Thanks for the intro, AM!
So, what am I going to blog about? How about friendship? Seems appropriate as AM is my best friend. She is Lucy to my Ethel.
I met Annmarie online several years ago (2006) when I had a few short stories contracted with Silk’s Vault (now defunct). There was a major issue at one point involving my “slot” in an anthology. I was supposed to be in the antho, but the owner kept flip flopping over it. And guess whose story was being flip flopped as well? Yup. Probably not a good start to any friendship, huh? I had no idea they were doing that to her. I ended up pulling the story from Silk’s and giving it to Ellora’s Cave. It continues to be my best seller there—
Beast In My Bed. Good move.
When I worked at Venus Press, I organized models for a series of books involving Greek gods, thus I met many handsome cover models—Brooks Johnson, Andrei Claude, Evan Scott, Sylvester Bowden, Marc Patton, etc. I got Andrei (Mr. Romance 2005) on some covers at Silk’s and one night they held a chat where he was a guest. I actually met Annmarie at that chat. We later chatted on MySpace and agreed to meet at RT in Daytona.
Between then and RT I had terminated my contracts at Silk’s. Essentially, the owner had no concept of understanding her own contract (and how you can’t change things like the royalty payment process willy-nilly). It got ugly, but I did get my rights returned.
In Daytona I met up with Andrei and introduced him to my mom. (I took her to the Daytona RT as a Mother’s Day gift. She had a blast.) Later he introduced me to Annmarie who I had seen across the room earlier—the blond hair was a dead give away.
We all went out to dinner that night—Annmarie, Andrei, AM’s friend from Chicago, author Tyler Blackwood, my mom, and me. We were there in the hotel restaurant for hours talking and laughing. It was awesome. I hit it off with AM very quickly. We met the next morning for breakfast before everyone went home. So much fun.
I started talking with Annmarie more frequently after that. When it came time to start planning RT 2007 in Houston, we planned to room together, along with her cousin Kim.
Houston RT was so much fun. I got to see Brooks again (who I met at RT 2003 in Kansas City). Let me tell you, Brooks is THE best hugger. Dear God, the man can hug. And I will go get a hug often too. LOL Also in Houston I met Chris Howell for the first time, who is an awesome guy, a true Texan gentleman. Kim nicknamed him “Pippin” from
Lord of the Rings, because he was so cute.
Annmarie’s pal Julian Fantechi was in the Mr. Romance competition that year. It was my first time meeting him. I think it was her first time too, although they’d been talking online for a while before that. They got on so well. Real friends who connected.
During that RT Julian ran into some problems and was eliminated from the Mr. Romance competition for bringing copies of
Playgirl (He was
Playgirl Man of the Year, after all!) to the book signing. Someone got offended, I guess, and he was booted. He almost had to sleep in our room that last night as he was afraid they’d kick him out of the hotel. Yeah, it was crazy.
Houston was a lot of fun—the men, the laughs, the men. But then there was Pittsburgh.
A year passed since seeing AM and within minutes of her walking into the hotel room, it was like a flash of time. Tiles flew from the wall! Right off we crashed a Kensington author’s party and the good times rolled from there. We hung out with Chris (who grew up over the year and was quite yummy...very, very yummy), Brooks (who still was the KING of Hugs—and would snub many of his admirers to talk to me about his turbulent love life), Jason Santiago (who won the Mr. Romance competition the previous year), Andrei, and Sly. AM and I went around the convention getting “model sandwich” pictures. Chris looked confused, and Andrei thought we wanted to feed him. The ONLY guy who understood this was Brooks, who cheered with much enthusiasm.
Despite the “Pit of Hell” hotel in Pittsburgh, we laughed so much and had so much fun. It was the one of the best RT’s I’ve gone to, and I’ve gone to six! Of course, the fact that we seemed to attract the male models didn’t hurt. She knew some and so did I. Combined, we were Model Magnets. It is always nice to sit back and hang out with intelligent, sexy men.
I haven’t seen Annmarie since Pittsburgh, but we maintain our friendship. We talk daily on the phone, several times a day. We laugh—A LOT! I didn’t get to see her this year as we both skipped RT. (I had major abdominal surgery that week of RT.) I plan on seeing AM in 2010. Her Chicago North RWA chapter is having their conference in April, and I am going to that. I am actually going a few days earlier so I can tour Chicago with AM that week. It is going to be a blast. I can hardly wait.
Does the distance and lack of face-to-face meetings affect our friendship? Heck no. AM is one friend I can count on. If I need a lift when I’m down, she’s there. If I want to share a happy moment, she’s there. If I need someone to come to my defense, she’s there. I couldn’t ask for a more loyal and trustworthy friend as Annmarie. She is the best of the best.
