Thursday Thirteen - 260 - 13 Highlights From My Amazing Year

1 – Having been born in the Year of the Dragon, 2012 turned out to be pretty freakin' fantastic for me, starting with the arrival of the hard copies of my debut release, SAINT SANGUINUS.

2 – My friend and fellow author Shawna Romkey gave me this first-ever moment: my first book signing during the Valentine's Hearts on Fire event for my writers' group at The Halifax Club. 

3 – In March, I attended the Women in Film and Television conference with my producer and friend Tara MacDonald, and our friend YA author Renee Pace.  

4 – Later in the spring, I attended a women's retreat at the Oak Island Inn with Tara and Shawna. A much-needed rest before a crazybusy summer.

 5 – WAY, way up at the tippy top of my joy this year: directing the book trailers for my Scorpius series. Produced by Tara MacDonald and shot by Caroline Ruyle. Best time I ever had on set.

 6 – This May I participated in Free Comic Book Day. Thanks to three local comic shops, I gave away free downloads of the e-book version of SAINT SANGUINUS, since it's a Dark Ages vampire superhero origin story. Many thanks to Giant Robot Comics, Quantum Frontier and Monster Comic Lounge.

 7 – The thrill of seeing your very own book for the first time never gets old! My second release BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE arrived in the mail in early summer.

 8 – The book trailer for SAINT SANGUINUS won two awards!

9 – In August I signed copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel and my dark fantasy novel in the Indie Artist Alley at Fan Expo in Toronto. Many, many thanks to my friend Tara for helping me navigate this venue, and to my husband Brad who worked alongside me.

10 - Easily, the most amazing moment of this year came when I finally made contact with a friend whom my sister and I met almost 30 years ago. We met Rashid Kamalov during the 1984 Tall Ships event in Halifax, while the Iron Curtain was still firmly in place. After writing about him here on my blog many times, his email showed up in my spam folder in September, which I only looked at because of the Fan Expo contest I held.

Rashid is now my Facebook friend!

Here's what he wrote after reading the tale of our summer together which I told to readers here at A Piece of My Mind:

"Dear Juliа, thank you for the wonderful story about our meetings and for good memory about me. I carried in my heart warm feelings to Michelle and to you through all life. I am glad to know that you are well, we can email each other. It is so well you are here!" - Oct. 2, 2012 

11 – In October I attended my 10th writers' retreat with my writers' group. Already counting down the days until the next one.

12 – A few weeks later, I shared a table at Hal-Con with paranormal/sci-fi erotica author Lilly Cain. Signed more copies of my books and had a ball.

13 – To cap off the Dream Come True year, I went on my second trip to New York City, sat in the red booth at the Russian Tea Room and walked into the lobby of Radio City Music Hall to watch The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.

That's my sister with me in the red booth, and my BFF at Radio City.

SO amazing.

I can't believe it sometimes!

Thank you to all my readers who have become friends over the years. You've made the world a much, much smaller place.

Here's to 2013! Hope you're off to a fantastic start.

5 on Friday - Set 144

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Guess what I'm up to this weekend?

1 - Back in the New York Groove - KISS

2 - Nessun Dorma (Turandot) - Placido Domingo

 



 

3 -Rockettes Fashion Parade

4 - Birthday - The Beatles



5 - Fanfare/Don't Dream It, Be It - Tim Curry, Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack

 

Thursday Thirteen - 220 - 13 Fond Memories From My First Trip to New York City

1 - My trip to New York last month was a writing conference trip - but I still managed to experience the joys that can only be found in the City That Never Sleeps.

Like discovering The Naked Cowgirl as we crossed Times Square on our way back to the hotel.













2 - My biggest delight while in New York was discovering that every bite of food I tasted was THE BEST (insert food item) EVER.

It all started with this seemingly innocuous order of angel hair pasta in a simple pomodoro sauce.

It came from the hotel restaurant - Encore - and I happily but unsuspectingly lifted a forkful of pasta to my mouth.

"Oh my God," I said. "Taste this," I said to my sister.

She took a bite.

"Oh my God," she said.













3 - It hadn't really sunk in yet that every meal we were to eat while in New York was going to be a symphony of delectability.

But during our second meal, eaten at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, the realization dawned that we had entered an alternate reality where every ingredient was imported from heaven.












4 - Granted, this looks pretty yummy. Jumbo shrimp wrapped around a crab filling, served over rice in a bed of garlic butter.

Now, keep in mind I come from Canada's east coast. I've eaten my fair share of seafood, fresh from the waters of the Atlantic, prepared by chefs with loving attention to detail.

