The Happiest Place On Earth, Part V (The Conclusion!)

Was so, so sad to leave the Disney Magic, as I blogged about earlier (just click on the labels for "Disney Cruise" at the bottom of this post if you'd like to read Parts I - IV and to see the accompanying photos of alligator heads. Or Stitch.) But when the ship docks, you're outta luck. If you refuse to disembark because you're having too much fun, you deal with the port authority, and that's not my idea of a good time.

I headed home--briefly!--because I had Red Sox tickets. (And really, isn't THIS in the running for the Happiest Place on Earth? I think so! Especially when Josh Beckett's pitching.)




After the game, however, I headed right back to Logan Airport and made nice with the folks from JetBlue, who took me back to Orlando, where author Elizabeth Boyle and I spoke to librarians at the annual Florida Library Association conference. Even though we had an early-morning time slot, our room was PACKED. (Not only because we are us, and naturally entertaining, but because we primed everyone with coffee and distributed massive goody bags. We never assume our witty banter is enough to rouse folks from their comfy beds at 8AM.)

We had a load of fun discussing low-cost strategies for making their libraries teen-friendly, ways to use their romance novel collections to draw in readers, and gave them info on attracting fantastic speakers. We also did a lot of Q & A about writing (and the life of writers) in general. If you're a librarian and would be interested in a copy of my handout on Five Ways to Encourage Teen Patronage, just e-mail me. I'm happy to send it along. (And by all means, if you organize library conferences and are interested in having us speak, ask! We love meeting librarians.)

After our talk, Elizabeth and I drove all over the Orlando area signing books. If you'd like an autographed book, check at any of the following stores (call first, just to be sure they're still in stock):

Winter Park, FL

Borders
600 North Orlando Ave

Orlando, FL

Books-A-Million
5498 Touchstone Dr

Barnes & Noble
Colonial Plaza Market Center
2418 E Colonial Drive

Barnes & Noble
Waterford Lakes Town Center
481 N Alafaya Trail

Barnes & Noble
Florida Mall
8358 S Orange Blossom Trail

Altamonte Springs, FL

Barnes & Noble
Altamonte Mall
451 Altamonte Drive

Borders
880 W State Road 436

Casselberry, FL

Books-A-Million
S Hwy 17/92

I'm now home from Florida for awhile. Tonight, I'm heading back to Fenway to catch the Red Sox and the Texas Rangers. Brad Penny's on the mound for the Sox, so it should be a great game.

Wichita, KS: The Friendliest Place On Earth?

Ever been to Wichita? What do you think?

I spent the last three days hanging out in wonderful Wichita at the Kansas Library Association/Midwest Plains Library Association joint conference with my good friend, author Elizabeth Boyle. We gave a workshop to the librarians on using their romance collections to build patronage at their libraries through various displays, programming, teen advisory groups, etc. A HUGE thanks to HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin, and the Romance Writers of America for providing all kinds of swag, including fabulous tote bags and copies of Breaking Up (Is Hard To Do) and Elizabeth's brand new release, Confessions of a Little Black Gown. We had a great turnout and a lot of fun.

What Elizabeth and I couldn't get over? How NICE everyone is in Wichita! The guy working the desk at Enterprise Rent-A-Car was cheerful and informative when we arrived, even though it was ten pm and he was probably due to get off work. We kept talking about how nice he was...then everyone else we encountered turned out to be just like him! From the helpful folks at Walgreen's (who helped me find face wash after I left mine at home), to the smiling booksellers at the Maize Road Borders (where Elizabeth and I stopped by to sign stock) to the friendly waitstaff at River City Brewery, every single person we met in Wichita was exceedingly kind. Elizabeth and I decided that it's probably the friendliest city on Earth.

We also need to give a huge shout out to everyone at the Bradley Fair Barnes & Noble, located at 1920 N. Rock Road. Elizabeth held a booksigning there on Thursday night, and the staff went above and beyond to make it a fun, relaxing event. If you want an autographed copy of any of her books, or if you'd like an autographed copy of either Royally Jacked or Scary Beautiful, stop by the store and grab one! They have a ton of signed stock. If you're not near Wichita, but would still like an autographed copy, give them a call at (316) 315-0421. They can make arrangements to ship you whatever you need. (See, told you they were nice!) Huge, huge thanks to Brad, Karina, and Bob for organizing the event and treating us like royalty. We wish all bookstore employees were as friendly as you.



