Two Up Close and Personal Gatherings for Readers!

Two Opportunities to Get 

Up Close and Personal with Kally This Year!

You know how much I love to hang out with readers. Yes, I'll be doing some of the big conferences (including Lori Foster's Reader And Author Get-Together in June, which is sold out, but there are two public signings, including one Friday afternoon, June 5, which I'll be at, and one Saturday afternoon with other authors) and RomCon (not to late to register for this one in September!).

But I want MORE! More what? More face time with my readers where we can just hang out and enjoy each other's company without too many distractions and overbooked programs.

So I have two events planned this year where we can do just that!

First Up:

the Rescue Me Saga
Sightseeing Tour of Colorado!

From Sept. 21-24, I'm taking a very small group of readers (limit 25, including Charlotte and me!) on a tour of the places in Colorado that will have you feeling as if you walked into the pages of my books. This tour will take place in the days leading up to RomCon (a reader-author conference in Denver Sept. 25-27). We won't spend a lot of time in Denver, but will take a bus to the Breckenridge, Park County, and Beaver Creek areas so I can show you some of my inspiration sights, talk with you about the books and characters, and just hang out for a few days in an amazing place. Of course, I'll have a few places to show you in Denver, too!

We're still planning the trip's itinerary and, honestly, when we created our Google interest form, we didn't quite know what the plan would be. We'll know more after we find out just how many readers are interested in hopping on the bus and what type of lodging we can book! (We could go with hotels or rent a huge vacation house to accommodate one helluva slumber party!) Soon, we'll be asking for a non-refundable $100 deposit at which point we can gauge who is seriously planning to join us. The cut-off to register will be in the next month or so so that we can book the bus and make lodging arrangements. If you'd like to be in on the planning discussions (no need to pay anything at this point), express your interest level for the Rescue Me Saga 2015 Sightseeing Tour of Colorado here. Most likely we'll set up a Facebook group, but if anyone can't be on Facebook, then we can attempt another way of discussing the trip!

Among some of the places we'll visit on the tour are The Pines resort in Beaver Creek (inspiration for the D'Alessio family's lodge/resort), Hoosier Pass (inspiration for Iron Horse Pass, where Cassie's cabin is located), and Alma and Fairplay in Park County (inspiration for Aspen Corners and Fairchance, respectively, in my saga). We'll also visit Mount Evans AND the house in Denver that inspired me as the location for the Masters at Arms Club. (No, you can't go to the door and ask if you can play with Adam, Marc, or Damian! The owners have NO idea how their house was immortalized in the pages of my books!)

I'm so looking forward to sharing these special places with you and just spending a few days hanging out in gorgeous Colorado! This trip will be one-of-a-kind! Do NOT miss the bus! Here are a couple pics of some of the readers who took the first sightseeing tour (in Southern California back in 2013). I promise we'll explore some exciting places, then relax over dinners and other meals as we talk about the books! Cost is all-inclusive (meals, lodging, transportation) but we're still calculating costs until we know how many days we need the bus, how many nights lodging (we counted on two so far in our $400 estimate with double occupancy, but single occupancy would be more, adding Monday night more, or we could make out better by renting a big vacation home--so until I know who wants to go and what we're going to do, I can't set the final price. Hoping to do that by later this month, tho! Definitely before asking anyone to sign up and put down a deposit!)

(Touring the Thousand Steps Beach, site of two hot beach cave scenes)

(Touring La Valencia in La Jolla, inspiration for where Damian and Savannah met)

But that's not all! 

I've invited six special author friends who all write Military Romance (and sometimes in other subgenres) to the second annual KallypsoCon! Joining me this year are New York Times and/or USA Today bestselling authors Sharon Hamilton, Cristin Harber, Elle James, Kennedy Layne, J.M. Madden, and Teresa Reasor. These award-winning authors and I will be gathering for one very special Halloween weekend in New England at Nashua, N.H. Join us, too! The $200 registration fee includes two buffet dinners with drinks, open bar at the Halloween Party, Saturday breakfast, Sunday champagne brunch, presentation and ad-lib sessions with the authors, plus Top Griz (who has helped a number of us with our military and weapons facts!), a two-hour Q&A session with all 7 authors where you can ask anything (and will be surprised at how honest we'll be in our responses!), fun and games, a chance to have a meal with a different author each time, a bag filled with premium swag goodies from each of the authors, and lots of opportunities to hang out in between programmed events for some awesome Military Romance authors.

Here's what readers from all over the United States, Canada, and the world (we had readers from the UK and Australia there!) said about the first KallypsoCon:

“The  whole  weekend  was so much  fun and meeting  you  all was so great.  Often times  you meet celebrities (please know I am a  dork and authors are  celebrity in my  little  world )  and they aren't  as  great as you  thought they  would  be  but you guys  were all so  lovely and flipping hysterical.” (Deana)

“A HUGE shout out to Kallypso Masters for bringing together some of the loveliest ladies, readers, and like-minded thinkers for a more than memorable weekend at Kallypsocon 2014!! We laughed til we cried, and we have stories to tell! (Boy oh boy...!) And a special thanks to each of the amazing authors who made this weekend ROCK!” (Annalise)

“I loved the whole weekend and it was well worth the long flights thank you, Kallypso and Charlotte, for organising it all!” (Ruth)

“I was lucky to be able to attend. All of you who wished you could have been there missed getting to really know all these great ladies. Keep watching for announcement when the next one will be so you have more time to make your dream come true.” (Sabrina)

Don't miss out on the 2015 KallypsoCon (click this link to learn more)! Register TODAY before we fill up the 100 reader spots! I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones at this year's events!

