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Larissa's Blog
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
 Do you love to read? Do you want to write? Are you already published and looking to further your career in publishing? Then join us for the Liberty States Fiction Writers 3rd Annual Create Something Magical Conference being held on Saturday March 17th 2012 featuring New York Times Best Selling Author Larissa Ione as the Keynote Speaker.
The LSFW’s Create Something Magical Conference is the perfect place for writers and readers to share and enjoy their love of books as well as mingle in an after-conference party!
Writers at any stage of their career from Pre-Published to Best Seller will have a choice of a variety of workshops, Editor and Agent Pitch Appointments, lunch with Keynote Speaker Larissa Ione, a Networking Reception as well as the after-conference party which are all part of the Writers’ Track. Published authors in the Writers’ Track will also be able to participate in a book fair that is open to the general public.
Readers can take advantage of this marvelous opportunity to meet and greet some of their favorite authors as part of the Create Something Magical Conference Readers’ Track.
• Participate in a variety of discussion panels that will enable you to get an inside look at the creation of some of your favorite books and what’s happening in the various genres
• Go home loaded with goodies and swag as well as a number of free books
• Sip a libation and snack on dessert while enjoying readings from some fabulous novels at a special edition of Lady Jane’s Salon
• Check off some of those books on your to buy list at our multi-author book signing
• Dance & snack the night away with some of your favorite authors at the after-conference party
Our workshop presenters this year include a number of NY Times and USA Today bestsellers, up-and-coming authors and bloggers, such as Jonathan Maberry, Caridad Pineiro, Virginia Kantra, Terry Kate, Sarah MacLean, Jenna Kernan, Maria V. Snyder, Leanna Renee Hieber, Katharine Ashe, Tere Michaels, Ally Blue, Shelley Noble, Lisa Dale, Lisa Verge Higgins, Maya Rodale, Hope Tarr and more!
All who register before February 1st are eligible to win a Sony e-Reader and get early-bird pricing. Non-Member Writers’ Track registration is $120. Readers’ Track registration is $40 ($55 with the lunch option).
For more information or to register for the conference visit: http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/conference.
We hope to see you there!
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Also, I'll be at Barbara Vey's Reader Appreciation Luncheon on April 10th, in Milwaukee — you can sign up to sit at your favorite author's table! There's only one seat left at my table, so if you want it, now's the time to grab it! 
For more information, click here: Barbara Vey's Reader Appreciation Luncheon
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And, for those who have asked, I'll be attending the Romantic Times Convention in Chicago from April 11th to April 15th. There will be a public signing on Saturday the 14th. For more information, click here. Hope to see you there!
Posted in Booksignings, Conferences | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
Well, I'm back from the Authors After Dark conference, and man, did I have a GREAT time. Spending time with readers was amazing…I can't even begin to describe how incredible it is to hang out with the people who read the books I write. I knew a lot of people online, but meeting them in person gave me a whole new appreciation for them. Plus, I was there for my birthday, and not only did I have a room full of 300 people singing happy birthday to me, but I got to spend some quality time in one of the hotel rooms with some wonderful ladies for another celebration that was truly one of the highlights of the conference.
The Mythos ball was so fun, and getting to dress up for both that and the Steampunk dinner was a blast. I was also on some great panels with hilarious and talented authors.
Although there were a lot of issues with the hotel (I will never stay at the Hilton Doubletree in Philadelphia again,) the conference attendees were fantastic. So was the swag!
And speaking of swag, I have some to give away to someone who wasn't lucky enough to be able to attend.
Here's the stuff: a tote bag, books, and various swaggy-ness. There are books, playing cards, pens, keychains, bath salts, note pads, and more. I'll toss in some of my promo items as well. Total grab bag!
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment to tell me what you're reading right now. Also, I'm hoping to build up my newsletter list before I send out my next one for the release of Supernatural, so I'd love it if you could sign up (but it's not necessary to be entered in this contest!)
Winner will be announced Saturday, so be sure to check back!
Posted in Conferences, Contests | 242 Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
 Okay, yeah, I've been lying low for a while! June has been a busy month between my son's graduation from 8th grade, several birthdays, a deadline, an upcoming release, and the Romance Writers of America conference.
I'll be heading to New York next week (hubby and I are going to invade Stephanie Tyler's house and bug them until the conference starts, so I'll try to post pics from NYC as I can. Not sure about internet connection yet, but I can definitely Tweet and Facebook pics with my phone. I'm getting super excited!
For anyone who will be in the NYC area, there will be a booksigning open to the public — HUNDREDS of authors will be attending, and the signing will be held on the same day that Taken By Fire releases!