NOTE: If you're a librarian, Elizabeth and I will be giving our presentation again next month at the Florida Library Association's annual conference in Orlando, Florida. Introduce yourself if you're there! And if you're organizing a library conference and are interested in having us speak, just drop either one of us a line. Librarians are some of our favorite people, so we'd love to come and meet you!

Seattle Recap, Award Predictions

Had a fabulous trip to Seattle this past weekend. Kicked it off by meeting a group of librarians from the King County Library System. If you live anywhere near Seattle, check out their website--King County is the second-largest library system in the country, and they've put together wonderful programs for teens and adults.

I did a booksigning alongside several other authors in town for the Emerald City Writers' Conference, which meant the trip allowed me the opportunity to network with writer friends. I spent a great deal of time with Leah Vale and Terri Reed, then had a to-die-for Italian dinner with Susan Andersen, Elizabeth Boyle, Christina Dodd, Rachel Gibson, and Laura Lee Guhrke. They even tolerated my rude behavior when I kept checking the Rockies/Red Sox score on my iPhone (which was semi-hidden under the table.)

On Sunday, after the conference wrapped up, I spent the afternoon with Elizabeth Boyle and her family. We sat on her deck and enjoyed the great weather, set up her new MySpace page, then watched the first half of game four of the World Series. We made a dash for the airport during the seventh inning stretch and I managed to catch most of the eighth and the entire ninth inning in a sports bar at SeaTac before flying back to Boston. (Thanks, Elizabeth!)

Needless to say, huge, huge congrats to the Boston Red Sox, and to Series MVP Mike Lowell! I thought the Colorado Rockies would pull off that last game (it was close!), but in the end, I do think the stronger team prevailed. However, the Rockies had a fabulous season, winning 21 of 22 games right before entering the World Series (including a playoff sweep of the Diamondbacks), so I hope that's not lost in the celebration for the Sox (probably one of the strongest lineups ever to take the field....thanks, Theo!)

Since today's a parade day here in Boston, I figure it's as good a time as any to make award predictions:

NL Cy Young:
• Who Should Win: Jake Peavy
• Who Will Win: Jake Peavy

-- Solid all year, and strongest in the NL with 19 wins.

AL Cy Young:
• Who Should Win: Josh Beckett
• Who Will Win: Josh Beckett

-- Biggest no-brainer of all. You go, Josh!

NL Rookie of the Year:
• Who Should Win: Troy Tulowitzki
• Who Will Win: Troy Tulowitzki

-- He's been amazing in the field and is a big reason the Rockies went to the Series. If he steps up with the bat, he could be the next Derek Jeter.

AL Rookie of the Year:
• Who Should Win: Dustin Pedroia
• Who Will Win: Dustin Pedroia

-- Made spectacular defensive plays and kept a high batting average all year. I kept waiting for him to fall apart (no rookie can keep hitting like that, can they?) but he never did.

NL MVP:
• Who Should Win: Matt Holliday
• Who Will Win: Matt Holliday

-- Nabbed the NL batting title, was solid in the field and inspirational in the clubhouse. Go, Matt!

AL MVP:
• Who Should Win: Mike Lowell
• Who Will Win: Alex Rodriguez

-- I'm Sox-centric. So shoot me. Lowell is Mr. Steady. Hope he has a blast during today's parade through Boston.

Autographed Books!

This is your chance to get an autographed Niki Burnham book (for yourself, or as a Christmas or birthday gift for a friend!)

Yesterday, I signed piles of books for the Borders store in Redmond, Washington. But if you act quickly, you can get an autographed copy sent to YOUR local Borders!

Here's what you need to do:

1) Go to your local Borders;

2) Tell them you'd like to order a book from Borders #0191 in Redmond, Washington;

3) Your store will call up the Redmond Borders and let you know which autographed copies are still available (I signed copies of Goddess Games, Sticky Fingers, and Scary Beautiful);

4) You pay for it at your local Borders; and

5) They'll call you when it comes in.

The Redmond Borders will only have these books for a limited time (the employees are probably tripping on them!) so if this is something you want to do, please act sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, thanks again for all your support (I think I have the best readers in the world!!) and be sure to check out my all-new website and bulletin boards.

The "Ticket-Buying Experience" (With Bonus!)

Sounds like a Disney ride, or something Trekkers might see at the Las Vegas Hilton, but it is sooooo not.

Try staring at these words for, oh, THREE AND A HALF HOURS:

Please wait for the server to become available. The site is experiencing heavy loads at this time.

To improve your ticket-buying experience and to make it as pleasant as possible, this site permits entry to a limited number of patrons at a time.

