her T) and her friend, since we both had the day off from work. After lunch we decided to go to a bar for drinks. That was my first mistake. My second was not stopping her after her first drink, heh.

After a few minutes, this man approached us and tried to talk to T. Things were going fine for about ten minutes or so, until… T quickly goes through her purse and hands me her keys. She the looks at me and whispers, ‘Run to the car.’ 0_o

I tried to tell her I wasn’t leaving without her, but then she gets this desperate look and proceeds to tell me that this guy is going to kill us. Wowzers. That was definitely not something I expected to hear. I had been there for the whole conversation, and unless she could read minds, there was no mention of killing anybody.

Her conversation with the guy was getting louder. Uh-oh. She got upset with me and asked why I hadn’t left yet. For five minutes she tried to convince me to go, telling me we would both die if I didn’t. I guess it was a nice gesture that she wanted me out of harms way, but I didn’t know whether to laugh or call the men in white jackets, lol.

This was definitely surreal for me. I asked the gentleman to leave and told her we were leaving the bar. She informed me that he would follow us and we needed to hurry.  I told her that I would make sure we weren’t followed and get us out of there quickly… I’ve learned that it’s best to go along with things when necessary.

We finally made it back to her place, and after making sure she was okay, I high-tailed it out of there. For a day that started out normal enough, it sure did take a strange turn for the crazy.

One thing’s for sure, I’ve never been one to say my life is boring. Have you ever had a day that went from good to omg-this-can’t-be-happening?

And Ali chose to be my special guest in April, because it’s her birthday month! (Her birthday was on the first. Fitting, right? 😉 Heh.) But! Ali is awesome and generous – and she’s giving away a $20 Amazon giftcard to someone today! Or… for international readers, a $20 giftcard to the Book Depository. It’s pretty clear why everyone loves her, yes?

You can find Ali at her blog or on twitter. Twitter is actually how I “met” Ali, and when we found out we were both going to RT in 2010 …  we of course had to meet in person. Ali was rooming with Joy and Maya (who couldn’t go). So that’s where the Ali/Joy/Lime everything-ness began.

So come on – make it good, and tell us about one of your crazy day life stories! And remember – you’ll have to come back to see if you’ve won. 🙂