RWA READERS FOR LIFE LITERACY AUTOGRAPHING

  
By Maria C. Ferrer



493 authors participated in the Romance Writers of America’s 2011 Readers for Life Literacy Autographing on Tuesday, June 28, at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

I wanted to be a part of the event so I volunteered to help setup the literacy autographing. I set out books, books and more books; organized some of the chapter baskets/totes for the raffle; put out the RITA finalist banners, etc. At 5:00pm, authors started arriving to find their seats and put their own touches to their seats – pens, bookmarks, posters to name a few. At 5:30pm, the doors opened to the 2000+ romance fans waiting outside, which comprised of RWA members, conference attendees and the general public.

And then organized chaos reigned. The first person on line arrived at 9:30am for the 5:30pm event. Is that a Romance Fan or what?!

One big lesson I learned from watching the authors is to be prepared with lots of promotional materials. Remember, that writing is a business, and you are your own Publicist. So an author needs to put herself out there and make her materials stand out.

Best promotion I saw – a man wearing a t-shirt that read: I Sleep With The Author. He claimed he was the inspiration for pages 274-277!

Best promoter – Caridad Pineiro. Boy, was she prepared. She had bookmarks, pens, flyers, excerpts, a banner for the table skirt and her laptop to run her book trailer. The video stopped people in their tracks and generated a few sales, and isn’t that the name of the game – to sell?

At the end of the evening, authors were ready to stop writing and start partying; Readers were ready to start reading; and RWA raised $47,000 for literacy. ♥



Maria C. Ferrer is a meeting planner by day and a romance writer by night. One of her short stories was published by Star magazine. Currently, Maria is working on a secret baby book and a romantic suspense. She is also the founder of The Latina Book Club, which just won the 2011 Favorite Literature Blog Award from Blogs by Latinas. Visit Maria at http://www.4horsewomen.blogspot.com/ and at http://www.latinabookclub.com/.


This article was first published in the RWANYC blog at http://www.rwanycblogginginthebigapple.com/.

Mobility

by F. Solomon

Originally, my blog post was going to be exclusively about the phenomenal Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is life altering as I told many friends and people who asked -- even my yoga instructor because I was wearing my Savage Beauty t-shirt in class. Mind you it was not life altering because of the two-hour wait to get in.  I found it amusing actually that there was a brochure that helped you landmark art on your way to the entrance--including the staggeringly gorgeous Joan of Arc and an equally stunning painting of Salome both made more beautiful as you realize you are almost in! Gothic, sexy and intelligent is all I can say about the McQueen exhibition.  It is almost over so you HAVE to go!

I then also saw the new Talk to Me Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. MoMA's innovative and cutting edge created an exhibition that is enhanced by using your mobile device...which was where I got really distracted, fiddling with my iTouch and looking at pieces like this one by the Japanese artist Sputniko.

After leaving MoMA, I headed downtown to two of my favorite natural food stores, Integral Yoga Apothecary and Integral Natural Yoga Foods. I was scooping up wakame and poring over natural and raw chocolate when I realized I did not have my iTouch with me. Now I am not the owner of a cell phone, so it's the iTouch I touch the first thing when I get up in the morning. I satellited the store because, as the deep sense of loss filled me that my iTouch was not with me. Blindness comparable to that described in Black Sabbath's Snow Blind came over me as I retraced my steps over and over.  I just could not believe that my beloved mobile device was separated from me. I became lachrymose...then a bit of clarity. I asked a clerk in the store if I could please use a computer in the store to utilize Find My IPhone. The clerk smiled at me and said it's up front.

Reunion.  My iTouch was there and I felt clarity reenter my existence.

I had not left the store because I so believed it would turn up.  I returned over and over to the wakame, where I thought I had dropped the iTouch so I knew it was in the store somewhere. When I had interacted with it in the Talk to Me exhibition, it was not fathomable to me that it would not be with me.

