Thursday, January 04, 2007

Looking Forward to 2007

2007 is starting off with some changes here at the Rider’s blog.

No one is exactly sure how it happened, but one minute we were pulling over at a truck stop and giving our orders to a gum-chomping waitress named Shirley and the next minute we found a note from Candace tucked under the windshield wipers saying fare thee well and promising to occasionally stop by the blog for a visit.

All she left behind was the faint scent of Chanel #5 and … Cracker Jacks? Kathy thinks Candace ran into a good-looking truck driver on the way back from the restroom, and the rest is history. Darn it! How can us gals compete with smooth talkin’ and a shiny, big rig?

We love you, Candace. Hope that truck driver’s treating you right. Drop us a note every now and then.

Funny thing was, when we got back to the convertible after searching high and low at that truck stop for Candace, guess who we found riding shotgun, buckled up nice and tight.

Yep, that’s right. Cindy Gerard! Apparently she had so much fun stopping by for a visit last month that she’s decided to cruise along with us permanently. (We promise to keep the truck drivers away from Cindy! Though, sadly, we can’t promise to keep Lois away from the truck drivers.)

We’ve also made a commitment to bring our readers more guests, publishing professionals, authors, special interest folks, we're up for anything. Keeps things interesting, right?

For starters, on Wednesday, January 10th, Kathy Eagle will be interviewing Leslie Wainger, executive editor extraordinaire with Harlequin. An icon in the industry, Leslie is bound to have lots to say about the romance genre and publishing in general.

On Thursday, January 25th, Jay Gilbertson, author of the delightful series, Moon over Madeline Island and Back to Madeline Island, will be guest blogging. (It’s about time we get a man over here, don’t ya know. And doesn't he have the best covers!)

Then on Wednesday, February 21st, Helen will be interviewing her editor, Johanna Raisanen, about all kinds of stuff. She’s as sweet as they come, so you can ask her anything about Harlequin, publishing, queries, writing, whatever.

Other authors planning to hitchhike a ride in the coming months are Roxanne Rustand, Maureen McKade, Patti O’Shea, Tate Hallaway/Lyda Morehouse, and more in the works. We might even be able to coerce—er, invite Deborah Smith back for another joyride.

On top of all that, Lois is hosting a contest on Wednesday, January 31st, near the release of her next book, Unscrewed, and Helen will be doing one on Tuesday, February 13th. We have no clue what we'll be giving away, but promise something fun.

We'll be converting to the new blogger system soon, as well, and plan on updating the look of the blog a bit. And last, but not least, Michele put together a STORE, "Reading in the Fastlane," where you'll be able to easily access both current and prior releases for all our authors.

There are bound to be more wonderful surprises, so keep driving by and tell some friends! The more the merrier. And if you have any suggestions, we’d be glad to hear them.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Isn't Jay a cutie patootie? And realllllly fun, funny, witty and nice. Can't wait till he blogs with us.

As for me, I found the niftiest colored crystal liqueur set that I'm giving away on the 31st, compliments of Christina McMullen, cocktail waitress turned shrink, and protagonist of soon to be released, Unscrewed.

So much happening. We've got a great line-up.

Helen Brenna said...

Wow, Lois, I won't be able to one-up you on that giveaway!

Yes, Jay's a cutie. I love the Madeline Island area, so much in fact the proposal I've got in is about a fictitious Apostle island! Looking forward to chatting with him.

Anonymous said...

Hey. What about me??? I'm no Jay but aren't I cute too?? In a matronly sort of way. :o)
Seriously, thanks for letting me slide into the shotgun seat. It's always been my favorite. Speaking of favorites - all you drivers and passengers here at Riding With the Top Down are favs of mine and I couldn't be happier to be in such good company.
Looking forward to all the rides ahead.
Cindy

Helen Brenna said...

And we're excited to have you here, Cindy!

Anonymous said...

Well, let me try this again...new blogger was irritated with me for a moment.

I think we're also going to be able to entice a writer/editor from the SF/fantasy/horror side of the street.

He's worked on or written for popular shared-world series like The Clan, The Tribe, etc. Been involved with and written graphic novels.

Plus he "gives some of the best panel" at DragonCon. Once we have a confirmed we'll get him on the calendar.

Helen Brenna said...

Yay! Go Deb!

anne frasier said...

that's so cool that cindy has joined the gang!!!
woot!!

Helen Brenna said...

But we still miss you, Anne!