If you want a chance to win Lori Wilde’s Love at First Sight, the contest closes tonight at midnight. So don’t delay–leave a comment on Friday’s blog (and enter via the Rafflecopter widget–it’s easy, honest!) for your chance to win!
I’ll announce the winner tomorrow (Tuesday) morning… Good luck!
While RAGT is a chance for me to get to meet my readers, and meet new ones, and for me to play fangirl and get to meet my favorite authors (because, hey, I’m a reader too), it is also a chance for me to talk with other authors and catch up on what’s going on in the industry. It gives me a chance to compare our writing processes which makes me feel better knowing I’m not the only one who sometimes feels like “all I write is crap” and needs that little push in the right direction.
The authors I’ve met at RAGT are all super. They’re upbeat, they’re helpful, they’re supportive of everyone else, no matter whether they’re a big name author like previous attendees Jade Lee or Beth Kery or a newly published author with a smaller press…and they’re that way not only to readers but to other authors no matter where we are in our careers. (It’s one reason why I love the romance industry—I’ve been a member of a literary group and OMG such a different attitude.)
This year I had the good fortune to meet author Lori Wilde. I’d seen her around at last year’s RAGT – she’d sat at our breakfast table but she was at the far end away from me and I never got to actually talk to her. This year she sat right across from me and amongst other topics, naturally we talked about the writing process. I mentioned I had been struggling for a while with my writing. That I felt like I knew the basics enough to get published but there was something I was missing to take my writing to the next level. Lori said it’s normal to reach that point about every ten books. Which means I’m right on schedule.
During the book signing, she popped over to say she’d bought one of my books and had some suggestions of how to take that leap—could we get together later in the evening? Talk about jaw-dropping. Lori Wilde had bought one of my books? And read some of it? Cue fear mixed with excitement.
So after the Carina Press Pictionary game that night, I met with her once again in a quiet corner of the restaurant. We talked deep POV and themes and motifs for over an hour, maybe longer. Some of the things I’ve already been doing innately, but she’s shown me how to take those themes and points of view to the next level. She even gave me four pages of notes she’d written out so I could take them home and study them. She gave me that push I needed.
She was all that is gracious and I wanted to do one of those Wayne’s World “We’re not worthy” bows to her at the end. 
Now it’s up to me to put her advice into action and whip my manuscripts into shape.
So to thank her for taking the time out of her busy schedule to help a struggling and fledgling author, I’m going to give away a paperback copy of Love at First Sight, the first in Lori’s new contemporary western series with Avon.
In the first in a dazzling new series, Lori Wilde welcomes us to Cupid, Texas, where every wish for love comes true . . .
“When it hits, you just know . . .”
Natalie McCleary couldn’t believe her eyes—a lean-muscled, darkly tanned, nearly naked man stood in her path . . . and then it hit her: love. Everyone always told her it would hit like a thunderbolt, and she never believed them. But now she knew: practical, sensible Natalie was head over heels in love—with a stranger.
But ex-Navy SEAL Dade Vega wasn’t about to be a stranger for long. He’d ridden into Cupid on his motorcycle, vowing to keep a promise he’d made to a military buddy. But a single glimpse of Natalie—soaking wet and unexpectedly tempting—changed his life forever.
But how can he offer her his love, when he can’t even promise to stay in one place for longer than a week?
Leave a comment telling me if you’ve ever met someone who has taken the time out of their busy life to give you advice that’s helped you. Or some other way someone has paid it forward.
(You must leave a comment to be eligible, but you can also like Lori’s FB page, or mine, to earn extra entries. Contest closes Tuesday, June 18th at 12 AM — for those of you like me who have trouble figuring out when that is, in other words between Monday and Tuesday morning. I’ll announce the winner Tuesday morning.)
So much went on at this year’s RAGT, I don’t even know where to start. To which my brain chimes in “at the beginning, dumba$$.” Which means the 9 hour ride from just east of Toronto starting at 5:30 a.m. with fellow author Anara Bella and reviewer Mary G the day before the event started. We usually get together for lunches that last into the dinner hour, so you can imagine that we talked non-stop the whole way down.
Image credit: inbj / 123RF Stock Photo
Well, except for the 45 minutes we spent at the US border when a border guard decided Anara’s trading cards were cause for concern. For those who have never driven across the US-Canadian border, it’s like going through a toll booth initially. You take off your glasses, hand over your passports and answer questions about where you’re going, how long you plan to stay, and why you’re going. (Along with questions about if you’re bringing in any fruits or vegetables.)
The first guard didn’t seem to understand why anyone would want to go to a book conference to discuss books. Then he got Anara to pop her trunk and discovered her trading cards. Since they had a tag line on them, he figured she would be…I don’t know, selling them like baseball cards I guess. Which led to him flagging us for investigation. Which meant pulling up to another building where they had us empty our purses of everything, took away any electronics (I’m assuming they were worried we might use a cell phone to explode a bomb? Which given the environment these days, I totally understand and had no objections to.)
