Washington Romance Writers hosted their first annual Readers and Bloggers Luncheon yesterday (10/11/14). The Loft at 4935 restaurant in Bethesda, MD may have gotten more than they bargained for when 40 romance writers and about 60 readers/bloggers descended on the place. 🙂
Raffle baskets, trick-or-treating for swag, free books, signings, and meeting new friends filled the afternoon (and chocolate cake). It was so wonderful to meet and talk to so many enthusiastic people who love reading just as much as I do! 🙂
As part of the festivities, the authors were assigned tables and asked to come up with a centerpiece. Anything goes. I’ll tell you, some of those centerpieces were just fantastic! They ranged from sedate (like ours pictured above) to drool worthy (think pictures of hunky guys hanging from branches of a small tree–their theme “Men Grow On Trees”) to chilling (books surrounded by skulls and creepy crawlies). So much fun! For our theme we chose “Thrills and Chills” since we had a mix of Romantic Suspense and Paranormal authors. (You may not be able to see it clearly, but I have a “Glock” in the flowers and a throat-mic/earpiece hanging from the branches.)
My fellow authors (pictured from left to right above) at Table 10 were Caryn Moya Block (Paranormal), P.A. DePaul (me), Rachel Rawlings (Paranormal), and Elisabeth Staab (Paranormal and Contemporary).
Even Dean Winchester made an appearance! LOL.
As I mentioned before, part of the fun was the raffle baskets. I put together a basket that included an Indigo blue Delta Squad T-shirt, a free download of EXCHANGE OF FIRE, a picture frame, and a few smaller goodies. I’m pictured with Karlene Kipp, winner of my raffle basket. 🙂
I want to to say THANK YOU to everyone who attended this event. I love meeting people who are just as passionate about reading as I am. To those of you who are going to download a copy of EXCHANGE OF FIRE, I give you a HUGE THANK YOU. I truly appreciate the support from the bottom of my heart.
Next up on my appearance schedule is NJRW’s annual Put Your Heart In A Book Conference from Friday, October 17th to Saturday, October 18th. If you have some free time Saturday from 4-5:30, there’s a large book fair and author signing open to the public. LOTS of romance authors participating in this one (Some really huge names will be there too). For more information and/or directions click here.
Until next time!
Sincerely,
P.A. DePaul