 Here's the info:
Tuesday, June 28, from 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square in the Broadway Ballroom. Open to the public, and there is no admittance fee. Click here for the list of attending authors.
Hope to see you there!
Posted in Booksignings, Conferences | 15 Comments »
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
So, I'm a day late with this. I'd intended to post yesterday, but a migraine derailed me. Nice — migraine on the first day of the New Year. I really hope that's not some sort of cosmic sign! 
Anyway, for me, last year was marked by business success and personal complications, the latter of which I'm still feeling the fallout for. The month I spent on the west coast put me behind in my deadlines, and that got worse when, at the end of the that month, I broke my right arm. Six weeks later, I learned I broke the left arm too. So I'm now scrambling to catch up.
I get to go into the New Year already behind. Awesome. 
BUT…I've already got a good start on what will be a very…interesting year. I bought new Skechers Shape-Ups to jumpstart getting back into shape after I hand in the novella due next week. Yay!
And I also get to start concentrating on the conferences I'll be attending. This year, I'll be at RWA in New York, and I'll be at Authors After Dark in Philadelphia (where I'm Master of Ceremonies! Squee!) I hope you can attend at least one of those — and remember, even if you don't go to the conference, there are public signings you can attend for free!
This year will also see my husband transferring duty stations. Since he's been in the Coast Guard and we've been married, his job has taken us to Texas, Oregon, California, Washington (twice), Michigan, Mississippi, Virginia, and now, Wisconsin. But for a number of reasons, my son and I aren't going on the next transfer. My husband will do it alone. We're hoping he gets stationed nearby, where he can come home on long weekends. If not, and he gets sent a long ways away, we'll suck it up and deal. We've had to live apart for a year before, and we can do it again. It's nothing other military wives don't deal with while their spouses are in Iraq or Afghanistan. At least mine won't be in danger.
This year will also see the launch of my new series, the Lords of Deliverance. I'm incredibly nervous about it — the way I was when the Demonica series launched. I'm always a wreck when any new book releases, but starting a brand new adventure with a brand new series has magnified the pre-release jitters on a regular book. Ack!
I'll have five releases this year: Eternity Embraced (enhanced ebook version of the story in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2), Eternal Rider, Taken By Fire, Vampire Fight Club (in the Supernatural Anthology,) and Immortal Rider.
Crazily enough, I'll also finish the Lords of Deliverance series this year. At the time Immortal Rider releases next November, I'll have handed in book 4.
So this year I have to write two books. I also plan to write up a proposal for a book that will fuse the Demonica books and the Lords of Deliverance books, and a proposal for a Young Adult series my son wants me to write. So…two books and two proposals for the year. Not bad — I just need to get caught up so I'm not scrambling!
On a personal level, this year will be an adventure as well. My son will be starting high school this fall.  OMG, when did he get so old??? Oh, right…when I did. Heh.
So there we have it — my coming year in a nutshell. It sounded pretty laid back until I wrote this blog post, and now I'm sweating again! *g*
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2011 brings you good health, good friends, and good reads!
Posted in Conferences, Holidays | 5 Comments »
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Hi everyone!
I have three bits of awesomeness to blog about today, which is good, because my blood pressure is seriously up after dealing with my husband's job and our medical insurance company today. So this is a welcome distraction!
Okay, news tidbit #1: Do you watch NO ORDINARY FAMILY? Well, I do, and I've heard that in the December 7th episode, you might see Sin Undone! Apparently, they're doing a bookstore scene, and Grand Central Publishing's books are being used. How cool is that? Will have to tape the show and analyze every scene…
News tidbit #2: I'm still practically shaking about this one! Sin Undone was named one of Amazon's Best 10 Romances for all of 2010!!!! Wow! I didn't even check the list when it came out because I knew I wouldn't be on it. It wasn't until someone congratulated me on Facebook that I looked. Sin has really had a great year!
News tidbit #3: I've been named Master of Ceremonies for the Authors After Dark 2011 event! This will take place August 11-14 in Philadelphia, and I hope you can attend. It'll be lots of fun, and I'll have lots of swag and goodies, and there will be parties and food…and likely, me making a fool of myself. (I am, after all, the moron who managed to break both arms at my high school reunion last summer. Who knows what I'll do at a conference like this…) For more information, click here. Oh, and go bug Stephanie Tyler. I'm trying to get her to go with me!
Gotta write now. Having fun with the second LOD book. I can hear my editor's voice in my head already: "Chains? Again?" 
