The London Report – Part Two

Oct 19, 2010 | Photos, Travel | 14 comments

My husband has been chastising me for not doing part two of my post. He's right, of course. I get so busy that the days just sort of slip by and I don't realize it's been a week. I ended on the evening before the Association of Mills & Boon Authors' luncheon. Now I'll tell you about the luncheon day.

Jennie and I slept in as long as we could. We were still suffering the kind of jetlag that makes you wake up in the middle of the night and not sleep for hours while it's dark. And, interesting note, but the building beside ours was an office building. When I woke up at 2AM, people were still working! Seriously. The building was mostly dark, but there were a few intrepid souls at their desks at that late hour. I have no idea what kind of business it was.

Anyway, Jennie and I got up and got ourselves dressed, then headed out on the Tube to the Charing Cross Hotel, where the luncheon was being held. I wore a nice dress and heels, but I admit to wearing flip flops until we reached the hotel. Then I pulled the shoes from my bag and transformed from short-ish to tall (4 inch heels will do that!). We climbed up the elegant staircase to the second floor where we could hear the sounds of women talking. There were so many authors gathered! And I met so many people I can't even remember them all. I met Natasha Oakley, Nina Harrington, Julia James, Kate Hardy, and Elizabeth Power, for instance. That was within the first few minutes — it becomes a blur after that. (Kate Hardy is my new best friend – she told me she loved The Devil's Heart, which made me want to follow her around pitifully and ask her to repeat it, but I refrained. TDH will be out in North America in April 2011, btw!) 🙂

At noon, we sat down in our assigned places and had a lovely lunch. After lunch, we moved seats for dessert (or pudding, as they say over there). There were speeches. There was wine. There were pictures.

Here's a pic I snapped of two gorgeous ladies, Sharon Kendrick and India Grey. I'd met Sharon (in purple) in DC, but only met India the night before at the Presents dinner. Both women are so lovely and charming, aren't they? (Though Sharon did steal my coat. She set me in a panic when my coat was missing after lunch, but I figured someone had thought it was theirs; I just hoped they would bring it back. She did, of course, and we had a good laugh.)

Then I met Lucy King, the Feel the Heat winner (the competition immediately after Instant Seduction, which I won). Lucy looked gorgeous, and she has the most seductive speaking voice imaginable. Kind of like Kathleen Turner back in the day. 😉

Meeting Lucy was fabulous, but I'm really thrilled with this next picture. Me and Sara Craven, who I'd met at dinner the night before. She is a wonderful, hilarious, amazing woman. I hope I'm half so interesting when I get to be her age.

And here's a reunion photo of me, Jennie, and Carole Mortimer, who I'd met for the first time in Orlando.

The luncheon lasted for hours, it seemed, and then we were off for a couple more hours before returning to the hotel for a champagne toast that Mills & Boon was giving us. Jennie and I walked over to Trafalgar Square, went book shopping, and meandered over to the hotel where Kate Walker and Michelle Reid were having several ladies to tea. We joined them for a while, and then it was back to the Charing Cross hotel for champagne.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. I talked to so many people — and people I'd hoped to meet slipped away before I ever got to do so. I have to go back next year to meet the ones I missed! After champagne, several of us went out for pasta. Jennie, me, India, Heidi Rice, Abby Green, Fiona Harper — and I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, drat it. But we had so much fun. And I learned that the Trafalgar Square area of London is rocking no matter what time of night. Pubs are so busy that people are crammed on the sidewalks with their pints of lager or Guinness or whatever. No one seems to mind it either. That would never happen in America — liquor laws and all that.

But that's why I love to travel and see how other cultures do things. It's refreshing and eye-opening, and it makes the world so much more interesting than if we all did everything the same. Where have you gone lately that they did something differently? Doesn't have to be another country — could just be the next town. I'd love to hear about it!

More on the London trip, with more photos, soon. Yes, I swear it: soon.

And the winner of a signed backlist book from the last post is Jami! Jami, send me your details at lynn AT lynnrayeharris DOT com. 🙂

The London Report – Part One

Oct 13, 2010 | Photos, Travel | 6 comments

Finally, I am getting around to telling what happened during my trip to London for the Association of Mills & Boon Authors' luncheon! Fellow Presents author Jennie Lucas and I hatched a plan that worked perfectly. First, we planned our flights so we'd arrive and depart Heathrow within an hour of each other. Then we rented a flat with a gorgeous view of the Thames, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and the Tate Modern. From our roof terrace, we could see the dome of St. Paul's — though we spent so much time doing so many wonderful and fascinating things that we never actually spent any time on the terrace. Ah well!

Here's the Globe at night from our flat, btw. There's also a tour boat in the foreground. 🙂

The first night there, we had dinner at a restaurant where we sat at a window table and gazed out at this. Can you believe the view?!

Jennie and I were so tired, but we were determined to stay up as long as possible and go to bed at a decent UK hour. We sat here, eating, drinking wine, and talking about how tired we were and how glad we were to have finally arrived after such a long trip. Sitting with a view of St. Paul's was completely surreal, and just what we both needed to feel like we were on an adventure.

The next day (Wednesday) was our trip out to Richmond. I've posted elsewhere about our time at the Mills & Boon offices, so will skip on to other events!

Thursday morning, Jennie and I met up with Kate Walker and Abby Green and took a train to meet the fabulous Sharon Kendrick. Here's me and Jennie with the Winchester cathedral in the background.

And look at this marvelous lunch that Sharon cooked for us! It was absolutely delicious, and I can't tell you how wonderful it was to sit around a table with these women I admire so much and talk writing and books and life. It's like being admitted to an exclusive club that you've always wanted to be in. For those of you who adore Sharon's books, I got to see her writing room where she makes all that magic happen. 🙂

After a great lunch and conversation, we caught the train back to London and headed back to our respective hotels/flats to prepare for the dinner that Kate and Michelle Reid were hosting for the Presents authors that night. I have no pictures of the evening, though I hope to get some from the others who promised to share!

We had a marvelous time, and I got to meet so many people for the first time. India Grey, Sara Craven, Michelle, Natalie Rivers, and Sarah Morgan to name a few. After dinner, the hotel gave us a private room where we were able to sit and chat until about midnight, at which time Jennie and I decided we were tired and needed to get back to our flat if we were going to be presentable for the luncheon the next day.

And that's it for Part 1 of my London trip! Soon, I'll be back with more photos and more adventures to share. 🙂 Now tell me about an adventure you've been on lately! One lucky commenter will win a book!