Wednesday night the DFWTea Readers met at my house for our annual Halloween dinner. I know that I’ve blogged about the group and the fun we’ve had before, but I thought it was time to do it again. The dish (and I just don’t mean the edible kind) is almost always delicious, and I use that qualifier because as my friends know I’m far from a cook, so I question when I host the dinner whether or not the food is good, but I think that this was the third year of my hosting and cooking and I’ve yet to kill anyone. While I’ve yet to scare any one off with my culinary skills my husband does his best to scare people with his decorations. This year he had to scale back, because as hard and fast as he was decorating our puppy, Travis decided things needed to be undecorated. Unfortunately, a few items were lost, but fortunately nothing of a real monetary value. To read more about Sandi’s thoughts on the Halloween dinner and to comment for a chance to win please click here. Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

The new year is here and book signings are starting to happen…I spent a whole day entering the local signings at our Book Club’s web site. We have a few (ha!) good ones coming up in 2009. Steve Berry was our first one for 2009. I managed to write down the right bookstore but insisted on driving to the wrong one. All was well since fortunately the bookstores are close together so we only missed the introduction. Whew. He was a great speaker and told the 50 or so of us there about the way he does research, how he picks the places and objects he weaves stories around and then what’s coming down the pike. He also enthused about the ThrillerFest organization and the annual meeting they have in NYC. It was a fun way to start an evening, which we had to top off with a late dinner. Buy today Dinner, that was a real challenge. Since I was “confused” on the location my favorite spot, Cheesecake Factory wasn’t close. So a new place had to be negotiated. Isn’t that the way it happens with other families and friends, the restaurant negotiation. Who’s on what diet, who’s hungry…

The year is winding to an end and what a year it was! So many good and bad things happened I don’t even want to begin to mess with listing them all! But as I rush to get ready for Christmas, I’d like to wish you all very happy holidays. And here is a little gift from our book club, the DFW Tea Readers Group. Watch out, it has sound and of course my dogs! Remember if you’re ever in Dallas or North Texas, let us know! We’ll do tea or lunch or dinner or drinks or just hang out! It’s always lovely to meet friends from online! Make a Smilebox slideshow Sara ReyesDFWTea.com Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

The decorations at our back!Originally uploaded by freshfiction Yikes, it’s Saturday and I’m supposed to blog if I can’t find a fill-in. So, okay, an eventful week to recap! First we had our annual Scary Spaghetti Book Club at the Shilhanek house in Garland. LET ME TELL YOU, you needed to be brave to sit and EAT in this decorated to the gills house! Mike S. took his passion for scary stuff and over the years has a collection that is UNBELIEVABLE. Plus it moves, moans, walks, talks and is generally extremely frightening. Even going to the bathroom takes courage! TMI I’m sure, you’ll have to meet us in person to get all the “gory” bathroom details! THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER by Angie FoxOriginally uploaded by freshfiction So, if you don’t believe me, check out our photos on Flickr…even my son was impressed! And you know it takes allot to impress guys when talking spooky stuff! BTW, the food was as always amazing and very fattening! The wine helped too *grin* Well, we had the scary atmosphere and our call-in guest was Angie Fox author of THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER But the best for the week is my glomming of…

Saturday is my day to blog to tell you all about my week’s adventures…well, unfortunately, living in North Texas for the past few days we’ve been consumed by the approach of Ike. So, my attention has been scattered to say the very least. At least we are now very well stocked with lots of gallons of water, ice in the freezer and sandwich meats. If the electricity and gas go out, we’ll be using the grill for cooking. Fortunately, I guess, although I’ve always considered it not a blessing in the past, we don’t live in a low-lying area. No creeks or gulches or ditches near by and our trees are stumpy little things, so the only bad thing is loss of electricity and the possibility of the roof flying off. And no Internet. But I digress… Terry BrooksOriginally uploaded by freshfiction This week in books…we went to see Terry Brooks at the Star-Telegram Evening with an Author event at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. Getting from Dallas to Fort Worth on a week day evening is always an adventure through at least three bad bad traffic areas…and fifty miles. But some authors are worth the trek and our companions…

Recently I celebrated a birthday. How I wondered would this year be celebrated? The answer to that was really very simple. Go to the DFW Tea Group book dinner that is held monthly. Good food, good drinks (even if I don’t drink), wonderful conversation, and the highlight of the evening getting to chat via telephone with an author. Many years ago, don’t ask how many because truth be told I really don’t know, I accidentally discovered the DFW Tea Group. My first event was interesting, but I was an unknown stepping into a world that was as well established as any writer who writes an ongoing series might have. As would be expected the members of the group had to scope me out, and at the same time I had to be both outgoing, and shy so as to ensure my spot at future events. Now years later I’m a long established member of the group, and look forward to finding out what exciting events I’m going to learn about because of the DFW Tea Group. Do you want to learn about us? Go to www.dfwtea.com/ We really are a friendly group and always looking for new members. Anyway I…

Books are the New Wall Lining Originally uploaded by freshfiction I can still remember the first time I actually threw out a book. And it wasn’t just a damaged book with a ripped corner, pages no longer with glue scattering hither and yon, but a perfectly intact book, just one I didn’t want to read ever again. But it was still a very painful experience and I suffered book lover guilt for a long time. In fact unless it’s an ARC or galley, it is almost impossible for me to throw out a book. But the situation has reached a head or I’ve come to realize 40 years of books and a family can’t really co-exist in a single house. It’s sad but true. So, the winnowing has begun…to give a little history, last time we actually counted the approximate number of books I owned, our move in 2003, we stopped at 38,000. After that it was just get the book boxes loaded and we’ll deal with them later. Could be a few aching backs too. After the move, we had over 200 boxes of clearly labeled books and then a large unknown quantity of boxes with books. We unpacked…