Diane
|
Deb
From Nora -- added on Saturday, March 24,
2001 @ 8 P.M.
Woke up with Mr. Migraine at seven a.m. I really
hate that. Gulped Nuprin and tried to sleep him
away, but he hung in there. Didn't have to check
out until two. Lucky for me as I could pack a
couple things, lie down, put on a few clothes, lie
down.
Called for a bellmen. Shortly learned they only
had one, and he was otherwise occupied. They sent
me a guy from Engineering. LOL.
My driver through Ohio is Henry. Henry is nice,
cute and competent. It's good to have all that in a
driver when you're basically at his mercy. Keep
eating Nuprin and basically slept from Lexington to
Dayton. By the time we got there the leading edge
of the headache had backed off, leaving me almost
pain free and punchy.
Met pals Nancy, Ottis, Diane, Tonya and Tonya's
pretty niece Kayla and Kayla's pretty friend Cassie
for an early dinner. No alcohol for me as that's an
open invitation to Mr. Migraine to come sneaking
back. Food and friendly faces put me back on track.
It was a real treat to be able to relax for a
couple of hours. Plus I got Nancy's famous
chocolate chip cookies, and from Kayla and
Cassie--they did this terrific report for school on
me--a handsome frog prince. He's great, and will
sit on my family room sofa, delighting me and
terrifying my dog Steinbeck. A two for one present!
Steinbeck likes to sneak up on the sofa, but fears
stuffed animals.
The wonderful Sharon of Books and Co came down
to join us for a bite. For those of you who don't
know Dayton, Books and Co is THE reason for a visit
there. It's one of my favorite stores, and Sharon
and her crew do a fantastic job.
We have about 300 people at this signing. A fun
group who've come for a good time. We certainly had
one. I signed until nearly ten, then it was back to
Henry and our drive to Canton.
We ate cookies by Nancy on the drive, and then I
dozed. Henry isn't familiar with this part of Ohio,
but made only one wrong turn, which he corrected
within minutes. AND he asked for directions when he
wasn't 100 percent sure. What a guy. It took us
three hours, so that's checking into the hotel at
one a.m.
I discovered this morning I have a really lovely
suite. Last night I pretty much saw the bed.
Onto a stock signing now, then a formal, another
stock and into Cleveland for my time off.
Nora
From Diane (aka
Dap1write) -- added on Saturday, March 24, 2001 @ 7
P.M.
Got to the signing late so I didn't get to hear
the question and answer session. Roamed around took
pictures as our line numbers were 125 and 126. Had
lots of time to kill. I took a picture from the
back (she will probably kill me) of her sitting
there working away with her shoes off).
I picked up the anthology that was out last
November. When we finally got up there in line, I
noticed how tired she looked. I asked if she was
spending the night and she said no. I asked about
dinner, she said she had cookies and a friend of
mine gave her more M&M's. Hope she gets some
rest. This is just the beginning and she really
looked beat.
Clothing. Let's see. A black blazer and pants,
black shoes. If I'd known sooner about the diamond
bracelet, I would have looked closer. Didn't get a
chance to ask about designers though. Probably
Armani.
She's off to Fairlawn, Ohio, I think today for a
signing at Sam's and then Cleveland and then the
swing out west. I think.
From Deb (from a J.D. Robb
list group) -- added on Saturday, March 24, 2001 @
8 P.M.
Okay, I just walked in the door from Nora's
booksigning in Dayton tonight. Sara (from this
list) and I drove down together in her new Honda
and had a great time chatting the short drive to
and from Dayton.
We got there a little before six and the seating
area was already filling up. We managed to get the
last two seats and made ourselves comfortable
during the wait. We got talking with several of the
other women there, made some new friends, and
probably we'll be gaining a few listers here as I
we were talking about the list and others were
asking for information on how to join. I warned
them about the amount of e-mail we produce in a
day, but I think they were JD Robb fanatics just
like the rest of us! :) One gal had a TERRIFIC
southern accent. It was so beautiful! I finally
just had to ask her where she was from. When she
said West Virginia, I couldn't have been more
floored because it really sounded more deep south,
like Georgia or Alabama. Very, very charming.
The book signing and Q&A was held at Books
& Co which is an independent bookstore chain.