And really - how tender and bursting with flavor can a jumbo shrimp be, anyway?

LOL! Exactly. Apparently, every other shrimp I'd eaten in my entire life were all fakes. I'd never eaten a real shrimp until this plate of captivating crustaceans were set before me.












5 - I thought our waitress was going to scoop me up and take me home when I ordered Huevos rancheros during the Nova Scotia / New Brunswick writers' breakfast.

Which brings me to one of the greatest joys of my trip to New York - the unparalleled level of service we received at every turn. Having worked in the service industry myself, I stood in awe of the incredible skill displayed by every staff member at every venue we attended. Every one of you made me feel like royalty. You made my dreamy trip even dreamier.












6 - After our stroll through Rockefeller Center, my cousin, my sister and I passed an Italian restaurant that caught our eye - so we went in.



























7 - In the lobby was a rogue's gallery of famous diners at the historic establishment, including my favorite singer of all time - Frank Sinatra.

On the walls were huge caricatures by Al Hirschfeld, including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum featuring Zero Mostel which was our view for the evening.

Once again, when our meals arrived, we were shocked by the exquisite delicacy contained within such vibrant taste. My cousin ordered the same trio as me - lobster ravioli (to DIE for,) eggplant lasagna (complex and incredibly fresh) and fettucine alfredo - the signature dish (*fall over thud*.)













8 - I wish I'd taken a picture of Alvin, our wonderful waiter. He was the epitome of charming but unobtrusive service. He truly raised our wonderful evening into one of the best dining experiences I've ever had.













9 - Of course, then we went to the unpretentious-looking Italian restaurant just across the street from the hotel. You would have thought we would have known by then to expect to be blown away - but we didn't.












10 - My cousin and sister both ordered the bowtie pasta in a cream sauce with the most savory salmon on Planet Earth. They are still talking about it. And I can vouch for them, because my sister shared a bite of hers.













Of course, I was ascending my own path to Nirvana with my seafood pasta in a simple tomato sauce. Plump shrimp, luscious crab, and my favorite of all, succulent scallops.

I may faint.

Accompanied by my absolute favorite celebratory drink - prosecco. I had a lot of prosecco while we were in New York.













11 - Non-food-related highlights of the trip included our walk through Central Park on the way to the ballet at Lincoln Centre.

I especially loved these bridges, as Hugh Jackman chased the mugger under one of these in one of my favorite films, Kate & Leopold:

"I warn you scoundrel, I was trained at the King's Academy and schooled in weaponry by the palace guard. You stand no chance. When you run, I shall ride. When you stop, the steel of this strap shall be lodged in your brain."













My cousin and sister on Bow Bridge.


























12 - A definite highlight for me was the art work at almost every turn, on almost every building.














13 - But I think the best part of my trip to New York was having so much time together with my sister and cousin.

We grew up like siblings in one another's homes. Once university hit, however, our adult lives took over, and the most we've been able to enjoy lately have been the occasional overnights.

So having five whole days together was definitely the very best part of my New York trip. Thanks for making such wonderful memories.

Thursday Thirteen - 219 - 13 Things About My First Writer's Conference

1 - My trip to New York a few weeks ago was a conference trip - not only my first visit to NYC, but my first-ever conference.

My writers' association - Romance Writers of America - holds an annual conference at a different location each summer. These are booked several years in advance, and when I saw a few years ago that the 2011 conference would take place in Manhattan, I promised myself I would make things happen so that I would be in a position to attend, pitch my books and see one of cities I've longed to visit since I was a kid.











2 - The conference hotel was the New York Marriott Marquis, which meant my address for five glorious days was on Broadway and 7th Avenue.

Pictured here is the Atrium Lounge where writers gathered informally to meet up and chat. Out of camera range but at the top beneath the row of lights is the Encore Restaurant, where I enjoyed several breakfasts and one yummy lunch.












3 - One of the more amusing aspects of a conference for writers is the reality of introspective people pushing themselves out of their comfort zones in order to network, which is one of the main reasons to go to a conference in the first place.

Prior to the conference, I encountered quite a few how-to-survive-the-conference guides for attendees who find socializing a bit of an ordeal.

Here's a way around that - make close friendships in Blog World and then finally meet In Real Life. It's SO exciting! This is my first real-world chance to sit and have coffee with Christina Brooke, who once blogged at The Popculturedivas with me.















4 - But when you do make new connections, it shines a light on your conference experience. I bumped into Georgia Romance Writers president Nicki Salcedo in the goody room (where you can pick up promotional items like bookmarks, pens, etc.) thinking she was my cousin Julianne until I looked up.

