Meeting Patricia (Patty) Briggs

A couple of weeks ago, Aurian read a message on Facebook that Patricia Briggs would be in Germany at the end of May. We were immediately curious. Would she be at the Berlin LoveLetter convention?

I emailed to her assistant Ann. She told me Patricia would be lecturing at the Lüneburg university, on May 27^th. Just a couple of days after the LLC! Aurian and I didn’t have to think too long, we were going to extend our German vacation!

So Monday we went from Berlin to Lüneburg, via the tourist route.

At the end of the afternoon we arrived at our hotel. After freshening up we went to the foyer, readying ourselves to go out for dinner. Then I spotted a familiair T-shirt…

It was Ann, with Patricia Briggs and her husband Mike. They were staying at the same hotel! They were extremely jetlagged and tired from travelling and sightseeing. But they were very courteous and talked to us. When I mentioned I liked the “Hauptman security” T-shirt best, Mike went to their room to get one for me!

Patty also gave us a super cool metal business card.

(I erased the adress)

If I ever going to get a tattoo (I probably won’t) I would take this wolf and use it.

The next day we went sightseeing and at the end of the afternoon we got ready for going to the university. In the foyer we met Patti and Mike again. That gave her the opportunity to sign our books and for us to take some photos. We also gave her our gift bags, with stroopwafel, licorice and chocolate goodies from Karin and Peggy.

At five we left for the university. Patricia gave a lecture on the use of mythology in her books. This was very interesting, she has a extensive knowledge of werewolf mythology. 

After the lecture there was time for some questions.  Patty talked about upcoming books, her writing schedule (her goal is 5 pages a day) and a possible pet for Jessie (a dog, they are very adaptable).

Last but nog least was the signing. A smart bookseller brought English and German books. I bought four and had them signed.  

Ann had some more goodies for us: a transfer and a magnet. Yay!

After some more talking with Ann, Mike and Patty, we said our goodbyes  and went back to our hotel. 

We had a great day, meeting Patty, Mike and Ann, getting goodies and books and having a fun time talking about some of my favorite books. My kind of vacation!

Loveletter Convention 2014 – day two.

Sunday started with a Q&A with Larissa Ione en JL Langley. A very nice talk about gay romance, erotic romance and how people react when authors tell them what kind of books they write.

After that I stayed for the Q&A with Nancy Bush en Lisa Jackson. The are sisters (can you tell?) and talk about their first foray into writing and how it developed over the years. Interesting and amusing!

The next two events were games: Alpha Hero Poker and the Romance Quiz. Alpha Hero poker was very entertaining, we had Fiona Harper as our dealer. Kelly Hunter asked questions about Alpha Heroes, wich  were very difficult (NOT!) and great fun. I won a carafe and two glasses. 

At the Romance Quiz we won English books. There I went a bit stupid. We had a choice of several English books on the table. I zeroed in on a Nalini Singh book with a unknown cover and took it. Found out later it was a reprint of a book I already have! I got a friend to swap it with another book she took. But it was an erotic romance book in first person. I don't mind erotica, but not in FP. So I gave it away to Peggy. One less book! Dumb.

After lunch we went to a workshop by Lara Adrian and Larissa Ione about writing series. It was more like a Q&A, and interesting. Especially when the husbands came involved!

We wanted to go to the last Q&A with Nalini Singh, but once again it was too busy, so we sat in the garden, relaxing and talking with authors, bloggers and other bookfriends.

Between four and six, there were the signing sessions with all the authors. Free German books and an occasional English one.
This year it was organized in a peculiar way. The authors were divided into three groups (A,B,C) and there was a line per group. You got three tickets per line. These gave you the right to three free books (with an autograph by the author).
The consequence was that there was a very long line, that wouldn't lessen. If you wanted to meet all the authors you had to go round at least three times. And stand in the burning sun. Aurian and I decided early to not do that and to stay in the garden, in the shade and read a while, waiting for the real diehards to come back. 

We stayed that way until six thirty. Finally the line shorted and now there was shade. Peggy told us that Michelle Willingham still had English books, so we went to line C. We got them and also an English book by Sandra Schwab. That brought my free book total to seven!

To conclude the weekend we went out with a group of five writers to (another) Italian across the street. Before the weekend Annie West, Fiona Harper and Kelly Hunter already agreed to come. Michelle Willingham and Nancy Warren joined us too. In all, a great group and a fun dinner.

Loveletter Convention 2014 – day one.

Last weekend was the third LoveLetter Convention in Berlin. I went together with Aurian and met more bloggers. To show some of the highlights I made this blog.

We started as a group of four. Aurian and her three guest-bloggers: Peggy (from Belgium), Karin (from Austria) and me. Soon our group was expanded with Vanessa (from Germany) and Jutta (also from Austria). 

At the first day, Saturday, we were up early to avoid standing in line. We were successful, others weren't so lucky...

We got our badges and bags quickly. This years it was Milka-lila!

Our first event was the blind date in the Lounge. We were early and found a place at a table. There we met Annie West, Larissa Ione and Kelly Hunter. We got some photo's and autographs in our books and on the bags. 

with Kelly Hunter and Larissa Ione

with Larissa Ione, Karin, Annie West and Aurian

with Sylvia Day

After that we went to the Meet and Greet with Maya Banks en Nalini Singh in the garden. Maya gave some of us a waterbottle and she signed the first of the two books I brought. Because of the long line I only gave her one to sign. I regretted that later, because her health wasn't good and I didn't saw her again because she went back to her hotel.

Next was Nalini Singh. One of my favorite authors and the star of the convention. I had three books with me from my friend Rinske. She signed them all, and with different dedications.

Then the two books I brought. She started to sign, then found it was already signed by her, two years ago. Oeps! After that she signed "Heart of Obsidian". And of course there was a photo opportunity.

At eleven another round of blind dates. These are the best events of the convention. You get to talk to the authors, and they get to ask you some questions. And they are good source of books, swag and other gifts (bags, a nice koala from Annie West and pens) ;-)

At twelve o'clock we went to the Round Table about Contemporary Romance. With Fiona Harper, Sarah Harvey, Kelly Hunter, Ann Major, Jane Porter, Nancy Warren en Annie West. Very good discussions about the reason for writing in that genre, the pitfalls and the rewards.

After lunch a Q&A with Sylvia Day en Nancy Warren.

At three o'clock I took a workshop with Michelle Willingham. About her travels in Scotland and Ireland and how this inspired her in her historic novels.

She has a teachers background and knew how to hold the attention of her public. She brought candy from the USA as reward for answering her questions. I got Junior Mints and Karin Reeces Pieces (a kind M&M with peanut butter taste).

And I won a book! 

At four we wanted to go to another workshop, given by Nalini Singh, but it was full, so we went to a reading. It was about the first kiss. Fiona Harper, Kelly Hunter, Ann Major, Jane Porter, Annie West, Michelle Willingham and Nancy Warren read from their own work. A scene with the first kiss between the main characters.

The last event from day one was another round of blind dates. They really are my favorite event. So many nice authors!

Samantha Young

Jane Porter

Nancy Bush

Lisa Jackson

That evening we went to a pizza place across the street with our group and four French bookfriends. We ate good, cheap pizza and had a great time!

 A fine way to wrap up this first day!