They handed out numbers so that everyone would get
their turn after the Q&A session to come up and
get their books signed. Sara and I were in the 50s
(which was really good because they handed out
about 200 tickets) and Nora had set a 5 book limit
per person, which I thought was quite generous. I
expected it to be a 3 book limit, though I know she
generally does 5 at TTP. I even saw some ladies who
had more than 5 and she signed those as well
(people who drove great distances to come to the
signing). The people at the store said she would
only personalize the book if it was bought from
Books & Co that day, but otherwise, she'd just
sign the book without your name being added on. But
when I went up for the signing, she was signing
whatever you asked her to sign. So nice. I just had
her sign JD Robb because I figured her hand must be
ready to fall off... LOL!!!
She showed up at seven, very promptly, wearing a
very nice black pant suit with a purplish/blue
shirt underneath. She looked quite lovely and was
very chatty. She did about 45 minutes to an hour of
Q&A and I'll hit some of the highlights below
(though I told Sara she was going to have to
correct me on some of this as a lot of comments
were made about her other books which I don't
read).
*The new book due out in December
called Midnight Bayou (or however you spell that!)
will be about a man named Devlin (as I understood
her) Fitzgerald who is a Boston lawyer "with tons
of money" (as Nora put it) who returns to New
Orleans where his best friend from college still
lives. Fitzgerald becomes disenchanted with his
Boston life and moves to the bayou to restore an
old house he's always been drawn to. However, he
finds out it's haunted. As Nora said, "it involves
ghosts and reincarnation, and filthy rich men."
Everyone was ohhhing and ahhhhing about then...
*Someone asked where she got the inspiration to
write the Quinn men. She said something to the
effect of growing up with more men than women in
her family and having two sons and no daughters,
made her realize it was a good bet to get to know
and understand men so that she wouldn't go
screaming in the other direction every time she saw
one. She was also quite witty about the fact that
even the men in her books have flaws, it's just
that she, as a woman, gets to pick and choose the
flaws he will have. Everyone was laughing about her
pithy comments throughout this little discussion
(except the few men who were obviously dragged to
the signing by their girlfriends/wives)... LOL!!!
*Several questions were asked about the
MacGregors and when another MacGregor (am I even
spelling that right???) book would be out. She said
that yes, she is going to keep going with them and
to keep your eyes and ears open. She isn't finished
with Daniel yet and that Daniel is very upset with
her because she has not gotten the last three
grandkids to fulfill their duty. (I assume this
makes sense to all of you)...
*Someone asked about the possibility of her
revising the Royal Family. She said one of those
romance publishers Silhouette, I think, will be
reissuing these stories in a new book, combining
all the stories, like an anthology. She wasn't sure
when it would be out, but she thought either 2002
or 2003. She also said that a new story would be
released at the same time as the reissue about
Gabrielle. Jewels of the Crown is the title (that's
what Sara thought it was anyway). It's a new story,
already written and sent to the publishers.
*Someone then asked about how far in advance she
writes her stories and Nora said she's usually
about 2 to 3 years ahead with many of the stories.
In fact, she said she was writing so fast that it
was the publisher who asked if she would write
under an assumed name, which she had resisted
before, so that she could put more work on the
shelves. They felt she would overflow the market
with too many Nora Roberts books, so they asked her
to write under another name and thus, JD Robb was
born.
*Another lady asked about the Robb series and
when Eve and Roarke were gonna have a kid. I got a
real kick out of this one because Nora's response
was so much like the things we were saying in our
debates on this same issue several months ago.
First, Nora said that she would continue to write
the Robb series as long as she had something to say
and she feels right now that she has a lot more to
say in regards to these characters. But she said,
everyone keeps asking, "When is Eve gonna get
pregnant? When are Peabody and McNab going to hook
up? You gotta find someone for Nadine!" She said
"everyone wants all the threads tied up." But she
warned that if all the threads got tied up, there
would be nothing left to say and then she'd be
done. She added that she didn't feel Eve was
anywhere near ready to be a mother, that she had
too much to deal with, too many issues of her own
childhood to work through, before she could even
consider having a child. Nora said that Eve is a
long way off from becoming pregnant. So she is just
peeling the layers away very slowly and letting the
story develop. Besides, she asked, why is everyone
so anxious to see Eve pregnant??? Additionally,
when the woman with the wonderfully southern accent
was getting her books signed, she asked Nora if we
would ever find out who Eve's mother was/is. Nora
assured her that we would find this information out
in due course, that the identity would be exposed.
*Someone asked who her favorite authors are.
