The Love Bus!

I got in late last night from the bus tour (#lovebus on Twitter, if you want more pics), and though the trip was exhausting, it was also a lot of fun. Good food, good company, and many, many books. And even more hours on the road.

Unfortunately, because we visited eight different stores in eight different towns in three days, the stops are kind of running together in my head. So I'm no longer sure which pictures were taken where. But we had fun and met great people everywhere we went. Including a very sweet debut author who's recently signed with my own editor and will have a Harlequin Teen release next year! (I may be able to snatch a picture of her later, if I find one...)



Above is Jason (a Kmart employee) and Erica (Harlequin sales) and Heather (Harlequin PR). Erica and Heather took wonderful care of us all weekend. They were both gracious, and funny, and enthusiastic, and they anticipated anything we could possibly have needed, before I even realized there was a need. It was great to work with you both!


Above is me and Gena on the first morning of the tour. We'd just gotten on the bus, headed for the first stop. Note how rested and enthusiastic we look. By the end of the tour, I was exhausted and Gena was wearing PJs. But it was fun, even when it was hectic. ;)



Here's Susan Mallery, and I believe these next few are from the first stop. Susan was hilarious, and smart, and I wanted to bring her home with me, so she could rephrase all my thoughts to make sure they're entertaining, as well as informative. I loved listening to her talk!

Here's Gena (and most of me). I'm talking to a reader, and am just grateful that this shot doesn't show me with my mouth wide-open, in mid word. ;)

Above is a reader named Gail (who sent most of the pictures from this stop).

This is Carla Neggers, who was so sweet and easy to talk to. I could have easily talked to her for the entire trip.

Unfortunately, Emilie didn't make it to this stop because of bad weather, and I don't seem to have any pictures of her. But if I find one, I'll add it to this post.

The lovely reader above brought me the entire Shifters series, which she'd rebound with hardcovers by hand! So cool! She saw how much I liked them, so the next day she drove to one of our other stops to bring me a re-bound copy of Stray she'd done just for me! I asked her to sign it for me, and she graciously agreed. ;-) It now stands on display in my office.

While several readers brought either the entire Shifters series or the Soul Screamers series for me to sign, one reader (wish I'd gotten her picture!) brought my entire backlist, including the anthologies! I was pleasantly surprised by my own productivity! ;-)

But now that I'm back home, I'm also back to work. I owe my editor a synopsis, a novel, and a novella. I also owe a short story to someone else, and I'm expecting page proofs for My Soul To Steal very soon.

If you couldn't make it to any of the bus tour stops, I'll be traveling again in September with the Smart Chicks tour, including stops in Houston, Pasadena, and San Diego!