We faced more questions about what RAGT was and had to explain who Lori Foster was, and why we were going–they couldn’t seem to understand that we wouldn’t be setting up a booth. While we were answering the second guy’s questions, other agents were pulling our suitcases apart, and poking through the gift basket Anara and I had put together for the raffle that raised money for One Way Farm Children’s Home (the raffle donations raised $13,000 by the way.) So while we’re alternating between being grilled and waiting for them to make a decision, I’m sitting there wondering what we’ll do if they let Mary and I go through but turn Anara back, or vice versa.
The second customs agent–who was a Hotty McHot who could totally be a hero in a romance book, especially with the little bit of scruffy beard–disappeared for a while and then came back and displayed a sense of humor the first guard completely lacked. He told us he’d read the back of the copy of Northern Heat: Best Canadian Erotic Romance Stories and asked which of us was the millionaire. I wish! He also called in the first guard and questioned him about just why he’d flagged us. (I’m thinking he did it loud enough so we’d hear and understand that he thought the first guy was off-base too.) And then he let us go.
Phew! Unfortunately, they forgot to mention that in pulling out our suitcase, they’d scratched Anara’s new car. Ah well. Fodder to use in a book somewhere.
Things got WAY better after that. We arrived at the Marriott and they put us in rooms reasonably close together, and as usual we headed down to the restaurant. The first year we went, we were so hungry when we arrived we agreed to meet up at the restaurant after we’d dumped our bags in our room. Mary had been hoping to run into Cheryl Brooks but hadn’t arranged where or when. While we were sitting in the restaurant, there was a woman sitting beside us, eating all alone, and Mary realized it was Cheryl. We pulled her over to our table, and that’s become a tradition every year – that’s how we met Vicky Dreiling last year. Our table of four generally ends up sprawling into a table of twelve or more. And the numbers swell and ebb as people leave to go to their appointments and then are replaced as new friends arrive. It’s turned into a great way to meet people.
The same thing happens at the main events in the ball room too. That’s how I ended up meeting Desiree Holt and Virginia Nelson this year. (Jade Lee, Beth Kery, Marie Force in previous years.) I love how RAGT lets the authors mingle with the readers–and since I’m a reader as well as an author, I appreciated having the opportunity to table hop and meet my fave authors like Lorelei James too.
But mainly it’s all about meeting the readers. Last year I sat with Joni whom I knew from FB, and she introduced me to Margie who is now on my street team, and Margie introduced me to the Book Obsessed Chicks, and so on and so on. It’s kind of like that old “and they told two friends, and they told two friends” commercial. So this year wherever I walked, I heard my name being called out by old friends. It made me feel like a rockstar.
RAGT started a day earlier than normal this year–with a dance and some games, including one that challenged participants to match authors up with pictures of their pets. I was surprised to see a photo of Seamus and Turtle up on the board. (If anyone attending got a photo of the boards, can you email me or contact me on FB–I’d love to have a copy.)
Friday morning, I took the members of my Street Team who were there out to breakfast, along with a couple of other new friends – Sarah (whom we hope to convert to being a Braemel Brigade member), and Sharon (whom you may know as Slick Reads from Guilty Pleasures) From left to right it’s Lori M, Margie M.H., Slick Reads, Sarah, me, and Lisa B.
Friday afternoon was the digital book signing. Which is one I’ll never forget–hey, any time someone comes up with one of my books they’ve brought from home and asks me to sign it is unforgettable. I have to admit, I suck at coming up with those witty lines above my signature. No different from when I’m signing birthday or get well cards. I hope none of my fans are disappointed at what I wrote, or shocked (I got risque on a few RAGT first-time attendees books 
) Saturday’s signing was just as fun–and challenging coming up with those witty one-line dedications.
For the first time, I had some buttons made up — for my Brigade members to wear, but also Hauberk Protection buttons, and one for almost all my heroes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover people snatching them up and it became a private game to spy them on other people’s lanyards. The Hauberk buttons were the most popular, followed closely by the I ♥ Sam buttons. Though I ran out of I ♥ Chad buttons first (mainly because I’d had twice the number of Sam buttons made up since he’s the most popular of all my heroes.)
Saturday night’s Carina Press Pictionary game was a hoot as always–I’m going to see if I can get some of the photos Mary took of the hints that were drawn to see if you can guess the word(s). As I did last year, by the time the game ended, my already-hoarse voice was strained to the limit, but I had a grin a mile-wide from the fun we’d had. And many of the other sponsors had fun games too — like the “cup” game Author Island had in the ballroom Saturday night.
