Wednesday's Words for March 31, 2010

As spring begins to settle over the countryside, I begin to look forward to my traditional journey to the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, this year being held in beautiful Columbus, Ohio.

This will be my fifth consecutive convention, and I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to go each year. The purpose, of course, is in support of my career as an author; but it’s not all work for me.

Once again my beloved has decided not to accompany me, so I’ll be traveling with my good friend and fellow Siren-Bookstrand author, Raina James, and one other Canadian, a New York Times Bestselling author known to us both. Since Columbus isn’t overly far, we’ll be traveling by car.

I’m looking forward to getting together with old friends as well as meeting new ones. There’s something about being in the company of readers and authors that I find very exhilarating. It simply gives me goose bumps when someone comes up to me and says they have read one of my books, or that they always read this essay. That’s everything, isn’t it? Oh yes, it’s nice to make some money, but for me by far the greatest perk to being published is knowing that people read my words.

I revel in the company of fellow authors. No one understands the writer like another writer. Again, I feel very blessed because I have a small, tightly knit circle of friends in this community. Spending time with them is the absolute highlight of any convention, and I consider the friendships I have with them to be one of my greatest treasures. I simply cannot imagine my life without them.

As you know, I have discovered, sadly, that I’m not a party animal. However, I do manage to party it up a little at these conventions. I’m not much of a drinker. I can tell you that I always have some form of libation on hand here at home. I can also tell you that those bottles have dust on them. Once in a while I like a drink, but often, just having it on hand is enough.

I’ll be attending the two book signings again this year. The convention features an “e-book fair” on the Wednesday, and a regular book fair on Saturday. Most of my titles are now available in print. The only exception is Reckless Abandon and Brazen Seduction, and they will be available, together in one volume, later in the year.
I’ll also be spending a fair bit of time at “Club RT”. If you happen to be going to the Convention, I’d be thrilled if you looked me up there. I’ll be easy to find. I’ll be at the Siren-Bookstrand table.

I’m glad we’ll be traveling by car this year. Inevitably, when I attend this gathering, as well as the Romance Writers of America National Conference, I end up with a lot of books. Some are free, but some I buy. And I don’t ever get rid of books. I consider them my friends. The only exception to this rule would be if I end up with two copies of the same novel. Then I usually give the extra one to my daughter.

One of these days I’ll have a completed library at which time I will un-box all my books and set them about. Of course, being anal, I will have to have them in alphabetical order (by author name). Prior to doing this I may hold a contest, asking for guesses as to how many books I have in my collection (and yes, of course I am going to count them). The last time my daughter and I counted them, it was a good five or six years ago and the number reached was around three thousand.

One view is that I am, perhaps, a bit of a packrat. The other, of course, is that I never turn my back on a friend.

Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury