Teresa Does Dallas!

Good morning, dear friends! I just got back from the annual RWA conference in Dallas yesterday and have tons of pics to post. One of the best parts of the conference was getting to spend time with YOU guys, including Santa and J Perry Stone (pictured at left), Sara Lindsay, Keira, Kim C, Desiree B., and a host of charming others who made my conference a true delight. The signing in Plano on Thursday night was a great success and several of you hopped a bus or a car and came out to cheer us on.


Of course Xtina Dodd will tell you that HER favorite part of the conference was when we had a fire alarm go off in the hotel (accompanied by the actual smell of burning electrical wires) and I stopped to put on lipstick before running out of the room. Hey, if I'm going to die, I want to look good while I'm doing it!


Here I am with Authors at Sea cruise mate Barbara Vey, who is now doing the blog BEYOND THE BOOK for PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. We had a fun interview in my suite and could have spent all day talking about books. For more fun conference reports, check out her blog HERE





Me and fabulous Pocket author Karen Hawkins hang out at the ROMANCE NOVEL TV suite. They did several fabulous interviews which you should be able to find on their site in the coming weeks and months. We even filmed a "Squawker Reunion" breakfast. Move over THE VIEW!






The amazing Michelle Buonfiglio from ROMANCE BY THE BLOG was also there doing video interviews for her new LIFETIME affiliated site and got to enjoy our little Squawker reunion. Their make-up artist made me look ever-so-glamorous! (Although I was a little worried when she started talking about Mimi from the Drew Carey show.)



Here I am with the always adorable (and talented!) Sara Lindsay, who traveled all the way to Plano, Texas from Dallas to support us while we spoke and signed.











Here I am cuddling with Barbara Freethy and Candice Hern, two of my favorite pals to breakfast with.













Xtina, Lynn Kerstan, Jayne Krentz and me at a gorgeous librarian hosted tea at the elegant Adolphus hotel. (And no, I was NOT stuffing truffles in my purse. Don't listen to Xtina!)








I've known dear friends Jill Marie Landis and Kristin Hannah since I was twelve. Okay, so it only feels like it. Jill shared my very first conference dinner table in 1989, along with LaVyrle Spencer and Kristin is my rock whenever I need a cooler head to prevail.





Here's Barbara Freethy, Victoria Alexander and Xtina chowing down at breakfast.












Here are the Squawkers reunited for a pic! Silly Connie decided she'd rather go fishing in Alaska than hang out with us in Dallas but she was thoughtful enough to overnight a giant pic of her head so we could take it to interviews with us. On the first day the hotel LOST Connie's head so I was running around everywhere looking for it.

In typical Squawker fashion, when Connie told us she was sending her head, I suggested that it "might be difficult to find a box that big" and Xtina replied with, "She's sending her head, not her thigh." That's right--just when you think you've gone as low as you can go, another Squawker limbos right under you!



Here I am with the amazingly efficient Kim C., who made our lives so much easier by administering some of our Squawk contests for us.










Three of my funnest (is that a word?) fellow Avon Authors--Sophia Nash, Jacquie D'Alessandro and Kathryn Caskie. Don't they remind you a little of CHARLIE'S ANGELS? (And if you see the elegantly refined Sophia anywhere, make sure and get her to tell you her mechanical bull story!)





Hanging at the Avon Dinner with delightful Avon editors May Chen and Lucia Macro.

Nobody loves a hot purse more than Xtina!












Here I am with pal Julia Quinn. She looks happy here but she looked even happier the next night when ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING won the RITA for BEST LONG HISTORICAL :)










Here I am with Toni Blake at the Avon Family Dinner. Blondes really do have more fun!

















Here I am enjoying breakfast with pals Suzanne Enoch, Stephanie Laurens and Christie Ridgeway









Here's Heather MacAllister, Xtina, me and Eloisa voguing in our room before the RITA awards.














Here I am with fellow Avon Author and Donny Osmond enthusiast Jacquie D'Alessandro (note her stylish alligator purse).














Me, Lisa and Xtina after the RITA ceremony. Lisa was our RWA keynote speaker this year. She made us laugh, she made us cry, and she made us appreciate all over again how blessed we are to be able to write books we love so much.






With Harlequin author Heather MacAllister, who just happened to be one of my roomies this year. Heather is the go-to girl for jewelry and shoe advice and I'm...well...not. I'm sure she got really tired of me asking, "Does this go with that?"







Stay tuned! I'll be posting some more pics later in the week as they start to trickle in!