Oracle Deck Coupon Code and Book Signing Event

Hi All and HAPPY SPRING!!!!

Or as we refer to it here in upstate NY, happy "theoretical calendar spring," although today at least the sun is out and the spring birds are singing, even if it is still only in the 20's. Today is not only the Spring Equinox (Ostara, for those who observe the Pagan holidays), it is also the night of the full moon. So it's a great time to do magical work for your goals in the coming months, or for balance in your life, since the equinox is the only time that day and night are in perfect balance.

I meant to do a nice detailed post about my trip to California and PantheaCon, but I came down with the plane plague a couple of days after I got back, and I'm only just starting to catch up with things. Hopefully I'll manage a belated post soon, if people are still interested in hearing about it.

In the meanwhile, I have two quick announcements:

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the release of the Everyday Witch Oracle Deck in September, the lovely folks at Llewellyn gave me a coupon code to take to PantheaCon, and they are allowing me to share it with you! If you go to their site and pre-order the deck before March 31st using the coupon code WITCHYORACLE19 you can get 20% off! (See how much I love you?)

You can preorder here. Everyday Witch Oracle Deck (Remember that this coupon only works at Llewellyn's website, and only until the end of the month.)

I can't wait!

If you happen to live near the Albany, NY area, I will be taking part in a multi-author book signing event at FLIGHTS OF FANTASY BOOKSTORE on Saturday the 23rd from 6-8 PM. I will be in great company, with Anne Bishop, Julie Czernada, and Kristen Britain. I hope you can join us!

Coastal Magic Convention Report: Part the Second

So, when last we left our intrepid heroine, she was suffering through a warm Florida sunset on her way to dinner with fun companions. It's a hard knock life, I say.

So...I'd been looking at the place we ended up going to dinner, since you could see the side of it from the hotel, but hadn't made it there last year. It was quite the experience! (I may have gotten 4-year-old-at-Disney excited. Just ask Lucienne. No, on the other hand, don't.) I present...Joe's Crab Shack (I highly recommend it if you happen to be in Daytona Beach).

The view from the beach.

The view as you walk down the pier toward the restaurant.

Inside. A very sensible suggestion. Which I followed, of course.

Princess Alethea's bib said: I got 99 problems but my crab ain't 1

 I had a bib too. Our waiter created each of them individually. I forget what it said. I was distracted by the seafood boil pot Alethea shared. It was heaven!

To make the evening even more amusing, about halfway through dinner all the waiters stopped what they were doing and went to the sides of the room, where they proceeded to do a synchronized dance. It was hysterical. In fact, the service, the food, and the atmosphere were stellar. I can't wait to go back next year, if I'm at the con.

Dancing waiters for the win!

 We were all stuffed, so the five of us shared this insane S'mores dessert. Heaven. We might have had to be rolled back to the hotel.

Friday night was also the dance party mixer, where Lucienne dragged me out onto the floor to dance a couple of times, gimpy knee and all. Lots of people dressed up as their favorite novel or movie characters. I loved these costumes so much, I dragged these two out into the hall so I could take their picture!

Author Graylin Fox and blogger Chelle Olson

 Lucienne wore her goddess costume from the afternoon, but I just wore, you know, clothes. Which apparently meant I should be attacked by a dinosaur. Yeesh.

Really, Lucienne? We can dress her up, but we can't take her out. And no, I have no idea where the dinosaur came from.

Can you tell we were having fun?

Thankfully, there are no pictures of my dancing. The bad knee did not add to my gracefulness, although it held up pretty well considering the insane amount of walking I did during the con.

Saturday morning started with another beautiful sunrise. A girl could get used to this.

The view from the 15th floor. Look, off in the distance, it's Joe's!

 First thing that morning I took part in a fun panel called "Remaking Mythology," with Alethea Kontis, Asa Maria Bradley, Lucienne, Gail Z. Martin, and Eric Asher.

Then I snuck out to the beach again for a while. Sigh.

My happy place.

Bare, sandy toes! No snow! My happy feet.

 Saturday lunch was a fun event called "Lunch with an Author," where readers got to sit and chat with the author they signed up to dine with. Then there was the group book signing.

Lisa Kessler and Princess Alethea looking adorable as usual.

Lucienne's gorgeous and charming husband Peter Wheeler rode his motorcycle in for the day to join us.

Afterward a bunch of us staggered back to Bubba Gump's to grab a late dinner (the book signing went until 7:30). Later that evening was Game Night, where authors hosted a table at which people could come and play a game with them. Lucienne brought Cards Against Humanity and we stayed up way too late having way too much fun.

