Sandi Shilhanek | Is It Just About The Decorations?

Wednesday night the DFWTea Readers met at my house for our annual Halloween dinner. I know that I’ve blogged about the group and the fun we’ve had before, but I thought it was time to do it again.

The dish (and I just don’t mean the edible kind) is almost always delicious, and I use that qualifier because as my friends know I’m far from a cook, so I question when I host the dinner whether or not the food is good, but I think that this was the third year of my hosting and cooking and I’ve yet to kill anyone.

While I’ve yet to scare any one off with my culinary skills my husband does his best to scare people with his decorations. This year he had to scale back, because as hard and fast as he was decorating our puppy, Travis decided things needed to be undecorated. Unfortunately, a few items were lost, but fortunately nothing of a real monetary value.

To read more about Sandi's thoughts on the Halloween dinner and to comment for a chance to win please click here.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Sara Reyes | Book Signings and Elvis

The new year is here and book signings are starting to happen...I spent a whole day entering the local signings at our Book Club's web site. We have a few (ha!) good ones coming up in 2009. Steve Berry was our first one for 2009. I managed to write down the right bookstore but insisted on driving to the wrong one. All was well since fortunately the bookstores are close together so we only missed the introduction. Whew. He was a great speaker and told the 50 or so of us there about the way he does research, how he picks the places and objects he weaves stories around and then what's coming down the pike. He also enthused about the ThrillerFest organization and the annual meeting they have in NYC. It was a fun way to start an evening, which we had to top off with a late dinner.

Buy today

Dinner, that was a real challenge. Since I was "confused" on the location my favorite spot, Cheesecake Factory wasn't close. So a new place had to be negotiated. Isn't that the way it happens with other families and friends, the restaurant negotiation. Who's on what diet, who's hungry for what, who will EAT what....I could go on. Fortunately being a "mom" holds some sway so being hungry and tired I threw out the ultimate tease...Chuy's. A new one opened in our town and what a better time to try it?

Hold on...obviously I'm not in the know. Thursday was also Elvis's birthday. Elvis is the pinup for Chuy's. Chuy's celebrates Elvis. Do you get the drift? First sign was the parking lot was crowded. Second sign was the Elvis fans on the windows and doors. Third sign was the huddle in the front area. Yes, they had the Elvis impressionist in the bar area, singing loudly (he wasn't that bad). But the place was also packed with a 20 minute wait. ON A THURSDAY NIGHT at 8:30pm? Seriously! But the wait was worth it. The food was HOT and great! And we had the entertainment of Elvis fans ... some dressed in costume, okay, T-shirts and Elvis pompadours, to admire.

All in all, it was a great way to start off 2009 signing trips. Next up is today's tea with 19 friends and Rachel Caine. First a signing with her at Legacy Books, then a high tea this afternoon. It will be fun!

Sara Reyes

DFW Tea Readers Group

Readers 'n 'ritas ...
celebrate literary obsessions

Sara Reyes | Christmas Eve...

The year is winding to an end and what a year it was! So many good and bad things happened I don't even want to begin to mess with listing them all! But as I rush to get ready for Christmas, I'd like to wish you all very happy holidays.

And here is a little gift from our book club, the DFW Tea Readers Group. Watch out, it has sound and of course my dogs! Remember if you're ever in Dallas or North Texas, let us know! We'll do tea or lunch or dinner or drinks or just hang out! It's always lovely to meet friends from online!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sara Reyes
DFWTea.com

Sara Reyes | Do You GLOM?

The decorations at our back!
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

Yikes, it's Saturday and I'm supposed to blog if I can't find a fill-in. So, okay, an eventful week to recap!

First we had our annual Scary Spaghetti Book Club at the Shilhanek house in Garland. LET ME TELL YOU, you needed to be brave to sit and EAT in this decorated to the gills house! Mike S. took his passion for scary stuff and over the years has a collection that is UNBELIEVABLE. Plus it moves, moans, walks, talks and is generally extremely frightening. Even going to the bathroom takes courage! TMI I'm sure, you'll have to meet us in person to get all the "gory" bathroom details!

THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER by Angie Fox
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

So, if you don't believe me, check out our photos on Flickr...even my son was impressed! And you know it takes allot to impress guys when talking spooky stuff! BTW, the food was as always amazing and very fattening! The wine helped too *grin*

Well, we had the scary atmosphere and our call-in guest was Angie Fox author of THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER

But the best for the week is my glomming of Jodi Thomas. I've only recently discovered her books, say since 2006, so I've got a HUGE back list to pick up and read.

TALL, DARK AND TEXAN, not to be confused in any way with the Diana Palmer romances.