"I can't wait to meet my twin," she said, so when Julianne came by we took this shot.

We continued to meet up all through the conference - it was great fun.












5 - The conference ran workshops from 8:30 - 4:30, and this one was my favorite by far.

Any guesses as to why...?








































6 - We had a great turn-out from the Maritimes, and the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick writers gathered to share breakfast together. There were about 15 of us altogether.











7 - The huge booksigning fundraiser was open to the public as well as to conference goers, with proceeds going to adult literacy programs. The authors were arranged alphabetically, so big names were sitting next to debut authors, which gave a sense that we're all in this together - a wonderfully empowering sight.











8 - It was such a joy to see so many authors from my local chapter, Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, signing at the literacy event.

Here I'm pictured with Harlequin and Samhain author Donna Alward.




Also from Down East - Tor author Taylor Keating.




















My cousin, St. Martin's Press and indie author Julianne MacLean



New Brunswick author Stella MacLean, who writes for Harlequin























9 - My greatest challenge for this conference was to score requests during my agent / editor pitches.















Thankfully, my dear friend Kelly Boyce was pitching at the same time as me for the afternoon session, so she sat next to me and calmed me down when she noticed a telling shaky breath as I tried to become Zen-like.

Thank you, Kelly! Not sure what I did for you in return, other than provide a distraction, perhaps.












RWA thankfully scheduled this pitching workshop the day before, presented by Carina Press author Carrie Lofty. It really helped me to reshape my pitch presentation.

It also REALLY, REALLY helped to have two wonderful roomies who listened to my practise pitches the night before.



























These workshops stood out amongst many wonderful sessions I attended.




















































10 - There were several keynote speakers, including the opening session featuring historical thriller writer Steve Berry, historical time travel writer Diana Gabaldon and medical thriller writer Tess Gerritsen.













Paranormal and urban fantasy writer Sherrilyn Kenyon gave an inspirational speech unlike most any I've ever heard (but very similar to the students-introducing-ourselves-to-our-film-school-professor thing where one of my fellow students told us how his family had been attacked by pirates as they escaped Cambodia.)














Among the service awards given out by RWA was the Librarian of the Year Award, for supporting the romance genre.

Wendy Crutcher from Orange County, California received this year's award. Go, librarians! I found myself thinking of my own childhood spent at the downtown Dartmouth library as she honored a librarian who was influential in her decision to pursue that career.











The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot was the glamorous host of the awards night ceremonies.











Receiving the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement award was Sharon Sala, who told a very cool story about seeing a wolf totem as a girl - I tend to get animal totem messages in my life, so her story was completely awesome.

I also cherished the moment when she mentioned that her late husband leaves her pennies to find here in this world. As soon as she'd said it, Annette sitting on my left and Kelly sitting on my right both silently tapped me in unison, neither one knowing the other was echoing her gesture.

The reason they tapped me is because I also get spirit world messages in similar fashion. Just wanted to say how wonderful it is to have friends who know me that well - you guys are awesome.












11 - All glammed up for the Ritas - that's Carina Press author Kelly Boyce and yours truly.














My elegant cousin, Julianne MacLean.












My local chapter president Annette MacPhee-Gallant and new chapter member Carol, with Anne MacFarlane snapping pix.











Some of my local chapter who managed to snag a table together:

Back row L to R - Dawn, Annette, moi, Kelly, Carol

Seated L to R - Julianne, Daisy Piper, Anne
















12 - This conference was full of little moments that reinforced the It's a Small World After All theory.

As I wandered through the leviathan-sized literacy signing with my sister, I heard someone call my name. It was Toronto Romance Writer Leah Braemel, a blog friend I'd met In Real Life on a trip to Toronto. On my first day in a city I'd never visited before, someone recognized me in a gigantic crowd. Huge world shrinking to comfy-cozy size - commencing.












In one of the many snaking line-ups to get into the various publisher book signings - where, for example, St. Martin's Press authors signed free books for their rabid fans - I found one of my chapter mates, Heidi.











Stumbling in the too-early-for-it-be-considered-vacation hours, I found my other chapter mate, Deborah Hale, who received her 25th book pin from Harlequin during the conference.











Snagging snacks and gifts for people at home, we bumped into our chapter prez Annette, who accepted our invitation to come up to our room and chill. With ice cream.














13 - My first writers' conference couldn't have been sweeter. A city I've always longed to visit, a room with a rockin view, a dream-come-true ballet performance and requests for partials of my work.

Time to live my life.

Join me next week when I share more memories from New York City.