Whole Lotta Informin' Going On!

As my Hook Me Up! subscribers already know, there's more going on at Team Gini Central. First off, there's a new question, and, therefore, a new answer, in the Ask Gini! section of the Extra Me! page.

There's also a new Playlist up (I know, don't faint -- the soundtrack doesn't stop, but I sometimes forget to let y'all know I've changed the channel), and for those of you who may have missed it, the Cool Links page has been revised, improved, and added to. And, as I'm sure you've noticed, the Blog Roll on Blah, Blah, Blah... keeps expanding 'cause, well, there's a lot of cool blogs out there.

I know I promised a Desert Dreams Conference update, and you shall finally have it.

It was awesome.

Okay, okay, I'll toss out some details. It's always a great conference -- lots of great authors and aspiring authors, great speakers, lots of learning, networking and fun. I got to hang with several members of the Alien Collective, even though I didn't get to hang with them as much as I'd thought I would, because we were all so busy racing around being individually awesome. (It's a tough job, being as awesome as we all are, I know, but that's just the cross the Alien Collective has to bear. You all do it so well, though, that you make it look easy.) I didn't get a full count, but it seemed like we had between 200-250 people there.

Got to moderate informative and fun sessions for Tina Gerow, Jennifer Ashley, and Deborah LeBlanc and learn a lot in the process. Got to sign books sitting between Deborah and Kathryne Kennedy. Since Deborah and I know each other, but get to see each other like once every two years, we might have been a tad raucous. But the rumors are totally untrue and unfounded and not based in any kind of fact at all! Got to have dinner with Eileen Rendahl who is even cooler and more fun in person than you already expect from her books. Had Cat Brown ASK if she could have Romance Junkies review "Touched by an Alien", even before we realized we're both total NCIS nerds. Got to hang at the bar with Erin Quinn and Calista Fox. Again, the rumors are SO not true! Well, okay, maybe a little true.

Hmmm, this sounds like all I did was party. Well, I was also left in charge of a large sum of money, which somehow only struck a few of us as potentially dangerous. It struck ME as foolhardy, but the folks in charge seemed to think the money was safe and secure in my paws. Amazing, really. All's well that ends well and all that -- Erin came to her senses and took the cash before I could get into trouble with it. And no, we were NOT spending it in the bar! That was different cash.

But enough about that! As I said earlier, I had my first book signing, which was both totally beyond awesome and very successful. Many thanks and much love to the non-conference-attending Alien Collective folks who showed up, "Touched by an Alien" in hand, for the signing, as well as to all those who bought the book from me and will hopefully be joining the rest of us in the Collective. And...drum roll, please...Diana Gabaldon bought my book! Many thanks to Little Bit, the youngest member of the Collective, for her awesome and precocious salesgirlship in the brokering of that deal.

I'm sure there's more, there always is. But that's going to have to do for now. I mean, I have to save SOMEthing for tomorrow.

Love,
Gini