Saturday, September 8, 2012

Another Silver Retreat Update!

Day 3 -
We spent the day hanging around the cabin talking and laughing before going to lunch and attending the next workshop! Had a blast! Played pool with Loreen and RJ Scott's hubby! Drank some wine and just hung out with S.A. Garcia, RJ Scott, Amber Kell, Carol Lynne, Sui Lynn, and Diane Adams.

Day 4 -
Spent the morning hours hanging out with Brenna Lyons, Nicole Dennis, Alison Todd, Sui Lynn, Heidi Lynn Anderson and AKM Miles in another couple of workshops before heading into Gatlinburg to enjoy the Ripley's Aquarium! What a gorgeous place! And they had penguins! I love penguins! I even bought a stuffed penguin wearing a rainbow scarf. I'll post a picture later!

Unfortunately I started getting sick on Day 3, but I refused to let that stop me from enjoying this trip. I took some meds and soldiered on. Had an early night Day 4 and slept through until 9am this morning.

Day 5 -
Hung out at the cabin with RJ Scott, Diane Adams, Sui Lynn, Amber Kell and Carol Lynne. After we went to lunch and another workshop with Reese Dante before going into Pigeon Forge for The Comedy Barn. That was... not that enjoyable. At least not for me. Some people enjoyed it, but for me it isn't what I would really go see on a normal basis. They have a classic car show in Pigeon Forge and the parking lots were littered with all kinds of beautiful vintage and antique cars. After the show we went to dinner and now we are chilling at the cabin hanging out and talking (RJ Scott, Amber Kell, Carol Lynne, Sui Lynn, and Reese Dante).

Tomorrow me and Sui Lynn are going to take a drive through the mountains and then if we have the chance stop by the awesome Titanic museum they have in Pigeon Forge. Monday is when we are returning to real life. :(  I have had so much fun here and its been so relaxing that I don't want to go back home!

I have a lot of pics, but they are still in the camera. I'll upload once I get home. ^.^

Kisses,
J.R.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Silver Publishing Retreat Update & Other Tidbits

Day 1 of Retreat -

Reached Knoxville airport by 4:00p. The flights were relatively short and easy. Although take off is not my favorite! I love the landing lol. It means my butt is back on the ground!

Met up with Sui Lynn at the airport. We went to claim our rental and they gave us a free upgrade from a mid-size to a brand new Dodge Journey SUV. VERY nice car.

We ended up at the Jameson Hotel which turned out to be an extremely nice hotel. Not like any Ive stayed in before. After we settled in, we sat around talking and tried to see if anyone else was already in Knoxville and wanted to meet up. Eventually we ended up at the Texas Roadhouse near the hotel. The waitress was awesome. She reminded me of Miley Cyrus. She even tried pitching Fifty Shades of Gray to us when she found out we were here for the retreat and that we wrote romance. LOL. That sparked a debate for a bit.

Afterward we headed over to Walmart to grab water and some last minute stuff before going back to the hotel.



Day 2 of the Silver Publishing Retreat -

Sui Lynn and I picked up Anel Viz for a ride to the retreat. We stopped for breakfast and then headed up to the cabins. Tennessee is very beautiful! The scenery was worth the almost hour drive. We arrived, met up with everyone at the conference center then went to our cabins. Turns out everyone was able to have their own room and their own bathroom! Yay! Got a nice king size bed with a pretty view.

I've met so many wonderful, amazing authors here. Amber Kell, Diane Adams, RJ Scott, Stormy Glenn, Andi Anderson, Anel Viz, Carol Lynn, Leiland Dale, and so many others. I can't believe how nice everyone is. I was wondering on the way here how everyone would get along with so many different personalities being thrown together for six days.

Of course, I was able to meet the awesome staff - Alison Todd, Lodewyk D., Brenna Lyons, Lori Bell, Jennifer Ring, Reese Dante, to name a few!

Dinner was delicious! Lodewyk went out all out for everyone. Prime Rib, Country Fried Chicken, Cheese Grits, Pasta Salad, desserts, all of it! He also made it a special event for me and RJ Scott since it was our birthday. He had a cake for each of us and everyone sang Happy Birthday. ^.^  Definitely made it a special birthday! Thanks to the entire Silver team for that and especially Lodewyk!

I have more pictures but they are on my camera and I don't have it readily available, but I will be posting pictures of the cabins, the mountains, and TN. No author photos though out of respect.

Signing off for now. Will update on Day 3 later on.

Kisses,

J.R.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Announcement - Winner of my contest - Like My Facebook Page!

Good evening/morning, everyone. It all depends on where you are I suppose! :)  First I want to say thank you to everyone who liked my page for the contest. It is great to see so many new people! I put everyone's name into an excel spreadsheet in the order of who liked my page. Then I found a random number generator and popped in the min of 1 and the max of 166 as there were that many participants. The picture I'm attaching shows the random number it generated. I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of how the winner was chosen and it wasn't anything more than random.
The winner of the contest is Cherish H. as she was the first to like my page and the random number generated was number 1! Congratulations Cherish! ^.^  Please send me a private message with what you'd like out of the choices available.

I really appreciate so many participants and I hope to offer more contests in the near future!

Kisses,
J.R.