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!

Coastal Magic Report Part One

So I just got back from attending the Coastal Magic Convention in Daytona Florida (well, I got back on Sunday, but it always takes me a while to recover from these things). This was my second year attending, and if anything, I had more fun this year than I did last year. It helped that my roommate, author/agent pal Lucienne Diver didn't have to leave early because of a bad back this year, and also that the weather was nicer, so I actually got to spend some time sitting on the beach. I love the ocean, so this is something of a motivator for me to go to this con, although there are a zillion other reasons besides this one...

Although you have to admit, it's a pretty good reason.

 I left by bus on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in Schenectady in the early evening, where I had dinner with my sister Sarah and adorable niece Addy (they live there, along with my poor BIL who couldn't come along because he'd just had cataract surgery). After dinner they took me to the Colonie Barnes & Noble, where Addy gleefully showed me some of my books on the shelves!

Seriously, isn't she adorable? Also, I love to see my books in the wild.

 I flew to Orlando in the morning, where Lucienne met me at the airport and we drove together the hour or so to get to the hotel at Daytona Beach. After we checked into our room, we went to this fun seafood restaurant called Bubba Gump's, based on the movie Forrest Gump. The food was delish! Thank goodness there are no calories in food eaten at a con. That's right, isn't it?

NOM

The lunch gang, including Lucienne, Eric Asher, Nancy Northcott, Gail Z. Martin, and Alethea Kontis.

 That evening, there was a fun author/blogger meet up, where some folks managed to find the elusive stuffed unicorns!

Unicorns!

 This was the sunrise outside my window on Friday morning. Unfortunately, they were doing construction at the hotel, so on Thursday and Friday, the calming sound of the waves was interspersed with the not-so calming sound of circular saws... Still, ocean.

Glorious!

 My first panel on Friday was a fun one--A Kind of Magic, where various authors discussed the use of magic in their books.

The "Magic" gang: Chudney Thomas, Eric Asher, Larissa Ione, and me.

 Later, I managed to find some time to relax on the beach. This is my happy face :-)

I'm at the ocean!

A Katie Fforde book from across the pond, and look, a unicorn!

That afternoon, Lucienne, Alethea, and I took part in a paranormal authors "Meet and Greet." The theme for ours was Tea and Tiaras, and we all dressed up as princesses and/or goddesses. (My tiara was borrowed. Can you believe I don't own one? I do have a witch's hat, though.)

Goddess Lucienne, Princess Alethea, and me.

We started out behaving so well...

It didn't last.

 The funny thing about this picture was that Alethea and Lisa Kessler, seated in the front, had no idea what was going on behind them. They didn't realize until we put the picture up on Facebook!

The evening ended with a fabulous dinner and Lucienne dragging me out onto the dance floor at the Mixer/party, gimpy knee and all. But more about that in the next post. For now, have a look at the beautiful sunset we saw as we walked to dinner.

 Beautiful, wasn't it? The six inches of snow outside my window is making me very nostalgic...

Elisabeth Alba and I finally Meet!

Last Monday, the 16th, I got a visit from the lovely Elisabeth Alba, who illustrated the Everyday Witch Tarot. Believe it or not, this was the first time we'd met in person, even though we'd worked together for over two years! We had a great time (with her husband, artist Scott Murphy, and their dog Rayo)--and we signed a bazillion copies of the tarot set. Okay, maybe it just felt like a bazillion, but she had her 30 limited editions and I had my 10, plus we both had extras to sell on their own (or gift to friends).

She posted about the visit on her blog HERE

She's actually even nicer in person than she had been via our thousands of emails and Facebook messages. And as a few people pointed out, we actually resemble each other! Here's as few pictures from the day.

[In an aside, people seem to be really loving the deck, which makes us both VERY happy.]

They're here! Rayo is as excited as I am.

You can see my original painting of the Ace of Cups on the wall behind us.

What do you think? Do we look like we could be related?

Signing the box and the books.

Still signing!

Her pile was bigger than mine, if you can believe it!

Trying to get Rayo to sit still long enough for us to get a picture. Ha!

It was a real treat to finally meet up, and hopefully it won't be the last time. It turns out that Elisabeth and Scott are both beer lovers like me, so I've invited them to come back sometime to tour the local Brewery Ommegang and just hang out. (They live in Massachusetts, about 3 hours from me, so this may take some planning.)

It's The End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Fine

I've had a song going through my head for the last few days, as the Inauguration approaches and we bid goodbye to a president I liked a lot, opening the White House doors to one who, if you follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you will not be surprised to hear, I do not.

But this post isn't about politics, really. I try not to be too loud about my own personal views on such things, since I know that not all of my readers share those views, and I respect everyone's right to hold their own opinions.

This post is to address my own depression on this day, in part because I know that many of the folks I'm friends with are also feeling sad, angry, and fearful. None of which are helpful, in the long run.

