Hottest Book at the Lake

What do you get when you take a shiny glass paper weight, set it on a stack of paper handouts, and place a few copies of my novel Secrets at Sweetwater Cove beside it?

You get ~ drumroll here, please ~

THE HOTTEST BOOK AT SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE!

Yep, you guessed it. My book caught fire! If not for the sensitive nose of fellow authors Carl Baker (retired Colonel in the New York State Police and the Virginia State Police, retired Deputy Secretary for Public Safety in Virginia, as well as retired Chief of Police for Chesterfield County, VA), and animal communicator Karen Wrigley, my book, possibly the entire table, would have gone up in flames!

On October 9, 2010, six authors participated in The General Store's annual Fall Festival Day. Tables were set up outside for us and all the other vendors.

Left to right: Libby Bondurant, Gailya Keller, me, Carl Baker, Karen Wrigley. Not seated at our table was Sandy Volles, pictured below.

Authors who were present and the titles of their books are: Libby Bondurant, Grazing Along the Crooked Road; Gailya Keller, The Secrets of Smiley's Woods; Sally Roseveare, Secrets at Spawning Run and Secrets at Sweetwater Cove; Carl Baker, To Defend Against All Enemies; Karen Wrigley, Beyond Woofs and Whinnies; Sandy Volles, Grandma's Two Cents.

Book Signings and Talks

Book signings and talks with fellow Lake Writers Becky Mushko and Karen Wrigley are always fun. Last week there were two such events. On June 3rd, we gathered at the Roanoke County 419 Library for an "Ask the Author" presentation.

Darlene Smithwick, Reference & Adult Services Coordinator for this incredible library, introduced us. She and her team provided a table draped with cloths for each of us, and provided bottles of water and individual microphones in case we needed them. To our delight, hook-ups for our laptops were handy so we could run our slide shows. Assistant director Michael Meise took lots of photos. And there were cookies! Real ones, the kind you eat. Can you tell I like cookies?

Becky read from her latest book, Ferradiddledumday, an Appalachian version of Rumpelstiltskin, and answered questions from the audience.

Becky Mushko talking about her book. The back-of-the-head view
on the right is of Claudia Condiff, another Lake Writer. I love her hair!
Photo by Michael Meise, Roanoke County 419 Library

Karen read from her book Beyond Woofs and Whinnies and talked about communicating with animals. Franklin, her Golden Retriever buddy, impressed the audience with his intuitive ability, sensitivity and absolute sweetness.

Karen (in white) and Franklin

I read from Secrets at Sweetwater Cove, talked about writing and where ideas come from, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even though the crowd wasn't huge, the folks were loads of fun.

Left to right: Me, Claudia Condiff, Brenda Sullivan (Franklin's person)
Photo by Michael Meise, Roanoke County 419 Library

Ram's Head Book Shop in Roanoke is one of my favorite independent book stores. When we arrived on June 5, Christine and owner Lolly Rosemond had everything ready. Our books were on the table, and snacks consisting of trail mix, cookies, and drinks were almost within arm's reach. And if you read this blog from the beginning, you know how much I like cookies!

Karen Wrigley and me at Ram's Head Book Shop
Photo courtesy of Becky Mushko

Even though there was lots going on in Roanoke, people came, stopped and chatted. We all sold books, but more importantly, we met some really interesting people. If you've never shopped at Ram's Head, you need to remedy that. They are located at Towers Shopping Center, and they have more than just books. Go. You'll be glad you did.

You Should See This!

On March 25th, several of us met at Centerline View Farm in Moneta, VA. I've kept quiet about it until now, although I wanted to shout out to the world about the experience. Using self-control (which is hard for me), I waited until friend and animal communicator Karen Wrigley received a copy of the televised--yes, televised--session with Hal Hubener, host of the weekly "Cover to Cover" television show on BTW 21.

Hal, Griz, Karen, and Brian (camera man)

In this session, Karen and Hal spoke about how Karen started as an animal communicator, how communications are done, Karen's book Beyond Woofs and Whinnies (see my review of her book on my blog post dated February 15, 2010), and how the book was published.

Muffin loving on her horse Griz

I won't go into detail about the 30-minute interview because you need to see it for yourself. If you like animals and are curious about animal communications, you won't want to miss it. You can view it by clicking on Blue Ridge Regional Library. You want Episode 138.

Such Fun!

Sometimes things are such fun that you just want to jump up and down and yell "Yahoo!" for everybody to hear. I almost did that at The Bluebird Bakery and Grill on February 27th.

At 6:00 that evening, fellow writers Karen Wrigley (see my blog dated 2/15/10 for review of Beyond Woofs and Whinnnies), Becky Mushko (see blog dated 12/5/09 for review of Ferradiddledumday), and I met at The Bluebird for an "Ask the Authors" event, a first for the eatery and for us. With a fire roaring in the fireplace and surrounded by nice folks, we three gals discussed our books and answered questions from the crowd of friends, family, and strangers.

Me, Karen, Becky
All Photos by Ron Roseveare

Some of the folks who attended. Note the goodies on the right.

Me, Karen and Becky at table. Note fireplace, which brought welcomed warmth on a cold night.

Owned and operated by really nice people (the Greene family), The Bluebird Bakery and Grill is a great place to go for coffee and pastry, lunch, and even dinner. Located at 1123 Celebration Avenue in Moneta, Virginia, The Bluebird is open Mondays through Saturdays. I think their chili is delicious; my husband and son liked the barbecue sandwich, and I've heard several people rave about the ribs.

This coming Saturday night (March 6th), families are invited to bring their children with them to The Bluebird. While the parents eat a scrumptious meal, some of the staff will entertain the children by reading to them. So if you want a fun, inexpensive family night out, don't miss this opportunity.