This page will refresh when the countdown timer below reaches zero. When this happens, the system will automatically try to access the site again.

Do not refresh this page or you will be dropped to the end of the line. Thank you for your patience.

Here's what would have made "ticket-buying experience" (experience? they call this an experience?) "as pleasant as possible": If I could GET THROUGH.

Two and a half hours on Monday, then they announced a server crash. Then three hours yesterday before my screen told me that games three and four were sold out, and there were a "limited number" of seats still available for game five. A half-hour trying for game five, and it, too, sold out. (I'd originally been trying for game four.) And what's worse? That little line about not refreshing the page. What do you do when it freezes? You HAVE to refresh.

Some experience.

Same thing happened to everyone in my family (and extended family, and friends, nearly all of whom are in Colorado) who tried to get tickets. Not one of us got through, ever. Grumble, grumble. I *so* wanted to see a game at Coors Field to cheer on the Rockies. Apparently, however, they do not want me.

On the bright side, I'm going to game one tonight at Fenway. We have ONE ticket, and my husband told me six weeks ago (thinking he was making the safest promise ever), "If it ends up being the Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, you can have it."

I'm still waiting for the planet to spin off its axis.

So I'm there. My husband is kicking himself. And the biggest surprise is probably awaiting the poor guy who has the other of our two seats for the game...we split our tickets six ways, and Jim has the other seat for tonight. I'm sure he's expecting to kick back, enjoy the game, and have a beer with my husband while he cheers on the Sox. Instead, he gets The Wife. And not only that, he gets The Wife Who Is Also A Rockies Fan.

That brings me to a big dilemma: What do I wear?!? If I'd snagged a seat at Coors for later in the week, it'd be easy...wear Red Sox gear at Fenway, Rockies gear at Coors. Cheer for each team in their home ballpark and enjoy the fact that I get to see my two absolute favorite teams in the Series. But I'm just not willing to shell out over a grand for Rockpile seats on StubHub so I can give a healthy profit to the jerk who managed to buy a ticket online yesterday with the sole motive of reselling to an actual (gasp) FAN.

Instead, I think I'll end up wearing my Manny Ramirez jersey over a Colorado State T-shirt, then pinning a Colorado flag to my hat. (Though which hat, I haven't decided yet. Probably a Sox hat, if I want to survive the evening in one piece.) I'll try to get online sometime tomorrow to post pics from game one (the camera battery is fully charged this time!) Maybe I can convince Jim to take a picture of me before some drunk fan rips the Colorado pin off my hat.

In the morning, I fly out wicked early for Seattle. Come on over to Bellevue and see me, get an autographed book, tell me who you think will win the Series and feel free to make fun of my ticket-buying "experience."

There will be copies of Goddess Games, as well as at least a few other recent titles. This is your chance to ask me, face to face, anything you want about writing, my books, or whatever!

In the meantime, check out the "bonus" promised in the blog's title: The cover for my upcoming book is in! My editor sent it yesterday. Does it not ROCK??



I'm thrilled to be included with the fabulous Terri Clark (author of the upcoming book SLEEPLESS), New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins (author of CRANK and GLASS), and the ultra-cool Lynda Sandoval (author of WHO'S YOUR DADDY? and CHICKS AHOY.)

Look for BREAKING UP this spring!

Lucky Seven

Game seven ROCKED. Got there early for batting practice, watched former Boston Red Sox player Trot Nixon (now a Cleveland Indian) hit, then talk with Peter Gammons.



Took some shots early in the game...first, of Kevin Youkilis prepping to smack one with Dustin Pedroia on first base, then a shot of Jacoby Ellsbury on third, waiting for the signal to go home.




Unfortunately, the camera battery went before Jonathan Papelbon stood on the pitcher's mound and poured his beer all over the AL Championship trophy after the Red Sox won 11-2. Maybe it's best not to immortalize that moment, anyway.

Made it home just before two a.m., then got up and made a run at buying Rockies tickets for one of the games at Coors Field. No dice...the system crashed. (There go two hours of my productive work time!) I'll try again when they re-post the tickets at noon. Wish me luck!

I think I'm in baseball heaven. I'll be at Fenway for game one on Wednesday night, then head to Seattle for a large group booksigning on Saturday night. If you're in the Seattle area, please hop on over to Bellevue and introduce yourself! There will be many, many authors signing their books, including Julia Quinn, Stella Cameron, Cherry Adair, Elizabeth Boyle, Jane Porter, and a slew of others.