When the Heart Dreams Mixer in Charlotte, NC February 11th, 2017

I was PRIVILEGED to win a pair of tickets to When the Heart Dreams, an author/reader mixer that was held on Feb. 11th here in Charlotte, NC. I entered the contest last week, I honestly didn't think I'd win, but I did and IT WAS AWESOME. You can read my entry here. I won two tickets which were about $150 each, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I went alone. 

I arrived just a little after 10 am and signed in. I was given a badge and a "Swag" bag. Not many people where there when I arrived which surprised me. I immediately found a little seat in the corner, because I've been so sick lately and coughing up a storm. I didn't want to push it too far. My swag bag was pretty awesome. It contained two books, a plethora of book marks, a pen, a notepad and and a calendar.

Kianna Alexander Speaking

The first panel discussion was held by Kianna Alexander. It was pretty much just industry discussion and Q&A. which lasted a little over an hour. I did buy a few raffle tickets, it was for a good cause which is near and dear to my heart. At my table during that panel, four authors sat there, I was so excited! Apparently, I'm funny.

Once that was completed there was about a 30 minute interval, BATHROOM BREAK! During the first panel I met a lovely lady named Lee Ann, she helped me find the bathroom, she really is very sweet and I enjoyed talking with her. Not the bathroom in this hotel was swanky. They had real towels and "bath salt" hand cleanser. I used the regular liquid and paper towels. I'm not fancy like that.

After the bathroom break, we had lunch, which was VERY fancy, it had some interesting flavors and the cheesecake was divine. Here are a view photos for you!

Karen Witemeyer and I

Karen Witemeyer panel,
I'm the one in the pink.

After lunch there were two more panels, one was Food and Love hosted by Andria Gaskins which so SO funny. I enjoyed watching her talk, she has a natural comedic bend that I love and she is definitely a story teller. The stories she has about her mom are great and you can tell she is exactly as she portrays herself to be. She is so down to earth.

The second was a Plotting panel hosted by Karen Witemeyer. She is so very sweet! I had met her earlier in the day while talking with my new found friend Lee Ann. Lee An was a huge fan of hers, and I can see why! She is so very sweet and the covers of her books are BEAUTIFUL. I loved meeting her and I picked up a book of hers to go with the one that was in my swag bag! I enjoyed our panel and our little group wrote a story about a man named Cash Murdoch. How perfect is that name? Our groups theme was small town, it had to include a prize winning pig (we named her Cat) and a teacher named Daffadil Wilson (we called her Daffy for short). It was fun and there were lots of M&M's to be eaten, which I did.

At this point they did the drawing. I had bought 5 tickets originally so I wasn't really planning on winning anything but I won TWO gift baskets. The first one was a giant basket by an author I'm not familiar with named E.E. St. Ores. I haven't been able to find anything about this author but there is a release party on March 3rd, I may try to go to that so I can meet the author! I also plan on reviewing the book that was in the basket. It contained a bunch of Hawaiian themed food which is fun. The second thing I was was a bag from Emma Long! She had put in two signed books, a digital copy of another book I can redeem, and some fun swag. Lee Ann won the same bag so we were both pretty happy with that. Later on as I was flipping through the books a $5 Amazon gift card fell out. How awesome is Emma?

Karen, Andria, and Sabrina

"Every woman at the party should wear
a ball gown." ~Elizabeth Michels

On to lunch! Lunch was a very fancy affair with three courses. I was sat at table #1 with Elizabeth Michels! I was so happy to be sitting at her table, she is a very cool hostess and has a very infectious laugh. I enjoyed myself greatly. There was a quick panel as we waited for lunch to be served and Sabrina Jeffries, Andria Gaskins and Karen Witemeyer answered questions that Elizabeth put forth to them. They are each such different individuals that it was pretty interesting to hear their answers.

Salad with goat cheese, walnuts and I
THINK raisins with a balsamic vinaigrette

Chicken with roasted potatoes and
spinach. Had sweet tea as a beverage

Once lunch was served we had a "mad libs" type of task that each of the 8 tables participated in. Each one got a different sub-genre and our table got Erotica. I know, ironic right? I was SHY. I wanted to say the things that came into my head but I didn't want to get looks so I kept most of what I wanted to say to myself.

Sabirina Jeffries
Signing my Books

Sabrina Jeffries and I

After another two our interval came the book signing and party. We were told it was "heavy hors d'oeuvres" but I wasn't sure what that meant until I got there. They had a bunch of little hand held foods you can eat like spanakopitas and little quesadillas. They also had rolls and a roasted turkey that a man was carving. Pretty awesome. I never did hit the dessert table but it looks like they had some great cupcakes. I met all the authors and spent time talking to a majority of them. I spoke with SABRINA JEFFRIES! I'm a huge fan of her work and was so excited to have been able to spend that time with her. She signed both of my books (one was in my swag bag and the other I purchased off the table). She is so nice and I love the story of how she became a writer. It gives me hope that I can do this myself.

Karen Witemeyer
signing my books.

I also spoke again with Karen (she was actually the first table I walked up to as she is so welcoming and inviting it's were I wanted to start!) She also signed two books for me and two post cards. One of the books was in my swag bag, I purchased another book and also picked up two of her post cards from the earlier Plotting panel. I plan on giving one of these bookmarks to my friend! The other...just stay tuned as I have an idea!

Vivienne Hunt
signing my books.

Also I met and spoke with Vivienne Hunt who was very nice and she told me about her books. I hadn't read anything from her before but I'm ALWAYS open to new authors. She had a little deal going at her table where if I bought one book, I'd get the second book for free (and it's an ARC) as well as a cute little goodie bag. I can't pass up a deal....so I took her up on it! She signed both books and a bookmark for me, so excited to read those! And I did speak with Andria Gaskins, sadly I didn't have her book, but I did ask that she sign a bookmark for me and the same with April Alieda and Cindy Holby. I'm hoping I can get autographed books from them and photos at the next event. I greatly enjoyed speaking to both of them as they were very insightful and talented women.

Elizabeth Michels
signing my books

Next I spoke with Elizabeth Michels. She is so very nice (I know I'm saying everyone is nice but they really are!) She signed the book I bought off the table and a book mark for me. She said there was supposed to be a book in our swag bags but I didn't get one, bummer, I would have LOVED it.


Please keep in mind that through all of this I was meeting the great group of readers and some of the authors. I had a great conversation with April Alieda about the RT Convention when I am dying to go to in May. I have plans to be there

My Book Haul

I did get sick a few times. Wound up going back to the ER on Sunday, but it was worth it to meet all of these authors.

Now I'm thinking of starting a Book Blog to post reviews of books and so on, what do you think? This is kind of a "catch all" blog where everything kind of falls. I'm looking at going to a convention in Columbia in November and of course RT in May. This was so much fun I can see how it could be addicting.