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?