A Night of Romance!

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Oooh-la-la! Well, it was very fun and exciting, but not what you’re thinking! LOL

Every year the Haltom City Public Library sponsors A Night of Romance close to Valentine’s Day. They invite local authors who write romance. Each year the event has grown and gotten better and better. Huge thanks go Allison Long, the Ourtreach Librarian. She’s a dynamo. Her boss is Lesley Smith, the Library Director. And the lovely volunteers in the Friends of the Library.

A few of the almost 20 authors gathered. These are all friends from NTRWA. Others not pictured, Mia London, CA Szarek, and  C Marie Bowen.

Clover Autry img_5011

Susie Sheehey img_5020

Jerrie Alexanderimg_5021

Kym Robertsimg_5016

Carolyn Raeimg_5013

Lots of the same authors return and our fans come back, too.  Nothing like talking with a reader who says, “Oh, I loved X book.” It just makes the hairs stand up on my body (in a good way) and chills shoot across my shoulders (again, in a good way.) LOL

Or when they say, “My book club read it and loved it. Would you consider coming to one of our meetings?” OMG, Of course the answer is, “YES. Just let me know when.”

Writing is such hard work and authors are such fragile creatures, words like those keep us going for the long hard slog of creating a book.

Some authors bring baskets that readers win in the many drawings held throughout the night.  The winner of my basket was Ciera Fiedler. img_5025

Some authors read from one of their books.

 20170210_194240 This is hard to do. I read in 2016 and was disappointed in my performance. (As a theatre person, I have high expectations for myself.) So, this year I practiced a bunch and I was pleased with my reading. I read sections from, ACT OF TRUST, Book 2 of the Second Chances Series. This is the one where the heroine’s husband was killed on 9/11. I give a portion of the sales of this book to the 9/11 Memorial.org. I was much happier with my reading and several people commented how much they enjoyed it. (You know people don’t have to say anything if they don’t like it. They just smile and go on. LOL)

And we had Chocolate.

fullsizerender-3 I mean the library staff went all out. Several tables were set out with chocolate fountains, with strawberries, marshmallows, and Graham Crackers. (For Smore making, don’tcha know.)

Both the readers and the authors got roses. img_5023

They served champagne and sparkling cider. img_5022

All in all, this was an exciting evening. I only sold one book, but after-all, these are library patrons for the most part who are attending. All my books are in that library, and I felt honor bound to mention that to them. But hanging out with fans and other cool authors was just the best.

Not to mention that since we’ve moved to the lake, it is super easy to get to the Haltom City Public Library. Twenty minutes max.

I’m already looking forward to next year.

Does your library do anything like this? I’ve been to other library book signings, but none matches this one by the Haltom City Public Library. Most of them don’t focus on romance and I think that’s the big difference. What did you do for Valentine’s?

Love to hear from you.

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13 responses to “A Night of Romance!”

  1. What a great evening, Marsha! I wish I could have been there. We don’t have anything like that here where I live. Last year I was invited to give a talk at a Festival of Romance in the Midlands. That was good fun. I love the idea of giving the baskets as prizes, and the chocolates looked amazing! I meet up with some author friends locally and perhaps we can persuade our local library to do something similar. It looked a fabulous event!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, Helena. You may not have had a library event, but you’re becoming a radio personality. I love that. Confess to some envy. 🙂 I hope you can convince your local library to give this a try. If your author friends all write romance, Valentines is a great tie in. If not then you can pick anytime, but chocolates are always a great addition. 🙂 The other library I’ve gone to uses a Local Author focus and it’s open to all kinds of authors. I’ll be interested to see what comes of this. It is just sooo much fun. Thanks for stopping by.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Now that’s a party!! What a lovely way to promote romance. Our library is always struggling to have enough funds. So I doubt champagne would be available or chocolate fountains. That is so cool. But the Friends do provide cookies and coffee at events. Our writers’ group did a few presentations, but I could never sell books since none in print. Until now. Hopefully this summer we’ll get together for an event again. I’d like to gather our local authors for a Writers and Readers event some day. Summers are so difficult to get everyone together. Thanks for the report on the event.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, JQ. I believe the Friends of the LIbrary footed the bill for the whole event. They have a very active group. The chocolate fountains and champagne and Sparkling cider were additions. The first one just had us bringing baskets and our own chocolate and swag, Each time Allison has added a new feature. The readings the second time and a person who drew characatures, Then this time all out. Don’t know how she’ll top this. But she’s pretty amazing. I’m sure she will. Yes, having the actual books makes such a difference. Before I had the print books, I tried using the cards that a person could go and download from MIU. That just didn’t work for me. Glad you’ve got print books now. Start small, JQ and build. You can do it. Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Looks like a great time! A few local authors went to something like this here a couple of years ago. Like you said, there wasn’t much for sales as we were also in a library, but it was nice to connect with other writers 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, Jacquie. You know even with the no sales to speak of, you never know how many of those folks might go on line and order a book or tell a friend how does. The connection with other writers and real readers is special. Thanks for stopping by.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Hi Marcia,
    What you did looks great.
    unfortunately, the NYPL branches don’t usually do this sort of thing. The 42nd Street library hosts authors, but they would be the NYT Best Sellers or other wise well known people. (Not us, not yet). But we did do a presentation in the Truro Library in Truro, MA for a children’s book we wrote and that was a huge amount of fun. We were there on vacation and got to know the librarians.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, Ken. Yes, I think it’s more of a thing for smaller town libraries to do. I don’t think the FW Library does or like in NYC, it’s really big name authors. LOL As you say, not us, not yet. Love your attitude.
      Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. Hi Marsha,
    What a wonderful night. I felt like I was sitting on your shoulder as you described it. It sounds like a wonderful community of book lovers and I envy you.
    Jacquie mentioned a similar event in Victoria held in a used bookstore and it was a lot of fun. But it died after the second year.
    I’m considering running a table at the local summer market, because I like talking face to face with readers. But the reality is my promo dollars are better spent elsewhere as my sales are not local. Most of them are in the States. I love Americans and my sales in Australia are higher than here in Canada. I may just do it fir fun.
    All the best,
    Jo-Ann

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey, Jo-Ann. I remember your posts about the summer market event. I was envious when I read about it. I guess the grass is always greener. LOL I love that you sell more in Australia than in Canada. I guess it doesn’t hurt having a daughter there. 🙂 She’s doing great PR for you. Meeting with folks in person is so neat. I love that we got together in person. It makes the internet connection that much stronger. Thanks so much for stopping by.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Hi Marsha,
        Yup, the grass is always greener.
        Texas is such a warm and welcoming place and it’s filled with romance readers. I loved it.
        My daughters are both in Canada btw. They have traveled, but I’m very happy to have them in the same country again and yes, it is neat to have them say nice things about me on SM.
        I agree with you about making the stronger connections.
        Loved your post. Hope the sun is shining there. We have rain.
        all the best,
        Jo-Ann

        Liked by 1 person

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