Sunday morning Lucienne and I did our (now traditional, apparently) Mythology Jeopardy game panel. So much fun! I think you might be seeing a theme here. Now you know why I went a second year and may well go back next year as well. SO MUCH FUN and all the good peoples!

Which one of us is Alex Trebek?

All too soon I was on a plane going home, and back to this:

NOT ocean. Unless you count an ocean of snow.

But also back this, which makes it all okay.

Yay for great cat sitters! I'm not even sure the cats missed me.

All in all, another great event(hotel renovations aside, and that was really just an annoyance). Jennifer Morris, who puts on the con, does an amazing job. If you can, I'd highly recommend going next year. I hope I get to do it again. Maybe I'll see you there!

RoberCon Weekend!

I'm pretty excited about this upcoming weekend. No, I'm not going to the dump again. (That was last weekend.) This weekend I'll be in nearby Binghamton NY, taking part in ROBERCON 2015 a fun SF/fantasy convention held at the very cool Roberson Museum on Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th. I went last year and had a blast...

Me with authors Joshua Palmatier and last year's Guest of Honor Laura Anne Gilman

You just never know who you're going to meet!

My friend Robin and my goddess-children Nate and Sophie live nearby, so they came too!

Lots of interesting panels.

Talking to a fan.

But this year is going to be even better, because the Guest of Honor is one of my all-time favorite writers, who I've never gotten to meet in person before--Tamora Pierce!

Soooo excited to finally meet her! Plus I get to moderate her chats on both days.

On Saturday I'll be taking part in a panel with Tamora and some other authors on "Writing strong women," and then doing the first chat with Tamora at 2 followed by a group book signing at 3. On Sunday there will be two more panels (including one I'm really looking forward to called "Something about magic") plus another chat with Tamora. And of course, I'm going to get to hang out with a bunch of very cool people, including writer pal Nancy Holzner and best friend Ellen (aka "The Entourage").

There's something for everyone at this convention--gaming and cosplay, panels on Doctor Who and Star Wars, and generally geeky goodness. If you live anywhere nearby, I hope you'll come see me!

(If you do, feel free to bring books from home for me to sign if you like.)

At RWA 2015 in NYC

I'm sorry I haven't been around much, but I have a good excuse. First I was madly prepping to go to the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Convention. This means writing like a crazy person to make up for the fact that I was going to lose five days of writing time (I normally write almost every day). And trying to figure out what the heck to wear, and then packing, and then (gulp) five and half hours on the bus to NYC.

Then, of course, I was actually AT the convention, and too busy to do much more than occasionally post a picture of my breakfasts on Facebook. (No, really, they were very good breakfasts. Lots of bacon.)

There are a number of reasons I go to the Nationals every few years. There are good workshops, and it is a great opportunity for networking. For me, though, the best part is the people I get to see that I don't have the opportunity to meet up with anywhere else. This was my third time attending, and in many ways it was very different from previous conventions. The first one I went to, in Washington, DC, I was just starting out in the fiction field, still looking for an agent. The second one, four years ago in NYC, I had my agent (the wonderful Elaine Spencer), but we hadn't sold a book yet. This year was my first time attending as a published author. This meant I got to take part in both the Literacy Signing Wednesday night (an insane mob scene also open to the public) and the Berkley signing on Friday for conference-goers only.

At the Literacy Signing

I love having piles of my books! And they all disappeared in the first hour!

Of course, it was a crazy hectic manic rush from the minute I got there. But I did get to see agent/author pal Lucienne Diver after the signing on Wednesday, where she convinced me to go to the Coastal Magic convention next February in Florida.

On Thursday, I had breakfast with some Betty friends, including roommate Megan Coakley. If you're a Betty, raise your hand in the comments :-)

Stephanie, Karen (who wasn't even at the convention and just drove in to see the rest of us), and Megan

 Then I had lunch with Elaine and we took part in a panel that featured agents and authors from The Knight Agency...and didn't manage to remember to get a picture of either. Sigh.

Hung out with brilliant author pal Mindy Klasky and hatched some possible plans...

Mindy!

 And then the highlight of my trip, finally meeting my amazing Berkley editor, Leis Pederson. We had such a great time together! (It's a funny looking picture because we convinced the security guard at the desk to take it.)

Me and Leis Pederson

She took me to a yummy Mediterranean restaurant called Kellari Taverna and we shared a bunch of appetizers including lamb riblets, and the most delicious flaming cheese. No, really. They soaked it in something like brandy and set it on fire. It was delish!

That's the cheese in the cast iron pan, no longer flaming.