Here are some photos from last year's event:


Readers playing Cards Against Humanity with Annabel Joseph

 Discussion during the panel session.

Kennedy Layne will be returning for KallypsoCon 2015 and bringing Hubby Griz (Top Griz to me!) with her this time!

Kally is Cancer Free and Charging Full Steam Ahead!

I know my diehard fans have been keeping up with my postings on my Facebook timeline during this whirlwind last four weeks. For those who aren't on Facebook (and for those reading this via Goodreads), it's been two weeks since my surgery and I just wanted to report that I am cancer free and recovering slowly. 

To update those not aware of the situation, over the summer, I noticed some irregular spotting. I've been in menopause for several years and learned there is NO reason to be spotting at this point in life, so I hightailed it to my gynecologist in August. She ordered an ultrasound the same day which showed abnormalities in the size of the lining of my uterus and scheduled me for the D&C, which was done Sept. 4. On Sept. 13, I got the news that it was uterine cancer and I was sent to the state's research hospital to meet my gynecological oncologist Sept. 17.

I had hoped to postpone surgery until after KallypsoCon (Oct. 10-12 in the Seattle area), but my surgeon and my hubby decided that was too long a wait. When the poor surgeon came back in the examination room to find me in tears, he offered to do the surgery the next day if he could get an operating room, then I would have three full weeks to recover before KallypsoCon. He told me I'd be sore, but that it was do-able as long as I followed his orders (basically walking up and down the aisle of the plane and taking my nightly anti-blood-clotting shots.) I think he also could see my healing would be faster if I wasn't depressed about missing my first KallypsoCon! 

Tomorrow (Oct. 3), we will give final counts to the hotel for the meals. If you want to join us in Everett (it's about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle) for this special weekend, here's the info page: KallypsoCon 2014. (NOTE: We are now serving two dinners and two breakfasts instead of what was listed as meals on the Web site originally. I figured I'm already in the hole, so why pay the hotel for ballroom/meeting fees when we can get some nice meals for that money instead <g>).

Today it has been two full weeks since my total abdominal hysterectomy. Still sore. Still tired. Situation normal, I am told. I'm thrilled to know that all of the cancer that attacked my body is now gone. I truly am blessed and urge you all to PAY ATTENTION to your body's signs and to your intuition. It was a combination of those factors that saved me from having to undergo more extensive treatments than having a hysterectomy. My cancer was contained in my uterus and the surgeon said it hadn't traveled from anywhere else. (Oncologists have ways of determining that. I just trust them.) So, I can truly say I am a Uterine Cancer Survivor!

Tonight I'm going to book flights for my hubby and me so that we will be in Everett, Wash., a couple days before the conference is scheduled to begin. I'm so fortunate to have an awesome personal assistant, Charlotte Oliver, handling almost everything for me regarding this conference (among other things). I also chose some really awesome authors to be there with me (Lexi Blake / Sophie Oak, Eliza Gayle, Annabel Joseph, Kennedy Layne, Red Phoenix, and Cherise Sinclair). They and their entourages will also be a great help to make sure all goes smoothly so that I can disappear for naps when needed and to make sure I don't life more than 10 pounds, per surgeon's orders. 

Even if you don't want to do the full weekend, consider coming to the public signing 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the Holiday Inn Downtown Everett. Lots of cool swag to give away, as well as some door prizes. If you're on Facebook, you can RSVP at this event site. Otherwise, just comment below and we'll be watching for you!

My husband, who will accompany me at KallypsoCon--only to be there for me. He REALLY doesn't want to be around for BDSM demos and such. But I think the Dom who will be doing the demos will do such a fabulous job. Luckily, that's only one evening out of the whole weekend, so mostly it will be book talk, games, a book signing, and just readers and authors hanging out and enjoying each other's company. 

I've been home about 9 days now and have just been lazing around, popping pain killers, watching TV (I discovered Once Upon a Time!), and reading both for fun and to learn some new tricks for marketing.

Now for an update on Nobody's Dream (Luke & Cassie's story). Book five in the Rescue Me Saga was in the hands of beta readers and five of my editors these past two weeks (while I was incapacitated physically and mentally) but the files have been coming back and Charlotte has been putting beta suggestions into a master file for me that I plan to open up tomorrow. Then I'll start going through my editor's files. Not sure how this will go. I get tired very easily still, but I'm anxious to get back to work. As long as I don't overdo it, I think it can't hurt anything. 

I still have some unwritten chapters and scenes to do, too. That will be harder than incorporating minor changes. While I had a target publication date in mind before all of this cancer stuff, that date seems daunting right now. So I am just going to take it one day at a time and see how quickly I can get the book into line edits and then proofreading. I still want to do a preorder for it, as well. I am still expecting a fall release date, just not as early as once anticipated maybe. To make sure you don't miss out on announcements, you can sign up for my newsletter OR my phone text alert (US cell phones only):

NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION

TEXT ALERT SUBSCRIPTION

Newsletters will be used to impart much more news than the text alerts. The latter will be used to announce preorder status, then the actual release when it goes live, but nothing else. 

Before I go take a nap, I just want to thank everyone who sent prayers, healing thoughts/energy, and virtual hugs to me while I went through this unexpected ordeal. I know I had it easier than most cancer survivors (surgery alone and my fucking cancer was gone). My thoughts and prayers are with all who are still in the trenches kicking their own cancer's ass.