I am very attached to my iTouch.  I know, but that is the world that we live in and I embrace it. Especially since I found it! And additonally it enhanced my view of basic humanity. Someone saw it and returned it, which is beautiful and I am so appreciative...it is why I have never been a jaded New Yorker. I believed especially in the good of people in a natural foods store next to a yoga studio!

Om.

NYC: SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK(ING) LOT

by Maria Ferrer


To be or not to be, to go or not to go…..GO!

This was my third performance at Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot, and yes, it was in an actual parking lot. The production was fun, adventurous and inspiring. I’ve seen “Hamlet” at least five times; I’ve even read it twice; and yet there were still new things, new nuances I caught last night.

Alessandro Colla was mesmerizing as Hamlet and Amanda Dillard made a wonderfully tragic Ophelia. The whole cast was amazing. Hamilton Clancy did an excellent job as producing artistic director.

The stage consisted of three gossamer curtains, two small sitting benches, some bottles with dry flowers inside and a couple of blackened skulls. The actors wore every day clothes. For example, last night Hamlet wore jeans, t-shirt and cross trainers, all in black. His mother Gertrude had on a well-fitted ivory dress, knee-length with a colorful Chinese parasol; the usurper King sported slacks and an army jacket with tons of medals; and the poor Ophelia looked like a fairy princess in a strapless, filmy white dress and flowers in her hair.

Simple set, simple clothes, but the Bard’s own words. The mix of old and new worked beautifully. And though the stage lights were provided by ConEd and the theatre seats were garden chairs, the production was compelling and the characters full of passion – Shakespeare at its best.

Heck, for all we know, THIS was probably how the original plays were staged at the Globe for the masses of people in times of olde. And, the best part of last night’s performance….it was FREE! (Donations welcomed.)

I heartily recommend watching Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot. The performances are the best for Off-Off-Really-Off Broadway. Hamlet runs thru August 13; Thursdays thru Saturdays, at 8:00pm at the municipal parking lot on Ludlow and Broome Streets (take F train to Delancey). For more information about the company and their full schedule of their 20th Season, visit http://www.drillingcompany.org/.♥


Press photos from Google Images.

THANK YOU....WITH A KISS

Happy Memorial Day.

Thank you to all the Men and Women fighting for our freedom.

May God bless you and bring you home soon.

That will certainly be a day of rejoicing and dancing in the streets.

Kissing too.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

This Sunday is Mother's Day.  We wish you and yours a wonderful day.  And for a little fun, here are some famous Mothers.  Can you identify them?

Hint: she had a whole "bunch" of kids; his and hers.

Hint: her house is "white."

Hint:  Antonio Banderas has her number.

Hint:  You can call her "Lara."

Hint:  Her son just got married.

Hint:  She was a mother to millions.

Answers:  Florence Henderson of "The Brady Bunch;" First Lady Michelle Obama; Actress and Producer Salma Hayek; Actress and Ambassador Angelina Jolie; the former Princess of Wales, Diana; and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa.

Happy Mother's Day!

  

ROYAL WEDDING CHEERS

It's official....there is one less Prince Charming available.  Alas.  But, we can't help but wish Kate and William well.  They look well suited and homey together.  Three cheers for the happy couple.

The Royal Kiss

TOP 10 REASONS TO INTERRUPT YOUR WRITING

by Maria Ferrer

1. The toilet has a ring bigger than your wedding ring.

2. You have no more clean underwear.

3. Your dog is eating the cat food.

4. The dust bunnies under your bed are rioting.

5. You need to write down the lyrics to Justin Bieber’s latest song.

6. Charlie Sheen needs more friends on Twitter.

7. The last episode of General Hospital is on.

8. The cat is sleeping on the keyboard.

9. Your muse is out getting a pedicure / manicure.

10. Your significant other wants to play house.



COMMENT:   Can you come up with other excuses not to write?  And do let us know how you get back in the mood to write?

Maria Ferrer is a champion procrastinator.  However, she has managed to finish one book.  Now, if she could only find the time to edit it and submit.  But alas, there’s a new Gerard Butler movie at the theatre she’s late for.