Face Time!

I've had a wonderfully social last few days where I had the opportunity to get together with several of my Enchanted Inkpot cronies in real life. First off, on Saturday the inimitable Cindy Pon did her first Los Angeles area reading and signing for her debut YA Fantasy Silver Phoenix at the Barnes & Noble in Huntington Beach. In attendance were Lia Keyes and Stirling Bennett, fellow Inkies and YA fantasy writers. It was so fantastic to just hang out and discuss writing and agents and revisions and whatnot and so forth.

Oh, and Cindy brought some kickass cupcakes. Another reason to hang out a little longer.

The one on the left with the overhanging precipice of cleavage would be me, then Lia, Cindy and Stirling, all with our signed copies. They'll totally be worth a mint someday.

As if that wasn't cool enough, journalist, YA writer and agency-mate of mine over at Curtis Brown Juliette Dominguez was in town staying at the very posh Sunset Marquis Hotel. Stirling and I met her there and we noshed on french fries and burgers - ok, and a fair number of cocktails - for hours shooting the shit about writing.

I can't express to you how wonderful these pow wows are for me. I don't have any other writers in my immediate circle and while friends and family are interested in my writing, they don't really "get" it. But Cindy and Lia and Stirling and Jules... they get it. And I get them. And we can discuss the minutia of edits and outlining and revisions and passes with uber-geek abandon.

It was awesome.

And to top it off, there was an Orlando Bloom sighting as we were waiting for the valet to bring our cars. Yep, right there with us on the curb. I'd call that a pretty darn good evening!