A Busy November Coming Up

Hey! Wow, I don't have time to write much, but I have much to write!!! First of all, many thanks to the nice folks at the L.A. Cafe in Lehigh, Florida. The L.A. Cafe is the latest outlet to carry my novel A Chance to Say Yes. It's a great little coffee house that caters to writers and their ilk. I want to go to their Open Microphone Night soon and try out my reading voice. FYI, I have taken an ad on this website: http://www.asotvi.info/ and placed on in the upcoming issue of Romance Sells, http://www.corncreative.com/. RS goes out to 6,500 libraries and booksellers. Thanks to author Jamie Rush for suggesting it to me. In other news, three events occur in November, in which I'll be involved: During the Sanibel Writers Conference, on Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida, my book A Chance to Say Yes will be on sale through the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Bookstore. It will be available for purchase, also, at the Florida Writers' Conference Bookstore at the Lake Mary Marriott in the Orlando, Florida, November 14-16. In addition, I will be selling and signing books at the Barnes and Noble in Naples, Florida, on November 15, along with other local writers. The Miami Book Fair happens that weekend, too, but I'm afraid I'll have to miss it this year, although I do enjoy attending. In February, I be doing more events. These included signings along with other members of the SWFRW at local bookstores. Oh, yes, and Jane Kennedy Sutton and I will share a table at the Southwest Florida Reading Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, in March. YOU KNOW, as soon as I have time, after I've moved into my new place, I'm going to start posting more on this blog than just my book-related activities. I want to post some of my writing: essays, travelogues, and (gasp) yes, maybe even some things written by other writers. That's right--it's not all about me. Yikes. Btw, here is some verse I wrote for my author-friend Sandy Lender's dragon-story contest. (http://www.todaythedragonwins.com/). Actually, I am writing this, for it is a work in progress. Here's what I have so far: There once was a dragon named Scary Who was huge, yellow-green, and quite hairy But he didn't cause fear Cause he was a big dear Of a dear dragon none could be wary One day cool dragon-bachelor Scary Met a fire-breather he burned to marry Though a lass with a past This hot babe was a blast His lips scorched the first time he smooched Flarey Scary said to The Reverend, "Marry us." But the dragon-priest said, "Too precarious. Though I'd love to toast you Miss Flarey would roast you No, you must wed a lass less nefarious." There's more to come, I 'm afraid. You'll have to stay tuned for the next verse(s). Meanwhile, I'll try to figure out how to make paragraphs and returns on this blogsite. I know I just have to find the right thingy to make it work. Have fun today! Tina

Hemingway and Hiaasen and....!!!

When I strolled by Mina Hemingway's Florida Bookstore (www.hemingwaybookstore.com) yesterday morning, I was thrilled to see that she has placed my novel A Chance to Say Yes in her front window, right next to Carl Hiaasen's book!!! A sign nearby reads, "Local Authors." This is FANTASTIC. I am elated, thrilled, and generally just plain knocked out by this occurence. Thank you, Mina. In other news, I have placed new ads for my book. One is on the www.gottawritenetwork.com, run by Denise, a soon-to-be ArcheBooks author. Denise interviewed me, too. The interview is linked to the website, so please check that out. The ad will run on the website for three months. I've placed an ad with As Seen on TV, too. I'll post that link when I receive it. Thanks very much to the Southwest Florida Romance Writers for the astonishingly wonderful cake they gave me last weekend at the monthly meeting. They had a big cake made for me with the cover for A Chance to Say Yes on top in icing. Plus, they presented me with a lovely rose and a festive balloon. Thank you, SWFRW members. You are the best. I am truly grateful for your support (www.swfrw.org). I'd like to offer my congrats to Tom Williams and Jane Kennedy Sutton on the publication of their new ArcheBooks novels. Please check out the ArcheBooks Publishing website for details (www.archebooks.com). Aslo, Thanks to Jessica at the Naples Barnes and Noble store for ordering more copies of A Chance to Say Yes. Now back to my research for the sequel A Wild Dream of Love, coming in 2009. Cheers!

