What a thrill it was last night to have my pic taken last night at the IPPY Awards banquet at the Copacabana in New York! And how fun to spend the night with fellow award winners Aya de Leon (Gold, Urban Fiction, Uptown Thief) and Harriet Levin Millan (Bronze, Military/Wartime Fiction, How Fast Can you Run).

Hot Season picked up the Gold award for Best Fiction of the Mountain West–and I picked up the very shiny, surprisingly heavy medal pictured here.

My book designer, the inimitable Gigi Little, pointed out that my dress really went well with my book. Well, believe it or not, friends, that was not a coincidence–there’s very little in the way of glamor in the life of an author, so there’s no way I was going to let this night go by without a fabulous dress. =)

Photo credit: Aya de Leon