Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Hanging with the Ladies

If someone told me earlier that day I'd have the grand opportunity to spill wine on not 1, but 2 published authors in one fell swoop at a dinner table jam-packed with a total of 6 published authors, I would have said, "You know me well!" Sarah wrote Dull Boy, I'm going to write The Dripping and Slippery Adventures of Klutz Boy.

Despite the Sancerre seeping all over poor Rhonda and Julie, we all managed to have a delightful evening. Let's back up a bit for those who weren't there. 

I was racing back from Albany to get to the book signing at Books of Wonder (incredible children's book shop here in NYC!) on time. Lauren Barnholdt, author of Two-Way Street, The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney, and plenty more, is a periodic twitter friend of mine. We'd had a few exchanges, but I thought it would be fun to meet her. And as I'm sure you've suspected - she was one of the YA authors at the book signing. With a bit of luck, little traffic on the road, and some timely directions from a 4-foot tall sherpa who for whatever reason was wandering around the Saw Mill Parkway, I made it to the signing with only the slightest bit of sweat on my brow. 

Lauren was as lovely in person as her tweets had suggested, and we had a great talk. Her agent recently requested Kringle and she raved about her. I also met the surprisingly short ;) Mandy Hubbard, author of Prada and Prejudice. She's a regular sweetheart and was just so excited to be in the city - and that radiated from her. Before I knew it, Mandy had made the mistake of inviting me out to dinner with them. Who knew I'd get wrapped up in their Text in the City extravaganza? I wanna believe I was their Aiden - but let's face it, I'm probably their Sanford. 

So - everyone still with me? Back to the wine spilling. I'm in the middle of some random and I'm sure hilarious (right girls?) story, and I make a grand sweeping motion with my arm. The glass tips, the wine drips, and I rip... my hair out - I felt like the biggest dork in the world. More than usual, I mean. After all, I do lovingly refer to my wife as, "Princess Leia in Slave Outfit."

No one cared in the slightest at the moment, though I'm sure I was made fun of in disastrous proportion later that night in their hotel room. Oh fly - why couldn't I be you for the evening?

Anyway - let's get a roll call of who was there and what they've written so you can all go out and buy their books, knowing they are all hysterical and great fun, which carries over to their writing. So - Lauren and Mandy you know about.

Next up is Sarah Cross whose debut novel is called Dull Boy. Then we have Violet Haberdasher whose series, Knightley Academy, is coming March 9, 2010 (her previous titles are: Better than Yesterday and  The Social Climber's Guide to High School).  Rhonda Stapleton - aside from being side-splittingly hysterical and a great target for Sancerre - is the author of Stupid Cupid (Dec 22, 2009), Flirting with Disaster (March 9, 2010), and Pucker Up (May 18, 2010). And finally - Julie Linker is the author of Disenchanted Princess and Crowned.  

So there you have it, kiddies. Now go buy books!   

3 comments:

  1. Great post!

    Like you, I've already had my first embarrassing incident with a table full of publishing folk. I won't describe it EVER, but I still want to hide under my desk when I think about it.

    Nice blog,

    Marie

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  2. HA! The recap was almost as much fun as the actual dinner.

    Also, I believe you were demonstrating your numchuck skillz when spilling the wine.

    Also x2, I have no idea how to spell numchucks.

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  3. ROFL dude, your recap was killer awesome. I'm dying laughing.

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