So I'm going to stay off of social media today, avoid the news, and remind myself (while working, and then later, writing and probably drinking wine) that what we think is the end of the world rarely is. I am going to do my best to stay positive in the face of a lot of negativity. I'm going to try to do as President Obama urged in his last press conference, and remain hopeful.

It may be the end of the world as we know it, but I think we'll be fine.

Big love to you all.

Magic and Mystic Turn 15!

If you are a regular here, you have probably heard quite a lot about Magic the Cat (Queen of the Universe) and her brother, the giant gray kitty Mystic. To me, they will always be my "kittens," since I got them, along with their mom, from the shelter when they were only about ten weeks old.

So tiny and adorable! But the size of Mystic's feet should have warned me...

Who could have resisted those faces?

 And yet, somehow, today they are turning fifteen. I don't know how it happened. (After all, I'm not getting any older, right?) We lost their mom last March, so I confess that it is a little scary seeing them getting older. But mostly they're pretty healthy, aside from some arthritis in her back that makes it hard for Magic to jump up on the couch and the desk anymore. Here are the new stairs I bought to help her out, along with an ottoman by the couch. (She picked up on the ottoman right away...the stairs are taking a little longer.)

Magic enjoying the sun.

 I confess, as much as I love all my cats, Magic and I have always had a special connection. Until a few years ago, this was one of her favorite positions. Especially if I was cooking. She would leap straight up from the floor to my shoulders. Needless to say, this worked a lot better in the winter when I was wearing a lot of layers... (She also co-wrote a number of my Llewellyn books.)

When they were younger, the siblings were also quite close. (You can see mom Minerva in the background. I'm pretty sure she was saying, "You two get along now.") As they got older, that was no longer true, in part because Mystic liked to throw his considerable weight around.

Although as you can see, he is usually pretty laid back.

Don't bother me...I'm napping.

 This picture was taken last week, on a cold but sunny day. You can see they've carefully spaced themselves out with Angus in between.

Truth be told, it doesn't matter if they are fifteen or five, they will always be my babies.

So I'm going to celebrate their birthday the same way I celebrate everything else--with a giveaway! Happy birthday, babies. Mama loves you more than the moon and the stars and chocolate.

Mystic, checking out the goodies

My yearly calendar, featuring book covers and cats, plus a Magic the Cat notebook and mousepad, a cute card from one of the shop artists that I think looks like Mystic, and a little black cat.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Tarot Deck is OUT! Deborah's Limited Edition

Happy New Year!

And a very happy one it is indeed for those of us who have been waiting for the arrival of the EVERYDAY WITCH TAROT -- it got back from the printer early, and even though it wasn't supposed to be out until January 8th, it is available NOW from Amazon, Llewellyn.com, and probably anyplace else, including your local Indy bookstore, who can special order it for you.

Huzzah!

Plus, it is #1 in New Releases in the Tarot category on Amazon, which needless to say makes me and illustrator Elisabeth Alba very happy!

Day one

 As some of you know, Elisabeth came up with a wonderful limited edition (30 only) set that includes signed bookplates (we're getting together mid-month so we can sign them together!), an original mini-sketch by her, a tin for the cards, and more. It sold out in the first couple of days, which was great, but a few people were sad that they hadn't been able to get one. We don't like sad around here!

So I've been hinting on Facebook that I was going to try to come up with a limited edition of my own, and here it is. Right now, there are only 10 sets available. I had the bags (large enough for both the deck and the book, plus all the other goodies, in case you wanted to keep them together) made up especially for this by one of the artists at my shop, and the little notebooks (to keep track of your readings) made special by another artist. The bookmarks are from the shop too, as are the candles. I didn't want to order too many, in case people weren't interested. But I have enough of the cool cat material to make another 10, probably, if the demand is high. Once that runs out, we've hit the limit for sure!

Here it is: The set includes the tarot deck itself (with the book signed by me, and also by Elisabeth if it is ordered before her visit and you don't mind waiting for her to get here), the bag, the cute little book--it has a kitty on it too!--with a broom pen to write in it. There is also a mini-smudge stick, a candle, and a small amethyst crystal, plus a kitty bookmark to use with the tarot book.

All these limited editions will be slightly different. As you can see, there are variations in the bags (different fringes), two different colors of candles, two different kitty bookmarks, and of course, the crystals are all individual. I'll take requests for preferences as long as I have the ones you want.

Variety is the spice of life! These are going to be one-of-a-kind.

Each set will cost $60, including the $30 card set itself, plus shipping. (Probably about $8 if you are in the States, more if you are outside the country.) I have no idea if anyone will be interested, or if they will disappear as fast as Elisabeth's set did. I guess we'll see! But I did want to offer something to the people who missed out on hers, and my set is a bit more magic-centric, as it were.

If you want one of these, email me at magicmysticminerva@yahoo.com -- first come, first served.

So, I admit I'm curious...did you get a set of the tarot cards? If so, have you received them yet and what do you think? Elisabeth and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out.