Thursday, June 18, 2015

SUMMER SIGHTINGS....

Hi, All,

First I'd like to thank all of you for all the amazing blog love I have received over the past few months concerning my housing issues. Although nothing has been resolved, I plan on enjoying the summer and "DEALING WITH LIFE" in September. It's all about reconnecting with my blogger friends and the writing community.

And now for the sightings.... are you intrigued? I hope so!

Last week, I met 80's guru, and chic lit author, Nicki Elson for coffee in the Printer's Row section of Chicago. such a fascinating neighborhood. Imagine strolling the streets where MILLIONS of books had been published and printed! On historic Dearborn st, there's still a charming bookstore. Thankfully this gem is still in business. With the whirlwind of Amazon books, so many of our historic and treasured book stores are fading from cityscapes all over the country.

After a two hour chat at the local Starbucks, Nicki and I strolled north to the riverfront to meet fellow author Jennifer Lane... She and Nicki had planned to meet for dinner. I stayed for a quick iced tea and left the ladies to catch up on their chosen genre...

This Saturday, June 20th, from 12:00-3:00, at the Barnes and Noble, at 9891 Waterstone Blvd. in Cincinnati, OH., our blogger pal, Tara Tyler is having a book signing! I'm so excited for her! So I decided to leave Chicago, which just happens to be over populated with breeding dementors (Harry Potter fans will know what these creatures are). Yes, although the city is celebrating the Stanley Cup, fog has socked in all over the city and the cool, wet weather is sucking all the life out of this blogger for sure. A road trip to escape is much needed. SO, why not visit a blogger pal. Right?

I'll also be meeting another close blogger pal, and amazing author, Julie Flanders. She also lives in the Cincinnati area. So if any of you would like to join us at Barnes and Noble and grab one of Tara's incredible stories, a coffee, tea, or iced frappaccino at Starbucks, I'd LOVE to see you!

Later in July, this blogger is attending the SCBWI Summer conference in LA!!!!!! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to be going. It's something I had wanted to do for many years. I have been fortunate enough to attend the Winter conference a few times in NYC, and had the most memorable experiences. But now, in LA, it will be UBER AMAZING. There, I will be spending the event with super fun, vivacious red head, MORGAN SHAMY, who's infectious personality lights up the blogosphere! How cool with this be?!!!! BEYOND COOL! Not only to learn so much at the conference, but to also connect with a close blogger friends. It will be MAGICAL. If any of you are going PLEASE let me know! I'd love to meet you there!

I will be posting pics from Saturday and of course the conference. Summer season is about to begin and it can't come soon enough for me!

Do any of you have some amazing plans to meet our fellow blogger buddies this Summer? Why not host a small gathering in your neighborhood. It's worth the effort.

Well, that's all the sightings for now. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend full of exciting surprises!


18 comments:

Jo said...

Do give Morgan a big hug from me. She used to be part of our Fellowship. Sounds like you are going to have a good summer Michael. No plans here other than our usual bowling which we love. I have met a couple of bloggers in person, and several other cyber friends, always fun.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I second Jo: give Morgan a great hug from me, too. Sometimes it is renewing to connect again with old friends. I wish I had been with you to meet Nicki and Jennifer. They both appear so warm in their blogs and responses to me. :-)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's awesome you have a chance to meet so many author buddies! Take lots of pictures Saturday and give Tara and Julie a hug for me.
And you are going to have a great time at that conference.
Just keep up the good attitude. It will be all right.

Yolanda Renée said...

You sound so positive and happy, meeting with good friends will do that, and your summer plans, I'm so jealous! Have a great, great time! Getting out of the fog and enjoying life, good for you!

Loni Townsend said...

That sounds like so much fun (and like I live on the wrong side of the US, since I'm an Idaho gal). I hope you have fun meeting everyone.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Oh how fun to meet so many wonderful people from our blogging community! It sounds like things are hopping in the Chicago area. I look forward to seeing pics and hearing about the LA conference. Also, Michael your comment on my recent blog post was so profound. Thank you for it.

Cherdo said...

Michael, it sounds like you have a wonderful summer planned! I think meeting up with blogger friends would be great. There's a couple of blogger pals that have expressed interest in doing just that - I hope it happens!

As always, love your enthusiasm and positive vibe. God bless.

shelly said...

You are definitely busy. Have fun!

dolorah said...

Road Trip; what a lot of fun. You'll love all the heat in LA. Almost makes me want to go to LA just to meet you. I know a couple other bloggers in the area too. Getting away for a while sounds like fun. Nicki and Tara would be amazing to talk to, and of course Julie could scare us with ghost stories :) Wonderful.

S.P. Bowers said...

That will be so much fun to meet so many blogger friends! If you're ever near Denver.....

Dianne K. Salerni said...

It sounds like you have a wonderful summer planned and so many exciting events! I'm glad you're putting bad stuff behind you and looking forward to many good things!

Cathrina Constantine said...

Michael, how awesome to be meeting all these fantastic authors!!! I wish I was there with y'all!!!!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Wow, that sounds like so much fun. I would love to meet some of my blogging buddies in person. There are two who live near me and I see them on occasion. Have fun with all your travels but keep your fog in the midwest.

Connie said...

Sounds like you have some fun times ahead! Hope you have a great time!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Michael - what a rough time you're having - but all things will come right and there's some reason to be found anon and you'll be settled again down south sometime soon.

Glad you're looking on the bright side - no point looking elsewhere ... enjoy seeing Tara and Julie - will be fun and lots of laughter I guess.

Dearborn street ... I now will always know that name ... after the film "Sugar Man" ... I wrote a blog post about the story .. which I loved! That must have been being with Nicki ...

then on to LA - that will be amazing and you've been to the two big Writing Conferences ... enjoy them and let us have lots of useful tips ...

Cheers and lots of happy thoughts ... happy summer - Hilary

VR Barkowski said...

Sounds like a-mazing times ahead, Michael! I’m a bit out of pocket at the moment, so conferences aren’t a possibility, but my door’s open to any bloggers visiting Boston’s North Shore. :)

I do hope to meet a few fellow New England authors and aspiring authors during a library roundtable in September. Can’t wait!

VR Barkowski

Unknown said...

Wow - you're a high-flying social butterfly! It's so exciting that you get to meet such wonderful people.I bet the Con in LA will be awesome! Take pics and share!

Empty Nest Insider said...

Hope you had a great time with Julie and Tara! I'm so excited that you'll be going to LA next month. It should be an amazing conference, and I know you'll have fun with Morgan. It was so much fun running into you last week, Michael. Hopefully, we can plan another outing when things slow down for you. Happy travels!

Julie