Wednesday, July 20, 2011

JULY IS FULL OF SUMMER FUN ...

So far this month I had the pleasure of seeing two of my blogger friends. You can not imagine how cool it is to visit with cyber friends IN PERSON. This year I had decided to meet as many of you wonderful people as I could.

A few weekends ago Abby Minard trained it into Chicago all the way from St. Louis. After nine hours on a train she arrived with her family in tow. Hubby, daughter, and even mom and dad accompanied her. What a great present for her six-year-old daughter: a weekend in Chicago.

We met around seven-ish. After playing text-tag for almost an hour we finally met on this balmy summer's evening. The cafe was cool and inviting. We ordered iced lattes and gelato. Yummm.

The most exciting part of the evening for me is when I discovered that she also wrote Y/A fantasy. How did I not know this? We've chatted for months! We talked about our perspective novels and found out we had a common thread that wove between both. HOW FUN!

As the sun dropped into the west, a very tired family and I trained it north, there's was the first stop. The magic ended so quickly, but we had a great time. Here's a pic of the sparkling Abby and yours truly.



This past weekend I traveled out of the big city into Wisconsin to visit another blogger pal. Christy, of erica and christy blog, and I met for the first time in Orlando this past April. We had planned to get together again some time this summer and we finally did. I arrived Neenah in close to a hundred degree heat. I though Wisconsin would be cooler than the city... HA! No such luck. Well the hotel was ice cold and so was the iced tea that I inhaled.

After checking in, I gave Christy a call to let her know I was on the way. With so many rights and lefts, I was sure I would get lost. But the directions were perfect. I pulled up to a lovely large home on a hill.

A radiant Christy, now four months pregnant, greeted me at the door. I was escorted into the kitchen and her husband Nathan greeted me with a warm handshake and smile. Only her younger son raced into the room, buzzing about; his older brother to shy to make himself known. An hour or so later he finally came out of hiding.

Immediately we began to chat about our writing. Hours of chat later we sat down to a great bbq feast. Before the sun disappeared, it was time to go. I didn't want to get lost in her development. You know how it is pitch blackness and not able to read the street signs. I forgot my camera and with all the chatter we both forgot to take pics.

So July proved to be a wonderful month for blogger meetings. Next month I plan to spend the afternoon with non other than Hart "the Tart" Johnson in her home town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. I'm venturing into Canada and Hart luckily is along the way. I don't have a blogger meeting in Toronto, but in Montreal I hope to meet up with Deniz Bevan at a charming cafe.

So more summer surprises and delights for me.... YAY! How are you spending your summer? Any fun and unusual happenings for you? I'd love to hear about it.

28 comments:

Unknown said...

That's so cool that you've met another blogger. I would love to meet more of the bloggers I read everyday.

Unknown said...

I'm so jealous by all the fabulous people you are meeting!! I can't wait to take a picture with you in November! It's going to be SO MUCH FUN! It's about time we get to meet!

Hart Johnson said...

I'm very excited to meet you too! You know... there are a couple bloggers in Toronto--you know Deb and Barb, yes? They are there. There are more in Ontario, but I am having trouble remembering which parts...

I love meeting writer friends--there is so much easier a bond than people I meet cold--in fact I think it's an easier bond than people I KNOW for a while but without the writing... Writing is just how I relate.

Heather said...

That's fantastic that you had the chance to meet Abby and Christy! Someday I'd love to do a writer's/bloggers weekend or even week, where we all get together. That would be so much fun!

Linda Gray said...

What a wonderful idea to set a goal to meet your blogging buddies. This sounds like a plan we'll have to incorporate...

VR Barkowski said...

Awesome, Michael! Can't wait to see the pics from your journey. I would love to meet some of my blogger buds. There are quite a few bloggers who live in my area but since I don't drive, it's tough to get where I need to go. Hoping that will change soon.

Summer plans: Polished manuscript by 8/31, September in Italy.

Anonymous said...

How fun that would be to meet blogger buddies IRL? So much to talk about and share, meeting someone face-to-face that you've "known" for months or years.

Ouch, my head hurts just thinking about it.

Abby Minard said...

I had a blast Michael- Chicago was so much fun, and I'm glad we got to meet :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You need to make a bucket list of blogger buddies you hope to meet and start crossing them off.

Golden Eagle said...

It's awesome that you're meeting bloggers in person. It must be fun, seeing people you've "known" for a while through blogging. :)

dolorah said...

How fun to get to travel and meet your blogger friends :)

......dhole

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I've met several blogger friends, but I knew them before they were bloggers. Looking forward to meeting Elizabeth S. Craig next February at Book 'Em NC!

erica and christy said...

I am not happy with you, Michael. The next time you plan a trip to Wisconsin - you really need to tell me. Not just rely on christy to tell me - she's pregnant and can not be relied on...

Love the pic of you and Abby, though!
erica

Johanna Garth said...

That's awesome! It sounds like you really have been having a great summer. I have a bloggy friend coming to PDX soon and I'm so excited to meet her!!

ali cross said...

You two look radiant! So happy and beautiful! And yay for making real life friends out of your virtual ones.

Sue said...

that is such fun! I suspect that unless I travel a fair bit I won't meet anyone, but love reading about other people meeting up. Being connected is so important.
Sue

Anonymous said...

So wonderful! How nice to meet the people we *meet* on the blogs. Safe travels, Michael!

Unknown said...

This is great! Blogger tour, how wonderful! Save some time for me in October brother, don't know how but where there is a will there is a way!

Anonymous said...

That is so much fun! What date will you be travelling back from Canada to US? I have family over from UK now.

Anonymous said...

That is so much fun! What date will you be travelling back from Canada to US? I have family over from UK now.

M Pax said...

How fun to meet other bloggers. The ones around here, I knew them before blogger. :) I'm glad we didn't get all that heat. Stay cool.

Nicki Elson said...

I hope you're happy with all this damn SUN we're getting around here! Canada has to be cooler, right? And so much fun that you're making good on your goal to meet lots of bloggers---such a nice & fun group of ladies too. :)

Talli Roland said...

GRR! So jealous! When are you coming to London??

Say hi to Montreal and Deniz for me!

Anonymous said...

That's so awesome! Congrats!

Susan Oloier said...

What a wonderful thing to do! And two incredibly good looking people in the photo, too!

PK HREZO said...

That is so great, Michael! Maybe we can plan a party sometime next year and see how many of us can meet up. I would totally do it.

Denise Covey said...

Hi Michael! Finally dropped by! I'm with Karen Walker, we need a blogger convention. It's great to catch up the way you've been doing.

Donea Lee said...

I think it's awesome you're taking time to meet some of your blogger friends in person!! I just looked up and saw L'Aussie's second for a blogger convention. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Hope you have a great time in Canada!