A Cat Named Oliver

Greetings. Many thanks to the (intelligent, beautiful, and charming) members of the Read 'Em, Dish 'Em, Eat 'Em Book Club in Los Angeles, California. The club members have chosen to read my romance novel A Chance to Say Yes for their next meeting. I am excited about this. I can't wait to hear their reactions to A Chance to Say Yes. In addition, I would like to thank Mr. John Poole and Jay for making One for the Books in Cape Coral, Florida, the latest book store to carry A Chance to Say Yes. Thanks to Rayne Golay, I discovered this wonderful books store yesterday. It is a bibliophile's dream. It even comes with an enormous, furry orange tabby cat named Oliver, who deftly slides in and around the well-laden book cases. Oliver is known for having twice as many toes as the average cat. Speaking of pets, I would like to make you aware of a worthy organization called Friends of Gummi (www.friendsofgummi.org). It is a no-kill shelter for pets that promotes pet placement. I became aware of it because a mutual acquaintance told me that the group's founder read A Chance to Say Yes and "loved" the book. So, I looked up the website and was quite impressed. Please click the above link to check it out. Speaking of the book, I'm pleased to say I'll be selling, along with friend Sue, and signing copies of it at the eWomen Network's event called Backwards in High Heels. It will be held in Fort Lauderdale at The Towers on Wednesday, September 24, 2008. Lots going on!

Tropical Storms, Book Clubs, and Booksignings

Hi, there, Sorry it's taken me so long to post a new entry. A lot's been happening, including Tropical Storm Fay, which, fortunately, slid across the Southwest Florida landscape without causing extensive damage. My heart goes out to the residents of New Orleans as they cope with the ravages of Hurricane Gustav. Unless you've been through a bad hurricane, you just don't realize the danger posed by such a gigantic force of nature. I am working now to firm up the dates of several booksignings I'll be doing this fall. I'll be back online with specific dates in the weeks to come. Already I can tell you that I'm booked for the weekend of November 14-16. If all goes according to plan, I'll be signing at the Florida Writers Association's annual conference at the Lake Mary Marriott, which is in the Orlando, Florida. On the following day, Saturday, November 15, 2-4 p.m., I'll be participating in a local authors' signing event at the Barnes and Nobles in Naples, Florida. That BN is located at the corner of US 41 and Pine Ridge Road in Naples. You're invited to both signings! Please come join me if you have the opportunity. Good news, too, in that I now know of two book clubs who plan to read my debut novel A Chance to Say Yes. This is very exciting! I am eager to hear the members' feedback. Meanwhile, I'm doing a gigantic (it seems to me) postcard mailout to independent bookstores, libraries, and so forth. Whew! That's a lot of labeling and stamping. Oh, and please look for my debut-author ad in the October issue of the Romantic Times BOOKreview. More about that as the time nears for publication. Take care and stay dry, Tina