Posted in Booksignings, Conferences | 13 Comments »
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Hi everyone!
I was supposed to post yesterday, but got busy with last-day-of-school stuff, so I'm a little late.
Anyway, the Lori Foster event was awesome! Getting up at 4:45 AM to drive down to Ohio was not awesome, but the trip was great. I picked up Barbara Vey and Amy Knupp in Milwaukee, and we (well, I) had fun on the drive. Amy and I were like freaking Lucy and Ethel, so it was a good thing we had Barbara with us, even though I'm pretty sure we scared her to death (the way Amy's driving scared me.) Ahem.
Here's a bit of her account of the trip, plus pics! (I don't have pics because my husband had our only camera on HIS trip.)
And here's some of Barbara's blog account of the trip! 
So we got to Cincinnati alive (miracle) and then the weekend went really fast. I met so many awesome people…readers, authors…industry folks. It was great! Oh, and I won a raffle basket! It had beach stuff in it for a picnic, and since we have beaches all around us, I'm sure I'll get some use out of it this summer.
The hotel was nice — the staff was all super friendly. It was quite awesome, really.
So I stayed up too late, ate too much, drank too much (well, not really on that last part…I was actually really good!) and then we had to drive home. Again, it was a good drive — Amy didn't almost kill us, which is a plus.
We did encounter a really bad accident, and then we stopped at KFC and encountered a disturbing situation in which a man was transporting a ragtag pack of mixed-breed dogs on a makeshift trailer in rusty, too-small cages. He told someone he was taking them to sell. Um…there are only two reasons you'd sell that many mixed-breed dogs, and that's either to a medical researcher or as dogfighting bait. I'm just sick that there was really nothing we could do. I still regret not doing something. 
Anyway, so I'm home and recovered, and I want to say that if anyone has the chance to go to the event next year, it's totally worth it. The low cost as well as reasonable hotel rates makes it a bargain!
 Now…the covers!
Stephanie and I got the German versions of Riding The Storm and Unleashing The Storm! I can't wait to get the copies — the covers are gorgeous. Riding The Storm is the one with the woman, and the one with the man is Unleashing.
Looking forward to seeing what they do with Seduced By The Storm! 
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And now, one other announcement — check back on Monday, because I'm going to be asking you some questions…because I need some help. And one person who helps me out will win a tote bag AND…an ARC of Sin Undone!
So be sure to check back!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Posted in Conferences, Sydney Croft | 11 Comments »
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
I can't remember if I posted this or not…
But I'll be attending the Lori Foster Reader/Writer Get Together in June, and I'm starting to get really excited! If you happen to be in Cincinnati on Saturday, June 5th, even if you aren't attending the get together, you can come to the booksigning hosted by Barnes & Noble. Should be lots of fun!
Here's the information, including times, dates, location, and authors attending.
I'd really hoped to be able to go to more conferences this year, but between deadlines, my husband's work schedule, and a trip to the west coast in August, I just couldn't work it out. But next year I hope to make up for that and go to lots!
Are you going to any conferences this year? I'll be so jealous!!!!! 
Posted in Booksignings, Conferences | 5 Comments »
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Hi everyone!
Hope you're having a great weekend! I'm spending it doing revisions, which are going really well. I love seeing a book get better and richer with each pass. I am not one of those authors who can write a perfect book the first time around. I need lots of revisions (my poor editor!) But I always love the finished product.
So anyway, real quick, I wanted to give you the latest news! First, I have a new interview up at Perpetual Prose. I'd love it if you stopped by if you get a chance!
Next, fun news! I had to turn down the opportunity to go to the Romantic Times Convention this year — a combination of having no time and having no babysitter. But I am able to work in Lori Foster's Readers and Authors Get Together! I'm so excited!
I wasn't planning to go — I wanted to, but I wasn't sure about my husband's work schedule, and I also didn't want to travel alone. But then, my Writeminded buddy, Amy Knupp said she couldn't go and traveling alone didn't appeal to her either…but since we live near each other, I talked her into going!
So we're going together, which will be all kinds of fun (well, fun for me…she hasn't seen me drive yet!)
For those of you in the Cincinnati area, there will be a Barnes & Noble booksigning at the hotel that's open to the public! I'll be there, along with gobs of other authors, so even if you can't make it to the conference, you can always try to make the signing! It's on June 6th from 2-4 PM at the Cincinnati North Marriott. Yay!
For more information, and a list of attending authors, click here.
Okay, off to work on revisions. Have a super weekend, everyone!
Posted in Booksignings, Conferences | 2 Comments »
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