From L to R: Isabo Kelly, Suzan Colon, Leanna Renee Hieber, Marcos de Jesus, Patience Bloom, Hope Tarr & Katana Collins.
Romance fiction lovers are an intrepid lot, and we proved that yet again on Monday’s Fifth Anniversary Salon/SCRIBBLING WOMEN book launch.
Despite the city being blanketed by a blizzard, our Salon took place as usual, 7-9 pm at Madame X, Our intrepid guest authors Suzan Colón (BEACH GLASS), Isabo Kelly (THE DARKNESS OF GLENGOWYN), Katana Collins (SOUL SURVIVOR), and Patience Bloom (ROMANCE IS MY DAY JOB) braved the bluster to support us as did many of our regular attendees. Alas, others were still stranded in the city’s outer boroughs or shoveling out from as far away as Westchester.
Salon co-founder Hope Tarr with champagne & cupcakes courtesy of Entangled Publishing.
But in the spirit of making lemonade from lemons, we made do. We focused on what we did have, notably a great venue, Madame X that opened its doors for us despite the weather. Snug inside its red-bedecked upper story, we had electricity and heat, a stage with a working sound system, and scrumptious libations including shoe-shaped confections courtesy of Claudia Carrillo (maclaaa@hotmail.com), and champagne and cupcakes provided courtesy of our sponsor, Entangled Publishing.
And of course we had plenty of print copies of our Scribbling Women & the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them anthology for sale. 🙂
Patience, our nonfiction special guest, treated us to her SCRIBBLING WOMEN essay, “Wedding 101 for the Anti-Bridezilla.” Going forward, the program for each monthly Lady Jane’s will feature one Scribbling Women contributor. Look for Scribbling Women readings from Megan Frampton, Leanna Renee Hieber, Katana Collins, and Suzan Colón this spring.
A mid Salon champagne toast allowed co-hosts Ron Hogan, Leanna Renee and Hope Tarr to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has made the past five fabulous years (and counting) possibly, notably the founders of the feast: you, our great guests.
Then we got down to bid’ness, calling onstage Win representative, Cierra Jones to accept our Big Fake Check (followed by our real-size check). Cierra gave a heartfelt talk on Win and its innovative, transformative programs including #WaytoWin. We especially hearted her sensitivity toward romance fiction and emphasis on how as writers we use our novels to share the love–and hope for Happily Ever After–with our readers.
(L to R): Co-founders Leanna Renee Hieber, Ron Hogan and Hope Tarr. Foreground: Cierra Jones of Win.
Fittingly, the finale to our celebration of real-life romance hero-dom was a delicious, sharply witty live musical performance by Marcos de Jesus, newly minted hubs to LJS co-founder (and Scribbling Women contributor) Leanna Renee. Download Mister Wonderful for FREE here and keep up with Marcos’s performance schedule on Twitter @GuaguaElectrica.
Marcos de Jesus performing MISTER WONDERFUL.
Join us on Monday, March 3rd, 7-9 PM for our next–hopefully more spring-like–alon, featuring guests Audra North, Damon Suede, Avery Flynn and Megan Frampton returning to read her SCRIBBLING WOMEN essay, “Falling for the Intern.” As always, your $5 admission benefits Win.
Happy Valentine’s from the Lady Jane’s Salon Team!