San Francisco, Oregon, and The Bob Harden Show

Wow, what a couple of weeks I've had! While attending the national conference of the Romance Writers of America at the Marriott in San Francisco, California, I did my first radio interview by phone with Bob Harden on WGUF 98.9 FM back in Naples, Florida, the city in which I reside. The interview, which I did at 5:30 a.m. Pacific to air at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, went very well. Bob Harden was genuine and nice asked interesting questions, and I answered them without becoming tongue-tied. I really appreciate his having me on The Bob Harden Show. In fact, I enjoyed the experience and hope to do many more radio interviews in the future. Meanwhile, the RWA conference was impressive, and I networked with a number of fellow writers, including Debra Maher (http://debmaher.wordpress.com/), who kindly posted info about ACTSY on her blog (please see her comment on my previous post). San Fracisco was fascinating, if startling. I did as much touristy stuff as I could cram into a few days. I rode the trolley car over Nob Hill, and I walked across the Golden Gate bridge and back. The weather changed three times during the course of my walk. From SF, I headed north to Southern Oregon to distribute book promotion materials while visiting a close friend, Tivo, who was very hospitable. We had a fine time, and I visited with his son and his family on the way back to the SF airport. I also met a number of interesting passengers on my airplane flights, and I solicited airport bookstores in Charlotte, North Carolina, during my lay-over betwen SF and Fort Myers, Florida. When I returned to Naples, I hopped right back into promoting A Chance to Say Yes. Dona Lee Gould of Bradenton will be selling copies of A Chance to Say Yes at her bookstore in Bradenton, Florida, Village Voices and Eclectic Art Emporium (http://www.villagevoicesgallery.com/), which is appropriate because ACTSY revolves around art. My debut-author ad for ACTSY will appear in the October edition of the Romantic Times BOOKreview, which will be out soon. Giselle, whom I met sent me a copy of the ad, and it looks terrific. As a side note, thanks to Karen Lieb, I am donating a copy of ACTSY to the Florida Writers Foundation. The book will be part of a silent auction to benefit literacy at the annual Florida Writers Conference in the Orlando area in November (http://www.floridawriters.net/2008_FWA_Conference.html). I am happy to participate in this worthy cause. I'd like to do more to promote literacy. Btw, the reason this blog has no paragraphs is because I haven't had time yet to figure out how to create them, just as I have not had time to figure out how to delete extra comments which I accidentally posted on the previous blog, when, in haste, I hit the "post" button three times. Hmmm....Oh, yes, and I've now had two more from readers praising A Chance to Say Yes -- one from friendly, helpful Jo Allen, travel agent at CI Neapolitan Travel in Naples, and the latest from gracious legal-eagle Tanya Davis in Tampa -- and I spoke to another reader, Carole, and signed her copy of ACTSY yesterday. Carole enjoyed ACTSY and is sending the copy she bought to a friend. That's just wonderful, isn't it? Nothing could please me more than to know my story captures the imaginations of its readers. I'm going to try to post a copy of the one decent photo I shot in SF. Wish me luck! If it appears here, you'll know I succeeded. Smiles, Tina

My First Fan Letter

Hello! My heartfelt thanks to Mina Hemingway for displaying A Chance to Say Yes at the table near the front door of her bookstore (http://www.hemingwaybookstore.com/) and to each and every one of you who has bought and read a copy of A Chance to Say Yes. (Please see Cheryl's comment at the bottom of my previous blog post. Thanks to Cheryl, too.) I actually received my first fan letter this week from my friend Vicki's mom, Ann Panton of South Dakota. Ann noted that it was the first fan letter she'd ever written. Here's a portion of Ann's letter in which she writes about A Chance to Say Yes: "I loved the book and thought it was very well written. It was fun to have it set in a place I know so well [Naples, Florida]. The plot kept me spellbound and the characters were very real. It got to the point where I counldn't put it down as I couldn't wait to s ee what happened next. Can't wait for the next one -- write fast!" THANK YOU, ANN, for writing to me such fine words of praise. I AM working on the sequel to A Chance to Say Yes. The sequel is called A Wild Dream of Love. I am intesteed in hearing from all those of you who read A Chance to Say Yes. Please drop me a line anytime. I'll be in San Francisco next weekend for the national conference of the Romance Writers of America. Woo-hoo! Hope to see you there. Tina

A Chance to Say Yes is now in bookstores, too!

Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm happy to report that my debut novel A Chance to Say Yes is alive and well on the Internet and is soon to be available in bookstores. Online booksellers include www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, and others great sites. You can access some of them through my page at www.authorsden.com/tinamurray. Booksellers with storefronts who soon will be carrying the hardcover version of A Chance to Say Yes include, but are not limited to the following: Naples Barnes and Noble at Pine Ridge Road and US 41; Mina Hemingway's Florida Book Store (www.hemingwaybookstore.com; yes, she's his grand daughter!); the Pembroke Gardens Barnes and Noble in Pembroke Pines, Florida, at the intersection of Pines Blvd. and I-75, which is in the Miami area; and others stores, pending, which I will list here as soon as they are confirmed. My thanks to all the great folks with whom I've spoken in the past few days. As for booksignings, I have at least one date scheduled. I will be signing books at the Florida Voices Bookfair in Gainesville, Florida, Saturday, August 16, 2008. As other book-signing dates are confirmed I will list them here. In the meantime, I hope you have an opportunity to read A Chance to Say Yes. I would love to hear your reaction to the story. The first sequel A Wild Dream of Love has me in its grip at the moment, so I'll sign off for now. Stay safe and have fun! Tina P.S. Please have a look at the book cover (and you know who) on this swell site, too: www.swfrw.org.