On Friday, I got to go to two different workshops given by my favorite author, Jennifer Crusie. Jenny is not only a terrific author, she is a great teacher, and I credit her "Turning Points" workshop (that I went to at my first RWA, and then again this time) with improving my writing to the point where I finally got an agent. I started a standing tradition at that first Nationals of stalking her throughout the conference and giving her chocolate. (If you're going to stalk someone, you should at least make it worth her while.) This time I brought her handcrafted chocolates made by a local chocolatier. Yum.

The stupendous, amazing, inspirational Jennifer Crusie

Megan, Jenny, Stephanie and me

I also got to finally meet the lovely Patience Bloom, who is both an editor for Harlequin and the author of a funny, sweet, and poignant memoir called Romance is My Day Job (all about her real life love story), which I recently read and loved.

Patience Bloom, who made me wish I had red hair

 And of course, there was New York City. I'm not a city girl, myself, but you have to admit it is pretty splendid.

Bryant Park, where people were watching Shakespeare in the Park

I had a lot of fun, ate some wonderful food, and met up with a whole bunch of terrific people. But I was still really glad to get home to the kitties and you people.

I suspect we'll celebrate with a giveaway sometime this week. Just because.

Where is the last interesting place you traveled to? Are you a journeyer or a homebody like me?

RoberCon This Weekend!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I'm been invited to take part in my first Science Fiction convention: RoberCon 2014 in Binghamton, NY, September 27th and 28th. (It is called RoberCon because it takes place at the wonderful Roberson Museum and Science Center on Front Street.)

You can get all the info here: ROBERCON 2014

The author Guest of Honor is Laura Anne Gilman, and there will be a number of other authors, vendors, and fan groups. (Not to mention Cosplay, of course.) I wish I could got to ALL the panels, they are that cool. (Doctor Who! Star Wars!)

Here's where I'll be and what I'll be doing:

SATURDAY

11 A.M. Author Reading: Deborah Blake Susan Waters Room (second floor of mansion) Deborah Blake is the author of eight books on pagan practices (published through Llewellyn Books). Her paranormal romance series, Baba Yaga, launched in September, with the release of Wickedly Dangerous.

 

12 P.M.

From Your Mind to the Page: Making Your Ideas a Reality
Activity Lab (second floor of museum)
Presenters: Crystal Sarakas (moderator), Laura Anne Gilman, Joshua Palmatier, Deborah Blake
Lots of people come up with ideas for a story, but how do writers carry those to completion? We’ll talk with authors about the nitty-gritty of writing, from that first spark of an idea to seeing your idea in print and all the glamour and work in between.

SUNDAY

11 A.M.

By the Gods Above: Paganism in Genre Fiction and Media

Activity Lab (second floor of museum)
Presenters: Crystal Sarakas (moderator), April Steenburgh, Deborah Blake
Many books and genre television and movies feature witchcraft, magic and myths from around the world. For some, this is just fiction. For others, it’s the reflection of a serious religious path. How much of what you read and watch is “true” and what makes most pagans laugh out loud in amusement?

1 P.M.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Writers and Worldbuilding
Activity Lab (second floor of museum)
Presenters: Crystal Sarakas (moderator), Laura Anne Gilman, Joshua Palmatier, Deborah Blake, Jill Shultz
What are the rules of worldbuilding? What are some of our panelists’ favorite examples of worldbuilding done right? How much detail should you go into, and how do you make sure that the plot is central, and not the scenery?

3 P.M.

Women Writers: Their Influence and Future
Computer Lab (second floor of museum)
Presenters: Jill Shultz (moderator), Deborah Blake, Roberta Rogow, Laura Anne Gilman
From Mary Shelley to J.K. Rowling, women have profoundly influenced SF and fantasy. Yet according to the book review statistics, we’re still overlooked — and many casual readers believe women only write certain kinds of stories. We’ll bust some myths and add to your “to-be-read” pile.

 

 I hope that if you're in the area, you'll come see me, and join in all the fun! And if you see me wandering around the con, be sure to come up and say hi.

Imagicka Book Signing Report

As some of you already know, I did a rare book signing at my pal Robert Wandell's shop in Binghamton yesterday. I thought I'd let those of you who couldn't be there get a taste of what it was like.

GREAT. That's what it was like. Okay, that's the short version. Here's the long one.

Rob has been asking me to do a signing at his shop for years, but it is about an hour and 15 minutes from me (which doesn't seem like much, but I don't do long drives because I have an unfortunate tendency to get drowsy behind the wheel after about half an hour) and frankly, book signings tend to be kind of a hit and miss affair unless you are famous. Which I'm not, for all that Rob likes to call me his favorite BNP. [Big Name Pagan.] Snort.

