Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Iowa

This evening, I travel to Iowa. Seriously, I am so excited. Not only because this means six states in 48 hours, but because it’s Iowa! Where much awesomeness will happen!

First, on 19

August

May (oy!), I’m taping a show called Metro Woman, talking about romance novels, summer reading, and how smart women read romance. Then, at 7pm, I’ll be at the Carroll Public Library

Then, on 20 May, it’s on to Des Moines, where at 6pm I’ll be at the Des Moines Social Club to celebrate romance reading, Heaving Bosoms, and a general gathering of any and all fans of Smart Bitches and Dear Author who can make the trip down to Des Moines. I know Katie of YoungLibrarian is planning on being there, as is Nicole of BlogHappy, so come find us - we’ll be at the bar.

Then, on 6 June, after a really long nap, I’ll be in Durham, North Carolina, at the Barnes and Noble booksellers at an event co-hosted by the Durham public library.

But first, Iowa! Bosom travel ahoy! Hope to see you there.

Australian Radio Didn’t Know What Hit It

Back on 3 May, or 2 May if you were me or Candy, we were on the radio with a hilarious dude named Alan Brough in Melbourne, Australia. It was epic fun.

If you missed it, ABC Melbourne was kind enough to get the mp3 online so if you’d like to listen, have at it. It’s too early for me to listen right now - I’d wake everybody up.

Where My Bitches At?

It’s another two weeks of nonstop travel and fun for both me and Candy. WOO!

12 May—Today! : Sarah is speaking at the IPDF Digital Book 2009 conference. I think the hashtag is either #db09 or #idpf. I hate when there’s two and I have to use both.

Angie James from Samhain Publishing will be speaking at 1:15 on eBook Business Models and the role of DRM. I’m on at 3:15 as part of the panel on “Confessions of an eReadaholic - What Consumers Really Want.” My presentation, which was built in PowerPoint with the help of everyone on Twitter, features Comic Sans (not), Wingdings (also not), excessive animation between slides (not), pictures of Edward (not), and LOLCats (maybe). It describes the ideal device, ebook, and ebookstore - again, with the majestic help of everyone on Twitter - that we digital readers would like to have, and asks that publishers, bookstores, and device designers remember to include the readers in the increasing development of the digital publishing world.

Unfortunately, I can’t head over there until about lunchtime, but tune in to Ye Olde Twitter for updates and soundbites from the conference. In the morning, you can follow Angie… read more »

You want links? You can has links!

From Kelly, who invites you, too, to be consumed with lust. Kelly says this makes her giggle-snort. Me, too. Totally.

From Brooke and I comes a request based on this news article. We can has Harlequin novel with basketball player forced to marry by dead uncle? Only it’s not true? Except maybe it is? Could be Presents, could be Intrigue, guaranteed to be awesome!

And from Rob, the hardworking RT Web Dude, comes a video! If you can’t make it to the smattering of Bitch apperances in the US (Jersey! Manhattan! Durham, NC! Iowa! Idaho! California! Washington!) Rob took a video of me at my book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Manhattan. So it’s virtual Bitches! I’m reading from the chapter about cover art and sharing how I came to be introduced to romance novels, so if you’ve got nine minutes, enjoy. Thanks to Rob, and everyone who came out to the book signing, including Hope Tarr, Leanna Renee Hieber, Maya Rodale, her really adorable dog, Joanna Rendell, her really adorable son, and this one guy who asked very long, very rambling, very… odd question.

HEAR YE HEAR YE! BOSOMS ARE #1!

Thanks to Billie out in Oregon, we have merry happy news in the World of Bosoms:

If you go to the Powell’s Romance page with their top ten list, behold, what wondrous sights should appear?

Beyond Heaving Bosoms is #1!!!!! Commence Snoopy Dance!! Screen cap? Of course!

On top of Twilight? Now that is HILARIOUS. Thank you to everyone who shopped at Powell’s and embraced the Bosoms.

Friendly Reminder: Smart Bitches Tweetup and Booksignings!

A friendly reminder of Bosoms On Tour events tonight and tomorrow:

Tuesday 5 May - 7:30 pm Booksigning with Sarah at Barnes and Noble booksellers in Clifton Commons, 395 Route 3 East, Clifton, NJ.

