Romantic Times Booklovers Convention – Day 1 by Jill James

So, day 1 was busy with a welcome party, romance novel cover models, and some awesome workshops. My favorite was Conquering the Premature Beginning, Sagging Middle, and Flat End. I took away from this workshop a lot of great ways to shore up that sagging middle and not race to the finish.

I checked out Club RT and found my old CP Grace Greene. It was our first face-to-face.

Then I had dinner with a couple of lovely fellow Wild Rose Press Authors, Barbara and Linda. We ate at Fritzi’s with a train overhead that delivered your food to your table on a track and lowered it to the table!

Then Lee and I went to the Ellora’s Cave Bad Girls of Romance Disco Inferno. There were great gifts at the tables and some awesome costumes. I haven’t seen that many afros in a long time! Lots of bell bottoms and halter tops.

Didn’t get to bed until 2 a.m. What a time!!

Romantic Times Booklovers Convention Recap – Jill James

Our adventure started with a 3:45 am wake-up call. I had to be up that early to get my friend, Lee at 4:15 and to head to Oakland to the airport. The husband took us and dropped us off before he had to be at work. Check in went really well and easy. We got coffee and waited for our flight. The plane ended up half full and everyone got their own row of seats. Cool! Lee and I sat together but had tons of room with the middle seat empty. It was a lot of cloud cover the whole way but I did get a few shots.

 

We had a stop in Albuquerque but we got to stay on the plane. The flight was smooth with no turbulence. Awesome!! Got the shuttle to the hotel and met other RT’ers on the bus. The fun is already beginning. The room is beautiful and just a short skywalk away from the convention hotel. 5 minute walk.

Hotel waterfall

Union Station

The Union Station is gorgeous at night, all lit up in purple.

Lee and I headed to the Sheraton to get our books for the Book Expo and meet a wonderful fan in the bathroom (of all places). LOL

More on Friday……Jill

 

Sneak Peek Sunday

So, I signed up for Sneak Peek Sunday for the first time. I’m supposed to show off 6 paragraphs of a WIP and then send you back to see the rest. Jill

Love in the Time of Zombies by Jill James (coming in June)

Guess you just never know. Who would have thought something as terrible as the zombie apocalypse would bring me something as wonderful as Seth Ripley?

Of course, the zombies got Momma, and Daddy, and my husband, Carl. Pretty much, my whole family. Okay, my husband Carl was an asshole so he was no great loss. Never could keep it in his pants, if you know what I mean. If he could’ve kept it in his pants he might have kept that appendage all together. But, it was the early days of the Z mutation and how was he to know the hooker he took to the cheap, by-the-hour motel had the sickness? I’m sure he didn’t realize anything until the woman ripped it off. He never was a great one for paying attention during sex as it was.

Five years of him spreading it far and wide and all I was left with was a one-sheet police report and a blurred photo of Carl with one between the eyes. The police had stopped trying to take sickies to the hospital a couple of weeks before. By the time Carl was attacked it was kill ‘em, identify ‘em, and burn ‘em in a pile. K.I.B. was the order of the day. A few weeks more and they skipped the identify part of the acronym.

Six months later and the police were all gone, along with the military. Now it was survival of the fittest. Never in a million years would I have pictured myself; little, bored society wife, Emily Gray, in that category. Guess you never know.

Your day can start so shitty and end so . . . well, not great, because there weren’t too many great days anymore. There were get bitten by zombies days and not get bitten by zombies days. But this day would turn out better than most.

I got zombie patrol for the morning, which is so not my best time of the day. But zombies don’t have an off switch so we have to hunt first thing in the morning to clear a perimeter around the strip mall.

Now, back to the rest of Sneak Peek Sunday.  http://sneak-peek-sunday.blogspot.com/

*

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

The Author Exploitation Business

Reblogged from David Gaughran:

• 

Writing is a glamorous occupation - at least from the outside. Popular depictions of our profession tend to leave out all the other stuff that comes with the territory: carpal tunnel syndrome, liver failure, penury, and madness.

Okay, okay, I jest. I love being a writer. Sharing stories with the world and getting paid for it is bloody brilliant. It's a dream job, and like any profession with a horde of neophytes seeking to break in, there are plenty of sharks waiting to chew them to bits.

Read more… 1,861 more words

Knowledge is power in this business. Read this and be back on Wednesday when I start my recap of Romantic Times 2013 in Kansas City. :)

E-Book, Indie Published and Graphic Novel EXPO – Jill James

Welcome to the Jill James Newsletter. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. RT Convention Edition RT Convention Special by Jill James FOR THOSE WHO *CANNOT* ATTEND THE EXPO IN PERSON Mark Your Calendar for the RT EXPO on May 2 from 4 to 6pm and join in the virtual EXPO event! THIS YEAR THE RT EXPO IS GOING GLOBAL! ARe is the official bookseller for RT’s Expo and this year we are making the book lover event global so that everyone from home can participate. Join in the fun by visiting this page by clicking on button above on May 2 from 4pm to 6pm and attend the virtual event! Just click on any author’s name and it will take you to their unique author page on All Romance e-Books website where you can begin purchasing. We recommend that, if you do not already have an account with ARe, you set one up before the EXPO begins on May 2 to make your purchasing easy on the day of the event. We will be tweeting and Facebooking from the hotel with a live feed so feel free to join in the fun! Tweet hashtag is #RT13EXPO Jill’s author page at All Romance eBooks! FOR THOSE WHO ARE ATTENDING THE EXPO IN PERSON I’ll be at the E-Book, Indie Publishing, Graphic Novel Book Expo Sheraton Crown Center, Kansas City, MO Thursday, May 2nd 4 to 6 p.m. signing books and postcards for my eBooks. ******************************************************** For my newsletter readers: Divorce, Interrupted (The Lake Willowbee Series, #1) is being made into an audio book. It will be available from Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.com Love in the Time of Zombies, my urban fantasy/horror/romance will be available late June. Thanks, Jill James Hope to see you at the RT Booklover’s Convention Sheraton, Kansas City, MO May 1-5, 2013 follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Copyright © 2013 Jill James, romance author, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you opted in at my website. Our mailing address is: Jill James, romance author P.O. Box 1992 Brentwood, Ca 94513 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

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Going to Kansas City – Jill James

Off to a writers/readers convention. I haven’t been to one in a while, and I’ve never been to Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. Very excited. I will be signing books, postcards, handing out promo stuff, pens, and candy. Hope to see lots of people who are only email addresses and yahoo loop names at the moment. Jill

Hope to see you there!!

Adventures in Writerland – Jill James

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a control freak. So, the past week has pushed all my control buttons. I’m signing my books at RT in Kansas City next week. We had to mail our books there ahead of our arrival. Complete, not under my control, time. I put that Fedex tracking number in the website twice a day. The time between left Reno, Nevada and arrived in Kansas City was the longest few days of my life. LOL Until later this week. I ordered postcards and magnets from Vistaprint. (none of this is their fault). So, again with the tracking numbers twice a day, because I paid a lot extra to get them here on time. So, they are due on Tuesday. No box. Go online. Train derailment in New Mexico. Wednesday. No box. Go online. Address label lost in San Pablo. Finally, today. Go online. Will be delivered by end of day. Did not realize end of day was 6:30 p.m. LOL

The box looks like it was toasted, but all contents arrived well.

My promo materials have more adventures than I do.

 

Jill James, author of contemporary and paranormal romance

eagerly awaiting Kansas City and Romantic Times Booklovers Convention!!