Tuesday Tidbit: My First Author Event & Giveaway

This contest is now closed; the winner is Meghan O. Meghan, I'll email you! Thank you so much to everyone who visited and commented! Last Thursday, I spoke, read, and signed as a published author for the first time (not counting my online video chat through Loveswept, which was super fun but felt very different than a real-world event).I read at Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island, WA, which is a terrific local indie bookstore. One of the things I love about Eagle Harbor is that they're totally open to the digital revolution, and incredibly supportive of digitally and indie/self-published authors. They distribute Kobos, sell e-books through their Web site, and on the night of the reading, they had giant QR codes available so people could claim our books digitally as well as buying them in print.The event was called Cold January, Hot Night, and it featured a total of four romance authors---Charlene Teglia, Rachel S Grant, Sandra Hulstrom, and me. Charli and Rachel are local friends who I recruited to join me at the event; Sandra is another local self-pubbed author who had independently been asking Eagle Harbor to do a reading.Our local candy shop, Bon-Bon Confectioners, donated dark and milk fudge tidbits, and Eagle supplied champagne and sparkling cider. The four authors spoke briefly, read for five minutes, and then took Q&A, which was really fun and lively (it included questions about whether men read and write romance (yes, though not as many as women), and whether we ever get shamed or denigrated as writers because we write romance (yes, but not as much as you might think)). Two of my publishers, Harlequin and Random House's Loveswept, donated gift bags that we gave away to people who signed up for my mailing list (which, if you haven't done so, you should, because there's a lot of fun stuff happening this February---hint: It includes the words "free!" and "$.99" and "new release!"---you can find the signup on the front page of this Web site, linked here).There are more photos from the event on my Facebook page. Here's video of my talk, Why I Write Romance (about 5 1/2 minutes):And here's video of my reading from Still So Hot! which is about 4 1/12 minutes long:Please feel free to share my photos or YouTube links directly!Because it's Tuesday and because Robin York's DEEPER releases today (Robin York is the NA pen name of our beloved Ruthie Knox) and because I freaking LOVE this book and need everyone else in the world to love it with me, I'm giving away an ebook copy of DEEPER to a randomly selected someone who comments with their thoughts on public speaking---a particular time you did it, or just your thoughts in general. This contest is open to anyone 18 or older I can gift an e-book to from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.Here's a description of DEEPER:In this New Adult debut by Robin York, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name—and stay clear of a guy who’s wrong for her, but feels so right. When Caroline Piasecki’s ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground.   West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger—even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.   They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re “just friends,” their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself—and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.   When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.