The February NIWA meeting on the 12th was memorable for two things, that it marked the 1 year anniversary of the group, and that the number of participants has grown beyond all expectations. At least 25 people attended the February meeting. So many that name badges seemed like a necessity. I'm not sure where we are going. There are so many ideas and projects it makes my head swim, but I do know I'm having a lot of fun getting there. Here are some pictures of the biz meeting and the party afterward. 

On January 30 NIWA member, Brad Wheeler received a request from Mark Neiman-Ross who administers the SFWA Reading Series at the McMenamins Kennedy School. Their book seller had withdrawn at the last moment. Could NIWA step in? Brad posted the request on the NIWA forum and within 9 minutes received a response. Of course NIWA members could help! 

I'm calling this the one that got away since I had just had my gall bladder removed and missed it. However, as you can see, my book is "on the shelf" thanks to my friends in the Northwest Independent Writers Association. (Just a few days later I got to meet the owners of Interstellar Overdrive. They are tremendously nice people, and they gave me a hat. A free hat! You know how I love free stuff. These folks rock!)

Saturday That's me in the purple (picture at left). I think I was petting the bookstore cat. Eventually we NIWA folk hope to put together an album featuring the ubiquitous bookstore cat. To that end we took lots of pictures. Cat seemed pretty bored with the whole thing. The NIWA signing never got boring for us though. If we weren't talking to a customer we were talking to one of several new writers who are joining our ranks. One of them shared a brilliant marketing idea with me and one of the people working in the store shared another. It amazes me how much people really want to help us succeed. The NIWA anthology sold like mad, as it did at Orycon. I also managed to make a few bucks selling my own book, and even some e-book cards. There seem to be a few versions of the cards getting out there now. Who knows what the final product will look like. Mine allows multiple people to download for a specific length of time (usually 3 months), while others allow a single download. Mine are very inexpensive. The others are quite a bit more. Mine would be better for someone who plans to write multiple books. The others would be better for a really expensive book or a one book author. In any case it's fascinating to be part of something so new that the rules aren't even written yet. In fact, I googled e-book cards tonight and got less than a page of links. I promise, in a year that will change. Looking forward to the next book signing, and more cat pictures!

DayOne/Friday Long time friend and car pool driver, Lisa and I left early for the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center in Portland as she was working the green room at the behest of Amanda Penguini, our Orycon contact. Once Lisa peeled off to work I wandered across the driveway to the dealer's room and found the NIWA table. Several NIWA members had dealt with set-up the night before and the table held our new, custom-made bookshelf.  NIWA members came and went, working the table, wandering off to check out the other dealer's wares, or to grab something to eat at the hotel. I was less than helpful because though I tried to be personable, my hacking cough kept me from being much of a salesperson. 

Lisa eventually came by and drug me off to the green room where she made me a sandwich and poured me a glass of soda on ice. Now THIS is a buddy and I was worn out enough (after a week of the headcold from hell) that I was more than happy to kick back and be waited on. Oh minions...how we love you.  

Lisa was asked to sit on a crime panel at 9PM, which meant my ride was going to be tied up until at least 10. I could have taken the MAX home but heck, I was having fun. In the green room I had the chance to meet and mingle with a number of the panelists, authors and artists I'd long admired. Who'd say no to that? Since the panel was such a long way off Lisa invited her co-panelists and their friends/family to have dinner together. I, of course, was swept up by the invite. That's how I got to hang out with even more artists and authors, and a very cool forensic anthropologist. I also got to hear bad jokes about my constant swilling of DayQuil and suggestions that I keep it covered in a small, brown, paper bag. Sheesh. 

The crime panel ended up being so popular that it didn't end until 10:30. After picking up Lisa's daughter (we only got a little lost) I think I was home and in bed by midnightish. 

Day Two/Saturday Long suffering husband, Jim and I had reserved a hotel room for Saturday night. It was the night of the NIWA party and we felt it might be best not to have to drive home after. Can you say adult? Yep, I was pretty proud of that decision. We spent day two in a similar fashion, hanging at our table or roaming around. I was even more tired than the day before. I was afraid that the way most folks would remember me was as the obnoxious woman with the cough. I heard a rumor that Jay Lake, a FB friend and someone whose writing I really admire, was in the front lobby. Since he is working his way through chemo hell I made sure not to look for him. The last thing he needed was germ exposure. 

Party time arrived and we found the hotel had booked our NIWA launch party in a room on a "no party floor." Horrors! Luckily after some expert teeth gnashing by Mike Chinakos, writer and teeth gnasher extraordinaire, the hotel moved us into a room near the bar on the 14th floor. The room, which had no beds, turned out to work great for us. As more and more attendees streamed in we learned that we were THE party. Other dealers, artists, authors, readers, fans, cosplay folk, the president of my former writing group, folks from my work world, you name it, they all seemed to find their way to the NIWA party. And we were ready. Thanks to Marci MacArthur the food was fantastic. (Oh, and on a side note, we must have done pretty well by the hotel's standards as well. We have been invited to use the room next year and they will be providing, gratis, a bartender and door attendant. Now that's a good party!)

Day Three/Sunday Folks were a little worn out. The party had lasted so long that we'd moved it from our "bar room" to our motel room. I finally left around 3:30AM and heard later that others stayed up and actually went out for breakfast at 6:30AM, going to sleep afterwards. Hanging out at our table Sunday I had the opportunity to re-meet many of the folks I'd met the night before. Several purchased books, eBooks or a CD. The hot item was our CD, which contained a copy of each NIWA author's book plus the NIWA anthology of short stories. As a way to encourage people to read our stories and books it was a tremendous success. I look forward to next year. I'm going to start taking my Vitamins right away!

Though late getting there, I was fortunate to have one of my books, The Butterfly (book one of the Yetzirah: The Pocket Worlds series) on a table at the trade show. NIWA members who were able to attend made connections with booksellers and independent authors. We were invited to schedule book signings and will be looking into that as soon as we get through our next large event, Orycon33.