This is taken from the balcony of our hotel room.

I’ve been a bit scared about my August Brava release, because it’s the first book I ever wrote. It has some things I’d do differently now that I’ve become more comfortable with my strengths and weakness. I’ve also realized that I like to try different things in my books. I’m happy to see that it’s being well-received by the online review sites and Kathe Robin of Romantic Times came up to me at the Convention to tell me how much she enjoyed the book. Even more so than BBA because it’s a full-length novel. Anyway, it’s a Romance Reader at Heart Top Pick and I’m so relieved.

Here’s the review for anyone who’s interested:

Quick breakdown before bed:

I had great fun hanging out with friends.

I successfully practiced workshop avoidance. I didn’t attend even one. *g*

Had a great breakfast with my agent. Met again later in her room and laughed ’til we cried.

Had a fabulous lunch with my adored editor Kate Duffy. Two and a half hours into it, I still didn’t want it to end. She can be so charming.

Had an awesome publisher-sponsored booksigning where I ran out of books in 15 mins. Such a dream come true to do a publisher signing. I loved it.

Met lots of booksellers who said they can’t keep BBA on the shelves. (yay!) Sue Grimshaw said it’s selling hot in Borders stores.

Heard from attendees that BBA was spotted in airport bookstores.

Met lots of readers and reviewers that I’ve chatted with online. They were all wonderful and it was a joy to hang out with them.

Had lots of fun at the Faery Ball:

The food was horrendous. Truly, dreadfully awful. *ugh*

Being a Californian, I didn’t get used to the time change. 1 am there was 10 pm here. I hardly slept at all, even though I tried.

Cabbies in Daytona suck ass. Greedy bastards.

Got the coverflat for my January release from my editor. Yummy.

My room was a stone’s throw away from the shore. We slept with the sliding glass door open so we could listen to the waves. Just gorgeous. I have photos. I’ll post them in the morning.

NY editors went from EC author to EC author at the Book Fair soliciting mss for their houses. Editor business cards and out-of-the-blue requests were plentiful for EC authors.

Simon & Schuster has acquired the subsidiary print rights to 30 EC novellas which will be released with Pocket in 2007 in a series of 10 anthologies. It’s just the beginning.

There’s more, I’m sure. I just can’t think right now. I’ll be back in the morning. ((hugs))

I’m outty. Hope to have fun. Didn’t pack near enough clothes. Ah well, it’s an excuse to go shopping, yes?

Lisa Kleypas has apparently left Avon for St. Martin’s.

In the meantime, I’ve signed a historical contract with St. Martins, and I’m working on some more Wallflower novels! This new set of Wallflowers will introduce some new characters and also include old friends from the first four books. - Lisa Kleypas

I’m saddened by this, but I don’t know why. As an author who has turned down certain offers and accepted others all for sound business reasons, I can understand. As a reader, I’ve long associated my all-time favorite author with Avon books. Why should it matter who’s slapping the ink on the paper when the words are hers? I don’t know. I know I will continue to buy whatever she writes, with whoever she writes it with, but Avon’s lost a shining star for sure.

See ya next Monday! ((hugs))

From this month’s Paraphernalia interview with Audrey LaFehr:

PNR: Readers are very excited about the new Aphrodisia line; could you tell us how this line differs from the already established Brava Erotic Romance Line?

Audrey L.: While very hot and sexy, Brava still follows the “rules” of traditional romance—one man and one woman fall in love in the course of the book and arrive at some sort of permanent commitment at the end. Aphrodisia throws away the rules—anything goes, as long as it’s super hot, sexy, explicit, legal, and all about a woman’s sexual pleasure. Oftentimes the woman does find and fall in love with her soul mate, but that is not a requirement. However, a happy (or shall we say an extremely satisfying?) ending is a must.

PNR: In your opinion, how far can you go with erotic content and have it still be considered romance?

Audrey L.: Aphrodisia would not be considered romance by many traditionalists. It is categorized as “Erotic Romance” for a simple, practical reason—we want it to be sold to the romance buyer and go into or near the romance section of the bookstore. If it had “Erotica” on the spine, it would go into general fiction or an erotica section if the store has one, and our readers (who are primarily romance readers who want something hotter) would not be able to find our books easily. Other than that, Aphrodisia does not have to conform to the usual parameters of romance.

I was told yesterday by a friend that her trip to a Borders led her to find BAD BOYS AHOY! at the very front of the store on a stand up display. I’ve been hearing quite a bit about the prime placement of the book lately and I’m surprised, since the book has an odd cover and is over three months old. O’ course I’m glad it’s still out there and grateful for the placement Kensington arranged (as Kate Duffy said, “It’s expensive real estate”.) If you haven’t bought the book yet and want a copy and will be at RT, K donated a couple hundred of them to be given out. Hopefully, you’ll get one.

This morning my son’s first grade class sang for all the mothers. I cried. I couldn’t help it. So sweet. He’s growing up so fast, a fact exaggerated by his size. My husband is 6′4″, and even though I’m only 5′3″, Jack is much much taller than the other kids in his class. My baby.

My dear friend, Shelley Bradley, arranged her flights to share the 3 1/2 layover with me in Atlanta on Tuesday. Then we’ll fly together to Daytona. Isn’t that awesome? I’m so relieved. Yes, I’ll have books with me to read, but it’s much nicer to have the few hours of uninterrupted chatting time.

k, I’m off to mail stuff to the convention hotel and send out prizes that need to go out, and I’m going to Ross and seeing what all they might have that I might want to wear in Daytona. My faery dress for the Faery Ball is arriving today. I can’t wait to see it. Maybe I’ll take pictures of it later so you can see it. I have to remember to recharge my digital camera batteries…

I’ve been running back and forth to the dentist this past week. *grumbles* Just routine checkup, fillings, etc., but takes up a chunk of the time when my son is in school so I haven’t been getting as much writing done as I’d like.

Also, must pack at some point. If I knew what I was going to wear…