Nora basically commented that she reads everything,
not just romance or suspense. She said she'll read
any author who can write a good story. I wish I
could remember the name of the author she said she
is reading now. It's a mystery author, a male...
Shoot! I can't remember... Said she had his ARC in
her bag and had been reading it on tour. She listed
off many authors, many mystery/fiction authors I
recognized like Grisham, King, Grafton etc., but a
lot I didn't recognize or did but can't remember
now. She did say that Dennis Lehane is a new find
that she's just loving right now.
*Someone made mention of the fact that many of
her books include Ohio towns in them (Columbus,
Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo and suburbs of these
towns). They asked her why she picked Ohio so much.
(I thought this was somewhat interesting myself
since I was unaware because I haven't read her
stuff outside of In Deaths). Nora was stumped. She
seemed to realize it was a true statement as the
lady backed it up - citing instances from her
books, but Nora admitted it had never occurred to
her. She said she was going to have to give it some
thought and found it interesting that someone had
noticed that. She guessed that she chose Ohio
because it is in the "heartland" (so to speak) and
that many people seem to know what Ohio is like "as
opposed to Omaha, Nebraska, where I'm sure many
good people live too." She just felt it may be a
place many people had either been or knew a lot
about.
*She talked about about the book tour, how it
works, the publisher setting it all up, etc. She
said how exhausting it can be, but that they supply
her with a lot of food and booze to keep her going
(we were all laughing about this). She commented
that she gets to shop a little bit during the tour
and someone asked if the publisher also pays for
her shopping. She laughed and said "No, but I think
they should at least pay for my shoes!" This made
me think of her diamond bracelet she bought and I
made a mental note to ask her about it when I went
up to get my books signed.
*One gal asked if romance writing was good
money. Nora told her that it can be if you are
consistent and good. It won't be if you're not. But
that if you're getting into it for the money,
you're doing it for the wrong reasons. Writing
should never be about the money. "And, " she said,
"not everyone's going to be a Grisham or a King."
to which the audience said in unison, "Or a Nora
Roberts." and she thanked us for saying so.
That's about all I remember from the Q&A...
Sara, be sure to fill in anything I forgot!
I went up to have my books signed. It was very
nice the way they did it. They had you come up in
blocks of five, so you didn't have to stand in a
long line. When they got to your number, they
called you up and you only had to stand in line for
a few minutes. It worked really well and everyone
was just very patient and kind.
Nora recognized me right off, which always kinda
floors me... I don't get that. And I always have
this barely controllable urge to drop to my knees
and bow down proclaiming how unworthy I am in her
presence (LOL!!!). I get flustered a little, trying
to hold conversations with her. She's just too... I
don't know... Nora. You know? Anyway, she said
right off that she was very sorry she couldn't come
to Columbus and that she was just telling her
driver so because she had really been looking
forward to touring our police department while in
town (we'd made her the offer to spend a day at the
department or out on a ride along with an officer
if she like while here in Columbus because she was
to have a day off in town after her signing - but
they moved the signing at the last minute to Akron
- 2 hours from Columbus). I told her the offer was
open any time she wanted to come look around.
I asked Nora if the publisher had paid for her
diamond bracelet that she bought yesterday and she
said "No! But I think they should! Wanna see it?"
Do I want to see it??? Oh yeah!!! I may be a tomboy
at heart, but EVERY girl loves diamonds! So she
wiggled it out from under her sleeve and me and the
bookstore helper ohhed and ahhed over it for a
moment. It's gorgeous. I said, "Hey! Can you teach
me to write like you so I can go buy diamond
bracelets too?" We had a little laugh over that
one.
Sara and I took off after that. Many people were
hanging out, waiting for a second turn in line, but
we went on out to the car and started to put
everything away when I realized that I'd forgotten
to give Nora the massive bag of Easter M&Ms I'd
bought her (it's a little tradition of mine now
when I go see Nora... Every time the bag gets
bigger and bigger. Eventually, I'm gonna hit the
biggest bag they make and then what???). So I ran
those back in and laid them down next to her. She
thanked me, but was busy signing all those other
books. Wow! The woman's hand must be ready to fall
off by now and she's only just begun!
BTW, I snagged a really cool little promo
button. It says, "I've been betrayed! JD Robb is
really Nora Roberts. Betrayal in Death. A
Berkeley Paperback on sale March 6, 2001" :)
Nora's The Villa Tour
2001 