Still, The Witch's Broom has been generating a lot of excitement [side note--it's down to #50 on Amazon now. Pout. Someone go buy a book!], and Rob moved the store to a new location that I hadn't seen yet, and frankly, it's good to get the heck out of town every once in a while. So I said yes, enlisted my best friend Ellen to do the driving--in the new Honda Fit, which she enjoyed--and our pal Jo went with us. Rob suggested I bring some of my jewelry too, so I packed up a box of books, picked out a few pretty pieces of jewelry, and hit the road.

(Here's what's left)

The weather was a little crappy, but the atmosphere inside the shop was warm and lovely. And filled with temptation, since a Pagan/New Age/Cool Stuff store is My Kind of Place. But more on that later.

I was really thrilled with the turnout. Not only were there lots of enthusiastic folks, I got to meet a few people in person who I had only talked to here or on Facebook. The lovely Sarah Mawson drove FOUR HOURS with her family to come see me, because that was all she wanted for Mother's Day. That just made my day. (Waves at Sarah.) Caitlin Disler brought her mom Kathleen Livingston for Kathleen's birthday.

My friends Robin and George, who live nearby, stopped in with my goddess-children Nate and Sophie. That alone made the trip worthwhile! (You can see Jo guarding my table while Rob sells things on the right. Look at all that cool stuff!)

Nate found something he liked. Luckily for his sister, he didn't get to take it home. But he looks like his ready to take on the ravaging hordes, doesn't he?

We had an impromptu tattoo show-and-tell among my fans. (No, I don't have any.) This was my favorite. It was definitely the most relaxed and fun book signing I've ever done! I have the best fans on the planet. Just sayin'.

Rob was really happy I'd finally made the trip. And so was I.

I sold lots of books (including almost all the copies I brought of my older books, which I didn't expect) and a few pieces of jewelry. And everyone had a great time, which is even more important.

Of course, in the end, I did succumb to a few treasures for myself. (Hey--I worked hard! Besides, he had a store full of amazing stones, and I have a major weakness for stones.) I get this fabulous chunk of celestite, which is good for serenity (OY, could I use more of that!) and a wonderful little dragon bowl. I have always been fascinated by dragons, and they are the only thing besides cat-themed items that I could be said to collect. Now that I'm publishing the Baba Yaga books, which all feature dragons (in different forms), I am using that as an excuse to get a few more. Check it out.

Eventually we had to pack everything up and head home, but a great day was had by all.

Well, maybe not all. The cats were a little put out because dinner was late.

Truly, it was a fabulous day.

And speaking of days and fabulous, happy Mother's Day to my fabulous mom, Judy. Love you the most, mom.

Booksigning Reminder!

Just a quick reminder that I'm going to be at Imagicka (a very cool Pagan and New Age and neat stuff shop) at 75 Court Street in Binghamton, NY on Saturday May 10th from 1-4.

I'll have a stack of the new Llewellyn book The Witch's Broom of course, as well as a couple of copies each of all the previous books (including hard-to-find copies of the now out of print Circle, Coven & Grove and The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction).

And owner Robert Wandell asked me to bring some of my jewelry too (which isn't exactly typical at book signings), so I put together a few pieces to bring, including these:

I know a few folks who frequent this blog are planning to be there. I hope if you live anywhere nearby you'll come in and say hello!

Of course, I'll report back here on how it went. You know, as soon as I recover. Have a great weekend!

BOOK SIGNING! And Feline Friday

I don't do many book signings--there aren't too many places near me to do them, and I don't travel much. But my friend Rob Wandell has a fabulous Pagan/New Age/Cool Stuff shop in Binghamton, NY, about an hour away, and he's been asking me to come do one for years.

So if you live anywhere near upstate NY, I hope you'll join me next Satuday, the 10th, from 1-4 PM. I'll have copies of The Witch's Broom
as well as a few copies of my earlier books (including a couple of rare copies of the now-out-of-print Circle, Coven & Grove and Pagan Anthology). I might even bring a few pieces of my handcrafted gemstone jewelry!

Here is a link to the Facebook event page Imagicka Book Signing
The address is 75 Court Street, Binghamton NY

I hope you'll come by and say hello. There will be food, and cool things to look at in the shop, and well...ME.

What do you think--do you live close enough to come? If you are there, be sure to tell me I know you from here!

Magic the Cat says "Be there or else!"

Angus says, "SNACKS!"

I hope I get to meet a few of my online peeps. See you there!