Wednesday 6 May - 6:30 pm Smart Bitches TweetUp at the North Square Lounge located at 103 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village. The bar entrance is on MacDougal Street.

Wednesday 6 May - 7:30 pm Booksigning at the Barnes and Noble Booksellers at 396 Avenue of the Americas, Greenwich Village, down the street from North Square.

Special Note!! I have heard rumors that there is a very good chance that a certain Joanne Rendell, author of one particularly awesome HuffPo article on romance, may be in attendance at the BN signing in the Village. So if you come on down, you might get the chance to meet her and thank her personally. How cool is that?!

These events are brought to you by Kelly Bowen at Touchstone/Fireside, Chad at NorthSquare who is too awesome for mere words to contain him, the Letters B, H, and S, and by the number 4. Hope… read more »

Collaboration

I’m the guest du jour over at Over Coffee today, talking to Sia about collaboration and writing with a partner.

I know there are some kickass critique groups out there, who collaboratively shape and refine each others’ work, but what about folks who write together under one name? What’s your experience like? As for me, and Candy, we’re still frequent flyers on Seat Of Your Pants Airline, in collaboration and pretty much damn near everything else. How do you work collaboratively?

Bitches Together Now

Three events in the Tour Of the Bosoms in the next two days for folks in the New York City and northern New Jersey area - woo hoo!

Tuesday 5 May - 7:30 pm I’ll be signing books and causing trouble at the Barnes and Noble booksellers in Clifton Commons, 395 Route 3 East, Clifton, NJ.

Note: BookTour.com had this listed as a 6:30pm start time - not so! It’s 7:30pm.

If you’ve never been to this particular BN, let me tell you. It is a mammoth cavern of epic proportions. Seriously. It’s huuuuge. I know a few Bitchery readers are planning to stop by, and I hope you can find me in this place. I mean, I’m not kidding. It’s a big damn store. I’ll be the loud one with the glasses, talking about Bosoms, then shopping in the romance and YA sections.

Wednesday 6 May - 6:30 pm Smart Bitches TweetUp at the North Square Lounge located at 103 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village. This is one of my favorite restaurants and bars in NYC, and the blood orange cosmopolitans are delicious. The bar entrance is… read more »

Romance and HuffPo

As Malle Vallik pointed out in her Tweet about this article, author Joanne Rendell has posted a marvelous examination of romance in academia and in the current market economy over at Huffington Post.

...the accompanying explanation that “escapist urges” are fueling these sales wasn’t satisfactory for me. Isn’t all fiction escapist in some way? I wondered. And why are readers escaping into this particular kind of fiction?

...I realized that it was too hasty to rush to this conclusion. Romances are not one kind of thing. Neither are their readers. And to draw fast conclusions about the genre and its audience is to perpetuate the kind of stereotyping which has always made romance the “most maligned of literary texts.”

Rendell discusses Beverly Jenkins’ presentation, as well as Dr. Guy Mark Foster’s examination, both scholarly and personal, of interracial romances. Rendell cuts through a lot of the stereotype to reveal the truth about romances - the one we already know: that the journey to the happy ending is so varied that there’s really no way to ever say that romances are “all the same.”

Full disclosure: I met Rendell at the Princeton conference on romance and academia, and I’m quoted in… read more »

Sarah and Candy on ABC Melbourne Sunday Morning

Sunday morning in Melbourne, Australia, Candy and I will be on the air with Alan Brough on 774 ABC Melbourne. I think we’re on around 11:30 AM there as part of the arts/books program, whereas it’ll be 9:30 Saturday night here, and like, a week ago last Tuesday in Oregon or something. Working out the time zone differences nearly did me in. It looks like there may be ways to listen in online, if you’re not in the Melbourne area.

Seems Alan is way into the Bosoms, and wants to talk to us about romance novels. And since I’m a huge fan of Australia, I’m so excited, I can’t even tell you. Candy and I both are plotzing all over the place, especially since, according to her bio, Hilary Harper, who contacted us initially, tosses haiku into her traffic reports. That’s just supreme excellent right there.

