Target Tampa: Sunday

This is part three of a three-part series about the Target Tampa event. Here are links to part one and part two.

Quote of the Day: "Who knew you'd need to be easy to Google?"
--Alesia Holliday, in a discussion about creating a website

Chick Lit Discussion: 9:00-9:45 AM
While some people worried that this discussion was starting too early, I was thrilled to be able to sleep in until 8:00. Alesia talked about the difference between romance and chick lit. She also talked about her journey to being published. She had several books with her, and she said they'd be raffled later. People who asked a question would get an extra raffle ticket. So here I am, Ms. Shy-but-Greedy, trying to come up with a question. I ended up asking how quickly she writes, since she talked about a number of projects she has in the works.

Alesia is funny. She kept everyone laughing with her mutual orgasm joke and her take on life: "Dave Barry thinks I'm funny. I so do not have to do the dishes." If her books are half as funny as she is, they'll be wonderful. American Idle is patiently waiting its turn in my to-be-read list.

When it was time for the raffle, I received two tickets--one for attending and one for asking a question. And I won! I got a copy of Shop 'Til Yule Drop. A few numbers later, my second number was called, but I told them to pick another number.

Unfortunately, my pictures of Alesia ended up being fuzzy. However, here's a picture of the four authors from the Saturday-night party. From left to right: Alesia, Suz, Catherine, Chuck.



Hot Target Discussion: 10:00-11:30 AM
Suz shared all kinds of information during this discussion. I'll put spoilers in the comments section so you can decide whether you want to read them.

Question: Will Jules get his own story? Answer: We have not seen the last of Jules. Suz is still considering the best way to tell his story and is thinking outside the box.

Question: Regarding Hot Target's Patty: some people think she is media hungry and immature. I didn't think this at all. What did I miss? Answer: Nothing. Patty is 20 years old. Yes, she's star-struck. No, she doesn't have a realistic perception of Robin. But she's young. Suz said that if she could do it over, she would have reinforced Patty's youth throughout the book.

Question: Who will be in the book after Breaking Point? Answer: Suz doesn't know yet. She does know that she needs a vacation, and she'll take one after Breaking Point. [At this point, several audience members started gnashing their teeth.] After that, it will depend on which character taps her on the shoulder next.

At lunch, I finally got out of the hotel and walked over to the mall with Ann and Heather. We had a nice quiet lunch and stopped at the local bookstore to look for Alesia's books. Ann wanted Super What? I wanted this book too, but I was hoping to find a copy of E-mail to the Front. They didn't have any of her books, but we had fun looking.

Sunday Afternoon with a SEAL: 2:30-4:15 PM
We had more time with Chuck Pfarrer. My photos of him turned out to be fuzzy also. During this session, he talked about SEAL training, screenwriting ("That's how I got here. Being a ho."), and the situation in Iraq.

Book Signing: 4:30-6:00 PM
I realized around 3:00 that my energy was waning, so I went to the book signing area right when it started. First I went to Alesia's line, where I signed up to join her mailing list. It's a curious thing to ask someone to sign her books when you haven't read them. Or perhaps it just seemed curious to me. She was very nice, though, and she gave me some cute shoe erasers.

Then I moved to Chuck's line. Again, I felt a little odd since I hadn't read the book, but he signed it and said he hoped I would enjoy it.

Then I went back to my room to (you guessed it) take a nap.

Finale: 8:00-11:00 PM
This was the last event of the day. Suz read three more book excerpts: Jules and Gina in Gone Too Far, when he drives her to her hotel; Kate discovering Jed handcuffed to the bed in Heartthrob; and Jules and Max sharing a hotel room in Hot Target.



Then Eric performed a one-man show called No Doctors, and it was wonderfully funny, poignant, sad, and uplifting.



After the show was the final raffle. I didn't win anything this time around, but I still felt like I'd had a lucky weekend. I packed as much as I could that night. Here's my book suitcase. I ended up piling books on top before I closed the suitcase. And I put more books in my second suitcase and carry-on bag.



And that was it. On Monday, there was an optional event--a trip to a Florida Aquarium, but I had to be at the airport before the trip would end. I enjoyed the weekend tremendously, though I was also completely exhausted. I was most impressed by how accessible Suz and the other authors were. All of the attendees were also warm and welcoming. People invited me to join them for lunch or dinner and always said yes when I asked if I could sit at their table.

I would gladly attend a similar event in the future. Everyone made it fun and enjoyable. I'm already thinking about attending the RWA charity book signing in July. Reno is a little closer than Tampa, so it should be easy to arrange.

Alyssa