Thanks to Kris Tualla, I just experienced Arizona Dreamin’, one of the most fun conferences ever!

Held June 4, 2011, at the InnSuites in Tempe, the gathering of romance authors and readers was designed as a conference for readers in the off years between the bi-annual Desert Rose Romance Writer’s Association authors’ conferences.

Kris, the organizer, did a bang-up job bringing together talent, fun, and an opportunity to share great ideas and stories.

As one of the 24 featured authors (with my Rhythms & Muse novel and music CD), here are a few of my favorite moments:

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  In the Book Club meetings, readers like these flanking paranormal romance author Gini Koch all met up for an informal chat.    ©2011 ANVidean

  Sitting around in various hotel-suite Book Club meetings to hear readers’ love of reading, their pet peeves, comments and questions.

• Building relationships with booksellers, publishers, authors and readers while hanging around the conference hospitality suite and book store.
  

  Authors Tara Quinn, Erin Quinn and Cathy McDavid talk about their writing at the dinner discussion. ©2011 ANVidean

• Listening to the author panels fielding questions about their stories and craft while we all enjoyed a yummy buffet dinner.

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  Jimmy Thomas took the time to snap photos with attendees like me. ©2011 Liz Muñoz

  Learning about ebook publisher Sapphire Blue Publishing, a finalist for the Ariadne Award for Best Publisher 2008; and Dog-Eared Pages, a homey northeast-Phoenix used book store that managed conference book sales.

• Watching the romance-cover-photo-model and marketing mastermind Jimmy Thomas comfortably work his magic as the only male among scores of females. (Sometimes puns sneak into my writing even when I don’t plan them. 😀 )

• I’d be remiss in not mentioning, also, I was quite happy to sell several of my novels and music CDs.

Attendees felt so enthusiastic about the conference, Kris is already putting together next year’s, now annual, event. Check out the June 1, 2012 Arizona Dreamin’ event blog. If you want to get up close and personal with authors and to hear about new their books, I highly encourage you to attend.

Were you at Arizona Dreamin’? Please share your comments.