Have another Margarita

It's the fifth of May, otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo. This is a fun holiday, because, like St. Patrick's Day, it's largely an excuse to drink
. . . except the weather is warmer and daylight hours are longer.
I went to a Cinco de Mayo party Saturday night, after returning from a day at the Slam Jam exhausted. My husband "forgot" to mention he'd accepted an invitation (he does that a lot). But it was fun, and I actually found myself downing pomengranate martinis, which were quite tasty. I've never had a pomengranate in my life until then.
Speaking of the Slam Jam, it was wonderful to see my fellow writers, some of whom I met for the very first time. I got to meet colleagues whom I've communicated with online, on the phone, or both, like LaConnie Taylor-Jones, Gwyneth Bolton, and Celeste Norfleet (Celeste and I share the same wonderful agent, who will be taking five questions late next week).
Deatri, Dyanne, Barbara, Ann and possibly others whose names I can't recall put together a wonderful event. I do admit to being a little taken aback when I saw that the size of the panel for the author session I was scheduled for with my good friend Sean Young had doubled to include two additional authors, so that didn't go quite the way I'd planned. I was only there for the one day, so I don't know if additional authors were squeezed into other author sessions or just ours; but I do understand that these things happen when planning an event of this size, and I stand by my initial impression of a job well done. I'm just glad I got there in time. I had to pick up an important certified letter from the post office and went to the wrong one (in this area, every two to five minutes of driving puts you in a different town). But hey, when you're moving, you want to know what day your inspection/reinspection/closing is scheduled for, and I wasn't willing to wait until this morning to find out.
The marathon author signing gave everyone a chance to schmooze (not snooze, folks). I was tickled when two authors brought their entire collection of Bettye Griffin romances for me to autograph, and honored by those who purchased Once Upon A Project, both readers as well as my writer colleagues Gwyneth, Celeste, and Donna Hill. I approached sister authors Marilyn Tyner and Alice Wootson singing the Irving Berlin classic, "Sisters," and they surprised me by knowing the entire song, right up through "Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man." I guess we're showing our age, Lord help us.
I didn't stay for the Emma Awards (instead of going to bed early, I was sipping those pomengranate martinis) and don't know the winners, but I do know that my friend LaConnie won Favorite Debut Author. Congratulations to LaConnie and all the other winners and nominees!
Happy Cinco de Mayo to all of you! I've got one more weekend of book promotion this Friday and Saturday, and then I can turn my attentions to other things, like packing, since M-day will be less than 2 weeks from now!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bettye sounds like you had an overall good weekend! Speaking of M-day, I need to figure out what I'm getting my mom and time is ticking.

DonnaD said...

Sounds like a fun-filled weekend! I spent mine cleaning and pulled muscles in my back and legs. I'm hosting a Mother's Day breakfast on Saturday so I'll be busy getting ready for that, but I'm stopping by Borders Friday night!

Hey, where are you moving to?

PatriciaW said...

Sounds like your weekend was a blast!

Isn't it great to put faces with names? Always glad to have the opportunity to meet a fellow writer.

Congrats to all the winners, including our Gwyneth!

Did you tell us you were moving???

bettye griffin said...

Shelia, I think my mom is going to get my best wishes only this year . . . I love her to death, but I'm too buried to shop. I'll show her a good time when she comes to visit this summer.

Donna, I'm looking forward to seeing you. Don't be mad if I don't recognize you. This was a problem for me at the Slam Jam. I hadn't seen many people since 2002, and a lot of women have lost weight, changed hairstyles and hair color, etc.

Patricia, I'm delighted to hear that Gwyneth is on the winner's list. I'll have to head over to her blog.

Donna and Patricia, I don't think I mentioned my move; too busy talking about my new book. We're moving across the border to Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is mentioned in Once Upon A Project by its unfortunate nickname, "Ke-Nowhere." But after two years in a cramped apartment while my husband decided if he really wanted to stay up here, I'm looking forward to having more room.

Michelle Monkou said...

Bettye

Great seeing you. I had a really bad allergy induced sinus infection when I arrived at the hotel and only really hung out with folks from Friday. Then Saturday, after the signing, I went off to hang out with my sister in Skokie.

Guess, I'll see you in a few more years - LOL

Michelle

Anonymous said...

Bettye, I can't wait to read your new book. Any idea why Dafina is not publishing titles in the Kindle format for the Amazon kindle e-book reader? I just bought one and was surprised to see how few Dafina titles had Kindle versions. I went looking for yours and no luck.

Angela

Gwyneth Bolton said...

Bettye,

It was so great to finally meet you face to face. I can't wait to be done grading papers so I can dig into Once Upon a Project .

Gwyneth

bettye griffin said...

Michelle, I hope you're feeling better. It's good to know there are black people living in Skokie, where the signs over many of the shops are in Yiddish . . . .

Angela, unfortunately, I'm not sure why so few Dafina titles are available in the Kindle format.

Gwyneth, congrats on the Emma win! Thanks so much for supporting me by buying a book. Please do e-mail me after you've read it. I value your opinion. Hey, you can even grade it if you want . . . .

Michelle Monkou said...

My sis works as a nanny (I'm sure that's not a PC term, but that's my take) for families in the north. Skokie, I suppose, is convenient for her since she rarely has to go into the city.

I'm feeling much better. I find that I don't travel well anymore. I'm cranky and whiny and everything gets on my nerves. So it's not a good idea for me to travel and then have to be "on" a few hours later in a reader session. I need time to decompress.

Celeste Norfleet, my bud, and I would walk through the hotel. She'd be smiling and talking and I'm close to pushing her out the door because we were going to Starbucks and that's what I fixated on. So I told her if she said hi to one more person that I would kick her in her shin. And the walk over, relaxing with my latte and the walk back put me in a better frame of mind.

You can imagine how I am at RWA's conference since I'm there for the whole week beginning with the board meeting. By the time the conference gets into full swing, I'm either spending long hours in an out-of-the way spot in the lobby or hiding in my room.

Michelle

bettye griffin said...

Glad you're feeling better, Michelle! Thanks for the info on Skokie. And for what it's worth, I don't think there's anything outdated about the term "nanny." And I think Celeste is a real doll.