Books and Baskets and Movies

Well, I drove up to the Cleveland Rocks Conference with 36 books and drove home with…36 books (Okay, actually I drove home with more, because I won two of the raffle baskets and they were loaded). Yeah, I didn’t sell any books. That’s okay (I guess). I got a few more people to sign up for my newsletter. That’s a plus.

Which I should probably mention: if you don’t belong to my newsletter, send me an e-mail to stacy @ stacymckitrick . com (just leave out the spaces), with GIVEAWAY in the subject line. I’ll add you to my list of subscribers and enter you for a chance to win one of my books (your choice). I’ll even autograph it for you. There’s no obligation to remain subscribed to my newsletter. Once you get the first one (which will be on June 8th to announce the winner) you could unsubscribe. I certainly hope you WOULDN’T, but understand if you do.

If you by some chance subscribe to my newsletter via the form between now and June 8th, I’ll still enter you in the drawing, but it’ll be a whole lot easier if you e-mail me and I have that reminder, you know?

So, back to the baskets. Yeah, I won two. I wasn’t even going to buy any tickets, but felt it was for their fund raiser and they had TONS of baskets (I think close to 100 and there were only 50 of us there). One of the baskets I won I hadn’t realized I entered (it didn’t contain anything I really wanted—I probably put my ticket in the wrong bag), so I’ll be donating it for a RAGT raffle, after I add some books I got from RT that I don’t want but will fit in nicely with that basket.

The other basket had gobs of stuff I wanted. A bottle of Irish Cream (yum), a nice star-shaped glass bowl loaded with candy, and several books I actually WANT to read. The basket will come in handy for the stuff I was donating for another RAGT raffle (nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?), because I don’t collect baskets, I just reuse them.

Driving up to Cleveland was nice, but coming home on Saturday we hit storm after storm after storm (or maybe the same storm but at different parts?). Nasty weather. But now it’s a lot cooler out and not near as muggy. I'm sure that won't last, though.

Yesterday I got to use the Mother’s Day gift my hubby gave me (gift cards for dinner & a movie). I chose to see “San Andreas.” I’m such a sucker for disaster flicks. Have to say, it was hokey (I think “Earthquake” was probably more realistic than this one), but the graphics were awesome. It looked so real. Oh, and for dinner? We ate at Chili’s. Good time!

So… You plan on seeing any movies this summer? “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” interests me. Not only because I enjoyed the series when I was young, but I like Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. Yum! (Yeah, I can be shallow at times).

Have a good Monday!

 

Stacy

Lori Foster Reader Author Get Together

I’m at the Lori Foster Reader Author Get Together in West Chester, Ohio. Tonight I’ll be at the book fair, selling (and signing) the anthologies I’m included in. It’s open to the public, so if you find yourself in the West Chester area, at the Marriott Hotel, between 5-7pm, come look for me! Haha!

On Saturday I’m included in a live blog feed. Here are the details I got:

2014.RAGT.Live.BackstagePass.png

Sat, Jun 7, 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM - BACKSTAGE PASS
Confirmed Authors: Milly Taiden, Nancy Northcott, Tigris Eden, Chelsea O'Neal, Robyn Peterman, Stacy McKitrick, Jessica Lemmon, Paige Tyler, Catherine Castle, and Heather Long
Interviewer: Joyfully Reviewed
Moderators: Liza Brown
Hangouts On Air Link: https://plus.google.com/events/cq6rh0tndahjl06nmq4opi73rig
YouTube Link: http://youtu.be/UPhEFXtAGq0

Not sure how it’s all going to work, or if I’ll be able to be heard (gotta talk for that to happen, right?), but if you’re free during that time and have nothing else better to do, check it out. And then tell me what you saw/heard. I’m really curious!

Here are some pictures of the gift basket I’ve donated to the convention.

And here’s a better shot of the scarf I made. I thought it turned out pretty nice.

 

Don’t know how often I’ll be on my computer while I’m here, but at least I have free internet (shocker, huh?).

Hope you’re having as much fun as I am this weekend. Well, I hope I’m having loads of fun. I’m trying, anyway.

Stacy

 

Choosing Items for a Gift Basket

I’m putting together a gift basket for Club RT (that would be at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention). Why? Well, it puts my name on RT’s website (click HERE and scroll toward the end of page 2) and maybe gets me some recognition.

So what am I giving away? I’ll have a copy of my book and the two anthologies, but just having books is kind of boring. Don’t you think? While in California, I bought some yarn (Homespun--super soft!!) and made this quick scarf:

Isn’t it pretty? I also made a bookmark, but it didn’t turn out quite like I thought:

 

Of course, I tend to be picky, so I should just put it in there anyway.

I also have a Pittsburgh Steelers mug I might put in there, because, well, there’s this scene in My Sunny Vampire… If you’ve read the book, you know what I mean. And if you haven’t, maybe I’ve piqued your interest now? Hmmm?

The last thing I might add would be a chocolate bar or maybe some coffee (items Sunny misses--also in the book). The only thing I can’t think of is what kind of basket to put it all into. Or should I even USE a basket? Maybe a bag instead? I mean, most people are traveling, probably by air, so I should try to make it as easy as possible to transport back home. Got any suggestions?

The thing that gets me is how BIG (translation: EXPENSIVE) some of the gift baskets are ($50 gift cards, Kindles, iPads, that sort of stuff). It doesn’t cost anything to enter to win these things, so the prizes really baffle me. Well, not if it comes from a publisher. I can almost understand that. But from an author? I can’t justify giving a lot away, you know? And I’m thinking of donating a basket to Lori Foster’s event, too (of which tickets for those gift baskets are sold, though, and proceeds go to charity), so I really don’t want to go overboard.

So…what kind of things do you look for in a gift basket? Oh, and did you see the University of Dayton win last night??? Go UD Flyers!!! Elite Eight!!!

Have a good weekend. I think it’s supposed to get warm!! Whoo hoo!!

Stacy