Fun at Panera Bread

Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them. ~Francesco Guicciardini

So... I met up with Denise Robbins at Panera Bread in Bedford, NH yesterday (and WOW! Who knew Panera Bread was so HUGE -- when I walked in, I couldn't see her and actually called her on the phone to find her!).

It was good. We sat and talked and talked and talked... and then I looked at my watch and almost three hours had passed! How did that happen?

I had to get going, but just as I did, another author walked in: Nora LeDuc. We introduced ourselves and I wish I could have stayed longer, but .... *sigh*... maybe next time.

I forget how energizing it is to talk IN PERSON to other authors. It's excited and interesting to talk about the process and how you work and what gets you through blocks or how frustrating it is when 'real life' gets in the way. Research and software and editing and publishers.... I could have stayed all day and not been bored.

Denise showed me the trailer of her upcoming book and WOW! does it look great! And I can't wait to dive into her current book, "It Happens in Threes".

So, I'm feeling good and ready to dive into some writing. In fact, I started working on editing "Stiller Creek" again, and adding in the new character and pulling out some of the backstory that exists near the beginning and...

Yeah. It was good.

Here is a pic of Denise and me at Panera:



And check out Denise's blog -- she has a cool book-a-week READING challenge (so if you like romantic suspense, you should check it out -- she invites the authors to come comment, too, and there are some biggies: Carla Neggers, Lisa Jackson and others). And recently (for writers) she had a great discussion about passive voice (and those rotten "wuzzes").

How was your weekend?

=============================