Pat Cat has been helping me find all the books and it's so much fun to sit down with a collection from an author and just dive into that particular author's world. Especially when you'll get glimpses of characters from one book in another and start to wonder "how are they doing?" Yes, I might be strange but I believe well drawn characters continue outside the confines of their pages. Really, they do!!

So I've glommed all the Whispering Mountain books including the final one in the series, TALL, DARK AND TEXAN coming out November 4th (thank YOU, Jodi) which you better not miss! Pre-order it now either online or call your store! I'm serious, this one is SO good!!! Yeah, and the cover doesn't hurt!

Next up was the "Lottery Brides." We found all but the third one and re-reading the excerpt in the back of number 2 was NOT helpful for my mental state. I hope Pat finds A TEXAN'S LUCK really really soon! Then I have the McLain series. I know I own some of those, just where in my collection, I'm not sure. So like I said, I've got some glomming to do!

So, if you've got a minute tell us, do you glom? Even familiar with the term?

See ya on line!

Sara Reyes
FreshFiction.com ... for today's reader
DFW Tea Readers Group...friends, books, chat & high tea
Readers 'n 'ritas ... celebrate passionate literary obsessions November 13-15, 2009

Sara Reyes | Waiting for Ike..

Saturday is my day to blog to tell you all about my week's adventures...well, unfortunately, living in North Texas for the past few days we've been consumed by the approach of Ike. So, my attention has been scattered to say the very least. At least we are now very well stocked with lots of gallons of water, ice in the freezer and sandwich meats. If the electricity and gas go out, we'll be using the grill for cooking. Fortunately, I guess, although I've always considered it not a blessing in the past, we don't live in a low-lying area. No creeks or gulches or ditches near by and our trees are stumpy little things, so the only bad thing is loss of electricity and the possibility of the roof flying off. And no Internet. But I digress...

Terry Brooks
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

This week in books...we went to see Terry Brooks at the Star-Telegram Evening with an Author event at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. Getting from Dallas to Fort Worth on a week day evening is always an adventure through at least three bad bad traffic areas...and fifty miles. But some authors are worth the trek and our companions have to drive another 30 miles to their home east of Dallas, so you know it had to be a really serious event. And it was! Terry Brooks was funny, irreverent and a great interviewee. Jeff Guinn, long time book reviewer for the Star-Telegram, knows how to make authors feel at ease and then grills them nicely so the audience feels like they really get to know the author and how they tick. And the audience came up with some great questions during the Q&A. I really like the one where you could feel the fan's fear of sleeping after reading one of Brooks' books! Mr. Brooks was so compelling and the signing line SO long (an additional 90 minutes) that I ended up buying the complete Genisis trilogy!

Sarah Bird and Meagan Kirk
Originally uploaded by freshfiction

The next author was Sarah Bird who drove from Fort Worth to Plano for her signing. Unfortunately for her, she also had torrential downpours! And had to deal with our infamous toll roads. Not a pleasant combination ever!

But Sarah was up for the challenge and entertained us in a very informal setting at the Creek Walk Barnes and Noble. We talked about her character, Blythe Young, in HOW PERFECT IS THAT. A truly poisonous and irredeemable heroine. Sarah Bird knows how to create a comedic truly Austenish piece-of-work! Seriously, after reading a Sarah Bird book I frequently say, "only in Austen." But perhaps that is my snobbish North Texas pretense? LOL. Seriously, HOW PERFECT IS THAT is a fast, funny, hysterical read! I highly recommend it for readers who want like to laugh out loud and don't mind an ending that doesn't "end well!" A perfect book club read because there will be TONS of discussion at this one!

So, I'm back to waiting on Ike...think it will be a bust but I'm prepared. I've got a flash light and a stack of books too! Just in case!

Sara Reyes
DFW Tea Readers Groups

Don't miss our Readers Gathering -- Readers 'n ritas. If you've always wanted to join the fun we have, this is the NOT-TO-MISS event of the year! I promise we'll shut down at least one establishment! LOL

Sandi Shilhanek | DFW Tea Group

Recently I celebrated a birthday. How I wondered would this year be celebrated? The answer to that was really very simple. Go to the DFW Tea Group book dinner that is held monthly. Good food, good drinks (even if I don’t drink), wonderful conversation, and the highlight of the evening getting to chat via telephone with an author.

Many years ago, don’t ask how many because truth be told I really don’t know, I accidentally discovered the DFW Tea Group. My first event was interesting, but I was an unknown stepping into a world that was as well established as any writer who writes an ongoing series might have. As would be expected the members of the group had to scope me out, and at the same time I had to be both outgoing, and shy so as to ensure my spot at future events.

Now years later I’m a long established member of the group, and look forward to finding out what exciting events I’m going to learn about because of the DFW Tea Group. Do you want to learn about us? Go to www.dfwtea.com/ We really are a friendly group and always looking for new members.