Think I ought to tell Alan that Freebird thinks the lyrics to “Waltzing Matilda” go: “Washing the tuba, washing the tuba, you’ll go a-washing the tuba with me”? This makes more sense to him than anything having to do… read more »

Top Five Things You Didn’t Know About Romance Readers - and Watchung Books

Before I left for my booksigning and talk at Watchung Booksellers, I asked Ye Olde Twitter Wise People for help with my presentation. The bookshop folks didn’t want me to read from the book as much as they preferred a talk about the book - which I’m totally down with.

So I said, “What are the top five things you didn’t know about romance readers. In case you missed the complete list, here’s a recap:

5. We are smart. We are educated. We have conferences in Princeton and one of the best peer-support writers orgs in business. We are not dumb.

4.

We are NOT your grandma.

We are not exactly like your Grandma. We’re not even exactly alike. We are women of all ages from every country. (My apologies to JoanneL for unintentional slight. My bad!)

And while many dismiss us as disconnected and isolated, we are not. We’re often on the cutting edge of technology. Biggest ebook pioneer? HQN. And: We are not all WOMEN. (Angela James gave me that last bit - excellent point)

3. We spend money. Publishing banks on the… read more »

Everybody Watchung Tonight!

It’s a breezy, cool spring afternoon in Jersey, and there’s so much pollen everywhere my car is turning green.

It’s all kinds of allergenic spring majesty up here in Jersey, so if you’re in the area, bring your Zyrtec and your heaving, possibly sneezy bosoms to Watchung Booksellers 54 Fairfield Street - Watchung Plaza, in Upper Montclair, NJ, at 7:00 pm to hear yours truly talk about romance, all the things that make it excellently awesome, and why more people should read it.

Chance of man-titty mention: 87%.

ETA: Great idea Lita! You want Google Maps link? You can has Google Maps Link!

Come on Down! We gonna Watchung till the break of dawn!

Ahoy: A Giveaway at Yonder Blog!

Joanne Rendell asked to interview me about romance and the economy, and the future of the genre in a recession. What could be more fun to talk about than books and money, right? If you leave a comment over there (NOT HERE) you can be entered in a drawing to win a copy of Beyond Heaving Bosoms.

Rendell is also going to be writing on her Huffington Post blog about the Love as the Practice of Freedom? Conference at Princeton last Friday. When I have a link to that, I’ll post it here. She was one of the lucky folks who attended the conference, and I’m sure she’ll have something way savvy to say about it.

SB Sarah at Watchung Booksellers on 29 April

After traveling back and forth between Orlando and Newark four times in five days, it’s time for an event that doesn’t require taking my shoes off to go through security! Woo!

If you’re a Jersey type person, come on down to Upper Montclair’s independent bookshop, Watchung Booksellers! Wednesday 29 April, at 7:00 pm, I’m doing a book signing and presentation about romance and its awesomeness. I hope if you’re a local Bitchery fan, you can come by.

Next week, there will be signings in Clifton, NJ, and in Greenwich Village. You can see the complete list at Booktour.com.

And if you’re a west-coast Bitchery member, Candy is all over the northwest of the US in May, including stops in Idaho and Washington State.

If you’re planning to come, please do let us know, even via email. The best part of Bosom Road Trips is meeting you guys.

A Heaping Pile of Signed Books: A Giveaway!

After the signing at Turn the Page Bookstore, where the people are awesome and the diet Pepsi is DAMN cold, I asked each author to sign a book of their choice for a giveaway on this here hot pink page of Bitchery madness. I carried that giant pile to the cash register and managed not to drop any, then I carefully packed them in the trunk of the car and drove them home, where they are now hidden in the china cabinet of my house, where toddlers and cats fear to tread. Seriously, signed books? OMG. SO precious.

I mentioned on Twitter that I’d be giving away the Hella Pile Sequestered in My China Cabinet, and it’s time to rock and roll. Thanks to @YoungLibrarian on Twitter, I have a quest for you folks who would like this Hella Pile of Sequestered Books. You know the Inn Boonsboro has rooms named for famous romantic couples, right? Your task, should you like to win the pile of books, is to come up with an additional room for the Inn. It has to be a romantic couple, even one from a romance novel you adore, and it has to be a… read more »