I'm a little all over the map today, have lots of things on my mind, but most of all want to tell you about my visit to Harlequin last week. I am not going to RWA in July, but wanted to be able to touch base with my editors in person, so I made the drive. I didn't take many pictures because as usual I was too busy talking to take time to use my camera, but I got a few. :) I also have a new box of books here -- Pick Me Up is here, it's got a 4.5 star review from RT (yeeha!) and I feel like giving one away to celebrate, so here goes. :)

I went up to Toronto last week, drove up Thurs, came back Fri, 600 miles in two days and worth every single second. Met with my editor, also the Exec Ed, Birgit, and Blaze's Senior Ed, Brenda, and had a wonderful time, lots of good talk about books and general life stuff, which we rarely have time to do on phone calls, so it was a real treat. Had a lovely dinner with Birgit at a restaurant called Trappers -- amazing food and even better desserts. We talked books, of course, but it was also so nice to hear about her family, to get to share time with her as a person, not just an editor. I really enjoyed that.

Brenda and I talked kayaking among other things -- she is a certified expert, and well, I am not. LOL But one of these days, I will get out on the water with her and embarass myself. I don't think I mentioned it to her when I was there, but this was actually my first solo trip since I've been with Mike, 14 years. I used to travel on my own before, but since, didn't really have any reason to, and so weirdly, I was a little nervous. But you know, Brenda is an adventure girl, and she really believes in facing your fears, and she's said some things about that that have stuck with me, and I had her in my mind as I started out on this trek alone. And it was great!

Had a very nice hotel room, and didn't even mind the drive -- listened to Buffy and Bon Jovi, singing at the top of my lungs most of the time. I save this for when I am alone, obviously.

Also met Melissa and Jen (marketing and research) Wanda and Kathryn, (Blaze eds), Kathleen (Harl American's Ed), and the summer Harlequin intern, Imee. I also got to sit down and chat with Superromance editor Laura Shin, and that was a very big highlight, as I am a big fan of Supers and want to write for the line, and so this was a real treat. I learned a lot and felt very ecouraged to keep trying for the line. I know people often feel intimidated by editors, but these people put you to ease so quickly, they are so real and down to earth -- and smart and creative -- that being around them is a joy. Everyone was so nice, not just polite or friendly, but truly, truly nice and a pleasure to spend time with. It's completely inspiring.

Another highlight was meeting Tony, the art director who works on our book covers. He was a lot of fun, and as you can see here, had my December cover for Talking in Your Sleep... on his desk, and in this picture he was working on changing my December heroine's hair color from blonde to reddish, to match the description in the book. I know this is a huge topic among readers and authors, that the characters on the cover match the ones in the book, and let me tell you, they are really paying attention and working so hard to make great covers, but also accurate covers, and I know we all appreciate that! I got to see all the covers coming up, through Dec, and wowza, they are awesome. This was all fun, but also informative for me in terms of what I can do to help make titling, covers, and such easier and more effective, and so I plan to keep all of that in mind as I work on future books.

What was particularly fun was getting details of the background concerning the photo shoot for my cover -- that the male model on the cover played the Naval Officer that Nicole Kidman fantasizes about in the Tom Cruise movie Eyes Wide Shut and that the female model showed up to shoot with a horrible (and I do mean horrible) sunburn that left her looking like a peppermint candy, all red and white stripes -- but Tony was able to fix all through the miracle of computer art, and it all left me completely impressed and also wanting to send him some of my own personal photos so he could take out some of my gray, maybe make my eyes a little bigger, make my face a little thinner, etc -- yeah, probably not. LOL Still cool stuff. They make small changes, like covering up sunburn stripes or turning a blonde to a redhead, easily, but they cannot make drastic changes, such as turning a platinum blonde to a raven haired beauty. He also told me some stories about other cover shoots, and it was just so much fun, I could have chatted with him all day.

I love my December cover, I don't know how well you can see it here in the pics, but the Blaze covers are getting hotter, folks, so you are in for some sizzling treats.

I also, of course, came home with a few new projects to work on, having done some pitches over dinner, and finding that my ideas are workable, so now I just have to write it all up. I'm hoping to send in proposals to Superromance and Nocturne, so with any luck, you'll all see Samantha Hunter popping up in other lines as well as Blaze.

It was also interesting being introduced around the office as Sam -- this is my pseudonym, as most of you know, I think, but in many ways I am as comfortable with it as my own name. Sometimes more so -- I catch myself signing "Sam" to emails and such these days, even ones that are just personal, or family emails. I feel like a "Sam" (if not a Samantha) and so it was kind of intriguing to realize that all of these people who work on my book know me as Sam, and though Brenda also told them that was my pseud, and I got to tell the story of how I came up with my psued, I think I've gotten to the point where I feel like I have two real names, not one real one and one made-up one.

All in all, it was a wonderful, fun, successful visit, and they are probably thanking their lucky stars, though, that I don't live closer because I would be there all the time -- they are just a great group of people to be around, and if I lived in Toronto I would probably end up being "writer in residence." Though this also sort of drove home the point of how solitary writing can be -- I sort of miss being able to go to a workplace every day and see people, chat, talk, get to know them, but you know, all the benefits of writing make it worth it.

So... that was my visit to Harlequin. :) I'm happy to be home again, but I enjoyed my quick visit very much and hope to make it back there sooner than later. Chat with me today and I'll come in tomorrow morning and pick someone to get a signed copy of Pick Me Up, which, by the way, has a special little feature in it. I knew long before my visit to Harlequin that there are many, many people who are involved in bringing a book to the shelf, and Pick Me Up is my thank you to them -- some of them are mentioned in the book, and unfortunately, there wouldn't be enough room to mention everyone, so this book really means a lot to me, and now I know, personally, many of the people who are involved in that process with my upcoming books. I hope they know how much they are appreciated. My visit allowed me to put a lot of faces to names and I'll think of them all every time one of our books comes to life on the shelf.

Sam