Anyway I digress, the actual day of my birthday didn’t go quite according to plan. I didn’t get the time off work I was hoping for, I forgot the coffee I had promised to bring and had to run home to grab it. Lastly the store where I was sent to buy the wine didn’t have the wine I was told to bring!

Arriving at the home where the dinner was being held I got great doggie welcomes, followed by warm greetings from the hostesses. I was handed a copy of the book being discussed, Take Me If You Can by Karen Kendall, so I could finish reading it, as my copy was in another room. Didn’t quite make it to finishing before dinner was served.

Lovely chat with Karen, who even though she might have been being bombarded by rain(she lives in Florida) let her personality shine through while she talked with us. The only flaw to this point was I really like to know what the author of the month likes to read, and I nor any of my tablemates thought to ask that question before the end of the discussion. Next time!

The evening was topped off with chocolate birthday cake, coffee, and a wonderful present. So, while the day didn’t start out happy and celebratory as birthdays should, it certainly ended on a high note that I believe will be hard to duplicate!

So my day was almost perfection. Tell me what do you like to do to celebrate your special day? Does it include books, friends and/or drinks Inquiring minds want…no need to know!

Sara Reyes | Book Cleaning...Only the Brave Can Do It!!!

Books are the New Wall Lining Originally uploaded by freshfiction

I can still remember the first time I actually threw out a book. And it wasn't just a damaged book with a ripped corner, pages no longer with glue scattering hither and yon, but a perfectly intact book, just one I didn't want to read ever again. But it was still a very painful experience and I suffered book lover guilt for a long time. In fact unless it's an ARC or galley, it is almost impossible for me to throw out a book. But the situation has reached a head or I've come to realize 40 years of books and a family can't really co-exist in a single house. It's sad but true.

So, the winnowing has begun...to give a little history, last time we actually counted the approximate number of books I owned, our move in 2003, we stopped at 38,000. After that it was just get the book boxes loaded and we'll deal with them later. Could be a few aching backs too. After the move, we had over 200 boxes of clearly labeled books and then a large unknown quantity of boxes with books. We unpacked two 30 feet long, 8 feet high bookcases, layering them double double stacked in some instances and still had two rooms filled with boxes of books. This has existed with sporadic attempts at cleaning out old reads until last winter. When I decided it was time to get ruthless. Of course, my idea of ruthless was to attack one room and remove the books I could spare. We ended up with almost one box of spares to offer to the DFW Tea Readers Group. I will say my husband and son were very very supportive and didn't seem to mind too much if I came across a book and had to sit down to look at its pages, uh, read it. In fact, if I remember correctly, I ended up with two boxes of books brought downstairs to re-read!

Well, we've gotten a little smarter. I know I'm not going to re-read all those books. Some of them certainly aren't worth the time to try a second time, and they aren't all collector pieces so maybe just maybe it's time to clean house and let go. It's a first step and I'll probably need coaching and therapy during the process but I think seriously it's time to reclaim the media room!

My husband's second solution was to apply technology to the problem -- natural response on his part. He installed Book Collectorz on my computer and waited. I'm not sure what he was waiting for me to do but whatever it was, didn't happen. So after sighing a bit, he installed it on his lap top and with a scanner started scanning in books, putting them in boxes and giving me a printout each day. I was to go down the list of books and mark the ones I definitely needed to keep, ones for book club, and ones that were "collectible." Unfortunately, even with my sharp memory, I couldn't always remember title author combination and if I wanted to keep it. So he adapted and didn't seal up book cases until I had the list and the opportunity to "double-check" the box. So after scanning, printing lists with short summaries and "Sara's reviews" my husband has managed to box, seal and label 18 boxes or 878 books that we're going to be able to give away.

Of course, the neatly sealed and labeled boxes are still lining my dining room, think of it as an artistic decorating statement, but they will be going to a good home (or homes) on October 11th. My precious books, along with some collectibles from Pat Cat Books will be the "foundation" of the inaugural DFW Tea Readers Book Swap at the Readers 'n 'ritas Convention. So, for another two months I'll still be able to take pleasure in all my books. I do promise NOT to open ANY OF THE BOXES again! I promised Tom I would NOT! Otherwise they go to the garage where it's hot and they might not like all that heat! *grin*
So, if you're curious you'll have to come to Readers 'n 'ritas Convention and check out the book swap. It's Saturday, October 11th and you'll also get food, margaritas, friendly readers and a few authors to chat up. How much fun is that? And possibly be able to give my babies a nice new appreciative home!

Sara Reyes Fresh Fiction.com ...for today's reader
Don't miss THE Fresh Fiction Readers Conference on October 11th, 2008! With Sherrilyn Kenyon and many other favorite authors. Details at Readers-n-ritas.org -- celebrate passionate literary obsessions