For romance authors in the USA, there is one special sacred long weekend in July. It’s the National Convention of Romance Writers of America. For me, it’s a great time to reconnect with our authors and hear about their lives. And, sometimes, those lives are as exciting as anything that happens between the pages.

So, for the next couple days, I’ll catch you up with what went on in D.C. this year--and some inside scoop.

Washington, D.C. is the home of our author Kerry Reichs (THE BEST DAY OF SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE), who just returned home from Asia. Although not technically a romance writer, she had some great photos of her trip.


Her next book LEAVING UNKNOWN is hitting shelves April 2010.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips and I love museums and Washington has some fabulous ones. This year, we went to the Phillips Collection, but Susan also visited a few places on her own. Here she is outside the White House--probably celebrating the fact that her fellow Chicagoans are running the country now.


She also went to the Smithsonian, where she found another of my books, MICHELLE STYLE, in the gift shop.


Look for Susan’s latest book GLITTER BABY.


And though she is not an Avon Author, everyone knows Nora Roberts! So, it was no surprise that Scott Simon wanted to interview her about the romance business on NPR. Plus, he asked me to evaluate his manuscript. Let’s just say he won’t be on the Avon roster anytime soon.

[Click Here For The NPR Radio Show]

More tomorrow!