Home from New Jersey and New York! Well, for about thirty hours, anyway, before we take off for the beach. I thought I’d share some pictures from the week with you. I started out at a speaking engagement in Lakewood, New Jersey. The audience was so fabulous and responsive and I had a great time.  Although I was speaking about The Midwife’s Confession, I raffled off a copy of The Bay at Midnight, since Lakewood is close to Point Pleasant, the setting for that book. Here I am with the winner.

Then we spent some wonderful time with my family, which I get to see far too infrequently. Here I am with  my nephew Chris (he’s the director of the NJ Film School, where he teaches kids, teens and adults all aspects of writing and producing films), his wife Liz (a wonderful actress!) and my great niece, Joanna (who writes, acts and plays the cello). Oh and Summer. I’m in love with Summer!

And here’s my sister, Joann (president of the nearby community theater–do you see a trend here?) and her aide, Nina, who’s part of the fam herself. Nina made us some unpronouncable and fantastically yummy meal from her native Georgia. She’s a treasure.

The next leg of our trip took us to New York for the Book Expo, which was a crazy whirlwind of signing books, talking to booksellers and librarians, and meeting up with the folks who publish my books. It’s always great to put faces to the names of all the people who work to package my books and get them into the hands of readers. I also found time to hang out with some old writing friends, most notably my dear friend Emilie Richards and her long-time editor, Leslie Wainger. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of them, which only goes to show how busy I was. But I did get this shot from the window of our hotel room. I love Times Square!

So tomorrow we leave for the beach, where I’ll be interviewed Wednesday on Topics Design TV and sign books Friday (2-4) at one of my favorite bookstores, Quarter Moon Books in Topsail Beach.  If you’re anywhere near Topsail, please join me there!