RAGT gives me such an opportunity to meet so many people–I named some yesterday, but I wanted to acknowledge more today: authors like Jayne Rylon, Lissa Matthews, Robyn Bachar, Drea Becraft, Maddie Barone, Macy Beckett, Dee Carney, Alannah Lynne, Janice Maynard, Jeffe (pronounced Jeffey, but please, no Y) Kennedy, Linda McMaken, Hildie McQueen, Monica Burns, Jodie Redford, Keri Stevens (who injured herself on the treadmill and declared ‘exercise kills’), Tatum Throne (really Tatum, submit to Carina! Rhonda meant it when she gave you her card), Beth Williamson, and for a moment Wendi Zwaduk (sorry I didn’t get to spend more time talking with you, Wendi). And also Kendra Egert (the cover artist who designed Private Deceptions’ cover), Diana Neartrour, Amelia Durbin, Jodi Anderson, Valerie Cozart, Alannah Lynne, Kim Rocha of Book Obsessed Chicks, Kim Killion of Hot Damn Designs and the Killion Group, not to mention all the Samhain and Carina folks. I know I’ve forgotten others, and I apologize if I’ve left you off the list.
I also met dozens of readers — you are what made the event for me, whether you stopped by and said hi at the signings or sat with me at the dinner tables and threatened to take my cowboy hat. 
There is one very special lady I finally got to chat with this year–she joined us for breakfast last year, but since I was at the far end I never managed to actually talk to her. Boy I wish I had had the chance because she is something special. She is one of the reasons I will always remember this year’s RAGT and rate it the best…but that’s for tomorrow’s post.
Note: I apologize if there are any typos but I am writing this one-handed. Turtle has been a little clingy since I returned and has claimed my right arm/hand as his bed. He looks so cute I don’t want to disturb him.
So you may have been seeing a lot of people talking on Twitter or Facebook about #RAGT — which stands for the Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together. I’ve gone for the last three years, and each year it has gotten bigger. And better. Which explains why it filled up this year within a matter of days rather than months. If you ever get the chance to attend, jump at it. For my money, it is the best conference for readers to get together with authors in a reasonably informal setting and actually just talk. In the lobby, in the bar, or in the ballroom where readers sit at the same table as authors.
So much happened that I’ll have to divide this into multiple posts…As happened at RT I got so involved with talking with people I often forgot to get a picture with them. Darn it all. So I’m hoping I’ll be able to grab some off of their Facebook or webpage posts as mementos. Even though I bet my better quality camera, I ended up taking most of my photos with my phone as it was just easier to hand to someone. Unfortunately sometimes the quality didn’t turn out as good.
For me, this year was the best of what I’ve attended so far, not only because I got to meet and mingle with some of my favorite authors but today I’m just going to focus on some of my fave authors/people I met.
I went all fangirl over Lorelei James–if you haven’t read any of her books, you should! Both her westerns with Samhain or her mysteries written under her other pen name of Lori Armstrong.) I had a huge smile on my face late Saturday night when I ran into Lorelei and she recognized me and gave me a hug. Yes I may have actually ‘squeed’ though thankfully I held off until I was alone in the elevator.
I got to hang out with the Book Obsessed Chicks. A more enthusiastic group of readers I’ve yet to meet. (I downloaded a photo head BOC member Kimberley Rocha posted to Facebook. Hope she doesn’t mind.) I’m in the back row with the cowboy hat on — we were supposed to wear tiaras, but mine got broken when I packed it in my suitcase 
They were gracious enough to say cowboy hats were acceptable. You may recognize a few other authors in there, like Dana Marie Bell and Cat Johnson.
It always surprises me when I meet an author for the first time–I have a visual in my head of what they will look like based partly upon their avatar and partly upon their presence on the web or what they write. I’d always thought Cat would be as tall as me and able to haul twice my weight, but she’s a little wee thing. In this picture I’m sitting but Cat’s standing. But I still think she could whoop my ass if it came to a knock-down-drag-out. (I think the same of Kelly Jamieson whom I met at RT. Talk about them both making me feel like a giant.)
I also met up again with Shannon, whom some of you over on Twitter might know as @PBRCowgirl — Shannon made the most delicious cupcakes–including one she called the “cowboy cocksucker” (yes, I said it. It’s my blog!) Anyway the CC cupcake was made with butterscotch schnapps and tasted delicious. Unfortunately I can’t find any pictures of me with Shannon this year.
I also met up with fellow Carina Press author Rita Henuber. I’ve met Rita several times before and she is such a lovely, witty and incredibly intelligent woman. I love hanging out with her at conferences.
I’m normally a rather quiet person who finds having to make small talk equal to a trip to the dentist. For a root canal. But RAGT is such a laid back event, and there is so much enthusiasm that I felt very comfortable sitting at tables of strangers. Who often turned out to be friends with me on Facebook or Twitter. Like meeting Virginia Nelson who sat down for dinner at the same table. We chatted away and then later that night I found she’d posted status messages on Facebook … including another taunting her friend about how her purse was now classier than her friends because of my signature.
Or the next night when the Queen of Erotic Romance Desiree Holt sat beside me and complimented me on my cowboy hat. Another huge fangirl squee (though I managed to contain it. Just.)
Yup, Saturday was a very eventful day for me… but I’m running out of space and time, so more about it tomorrow…