Monday, October 18, 2010

Diane and Charles in their Full Scottish Regalia!

Here is a very cool photo from another Diane who is a friend of My Outlander Purgatory - this one is from PA and is seen here with her husband, Charles:

"Diane and Charles at a wee Scottish wedding this weekend in PA.  We provided music on fiddle and clarsach (Gaelic for "Celtic harp"!)  It was a beautiful wedding and the whisky flowed!"


Awesome North Carolina Photos from Diane in GA

OK y'all - I have a special treat for you. Our bud Diane in Georgia has graciously shared some vacation photos with us... and I'll let her tell you in her own words what they are about. Trust me when I tell you; they are squee-rific!!!

They start with an old house in Salisbury, NC that was built in 1766. Kinda makes me think of J & C's house on the Ridge. Then come the pictures of Alamance. (The Fiery Cross) The sign for Tryon's camp is located 5 miles away. Next is Tryon Palace in New Bern. (DOA and Echo) Lastly, is Moore's Creek Battlefield. (ABOSAA)

My extra special thanks to Diane for taking the time to upload all of these to a separate Flickr page for me (and no worries that some are sideways, etc. It's all good!)  As someone who does a ton of uploading and photo editing, I TOTALLY appreciate it!!

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander Chat tonight - 9PM Eastern, y'all.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Diana Gabaldon in West Virginia: JE SUIS PREST, YA'LL!!!!!!!

OMG. GREATEST. PHOTO. EVAH!!!!!

















Nikki is still gallivanting around West Virginia with Diana (where she was appearing at the West Virginia Book Festival) and WE ARE NOT WORTHY because she sent us this FABU shot of Diana wearing one of THE MOST AWESOME shirts I have EVER seen!!!

Here is a great shot of Diana yawning (and looking younger than my niece who just graduated from college, might I say) after a long day at the festival: 

















And here is a shot of people waiting in line for Diana's autograph:

















All in all, it looks like a tremendous time was had by all! But let me tell ya - I hope Diana can get some DOWN TIME soon! All this traveling would make me batty!

I want to throw a HUMONGOUS "Thank you!!!" out there to Nikki for being SO INCREDIBLY KIND and sending us these photos. You ROCK, HOOKA!!!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Diana Gabaldon - Hangin' with Nikki in West Virginia

Listen up, Hookas! "Herself" is visiting the lovely city of Charleston, West Virgina this weekend and is enjoying a little girl time with our tremendous bud, Nikki from the Official Diana Gabaldon Homepage on Youtube.

Nikki has been cool enough to take some photos for us... and Diana has been gracious enough to let her!

Do I feel slightly stalkerific posting these photos? Nah. Since I'm home on a Saturday night, I'm just living vicariously through them. Ahhhh how I love a good glass of vino.... it does not get any better than that! (Especially when my hub is out getting us frozen yogurt!)

And Post Scriptum - might I say this woman defies all laws of nature? LOOK. AT. HER. Jesus she's like a friggin LANCOME ad. It's maddening! Now - not only do I want her to write me "Claire's Book of Natural Remedies" but I ALSO want her to write me "Claire's Tips on How to Appear 30-Something When You're RUMORED to be 58"!!!

Friday, October 15, 2010

Traveling with 'Outlander' author Diana Gabaldon

Great article from the Charleston Gazette. I am so conflicted. On the one hand, I'm like "Yes, Diana, go home and WRITE!!!" and on the other, I'm thinking "I can listen as long as you can talk!"

Talk about a great college professor. She must have been so much fun in class.

Monday, October 11, 2010

"RT Book Reviews" Interview with Diana Gabaldon at ComicCon NYC

"The Birth of the Kilt"

Just got this from Joy (DeltaTN) and it's a wee bit HILARIOUS!! Enjoy!

Outlander Chat Tonight

Outlander CHAT tonight at 9PM Eastern. Hmmm.... wonder what we'll talk about?

Our Trip to ComicCon to meet Diana Gabaldon

For those of you not inclined to watch the videos... (I can't imagine why! wink)

Tracey and I went to ComicCon in NYC on Friday with Jenn M and Shannon, our partners in Outlander crime. We dressed in shirts from the My Outlander Purgatory Shirt Shop - and I have to send a special Thank You to Shannon for not only finding us the $11 "kilts" at Target, but also designing AND bedazzling her own shirt. She's got a future in design (H&M, perhaps? LOL)

We flew through the drop off line  at school - hightailed it into the city - and felt a little strange in our "costumes" while walking to the convention. COMMA HOWEVER - we felt MUCH better when we got around the corner from the Jacob Javitz center and saw Captain Marvel and his wife Wonder Woman pushing their baby, Superman in a stroller. Our "costumes" paled in comparison.

The Javitz center is huge and after some maneuvering, we found ourselves at the door to the room where Diana Gabaldon was going to give her presentation. As people started flooding in, we were able to meet a TON of friends from the internet who participate in daily antics and hijinks with us at My Outlander Purgatory. Deb, Susan, Lady Jane, the ladies from Outlander Book club, PCost, Sally, Aida, Marlene, Erin, Brandy... the list is endless. As we were all getting to know each other in person, "Herself" walked in with the Editor of The Exile, Betsy Mitchell. I'll be honest; we were all a little starstruck.

At this point, Betsy Mitchell comes over to Tracey and me... and proceeds to tell us she saw our Exile video and thought it was really funny. My first question "Gulp - WHICH Exile video?" Lord knows WHAT I might have said in any given video. And it's always an odd feeling when someone tells you they saw your video in the first place. You make the things in the kitchen half the time...with no one else around to watch...and you can't really wrap your brain around people actually viewing them.  At any rate, we had a great conversation; Betsy is an absolute hoot and a pleasure to talk to. Then people started heading into the room. As Diana is walking in the doorway, I notice she's talking to Tracey... and I (quite foolishly) say "Hi. I'm Carol. I go with her" and point to Tracey. Really? REALLY Carol? "I go with her"???  I know, I know... quite underwhelming. (You should have seen me when I met John Taylor from Duran Duran in my 20s after loving his band for so many years. All I could spit out after 20 years of fandom was "Great show!" Not too cool... but I digress.)  I'm a better typist than talker, I suppose. Believe it or not, I'm actually a little shy. (Snicker. Stop laughing. It's true!)

OK - let's move on - Diana and Betsy gave a fantastic presentation about The Exile. How it was made - what it was like to work with Hoang Nguyen - what kind of changes were made to the original sketches, etc etc. I was like a little kid at the movies for the first time. I just sat and stared and took it all in. When you're as interested in a book series as I an in Outlander, it's an indescribable feeling to listen to its author discuss its making... and the making of its visual form. I was in heaven.

At the end of their presentation, they had a little treat. The played a fan video that showed two fans' reactions to some early excerpts of The Exile. It was a lot of fun to watch... and probably would have been even more fun if I wasn't CRAWLING UNDER MY SEAT IN HORROR because the big noggin on the screen was MINE!! No seriously - it was an unbelievable honor to watch Diana Gabaldon enjoying one of our videos. That's the ultimate honor, really... and it was thankfully bestowed on us.

AFTER the presentation, we all went upstairs to get our books signed by Diana. Her signing line was the largest in the Javitz center (poor Richard Hatch) - which wasn't odd as The Exile is the best selling graphic novel in the country, let alone the convention center. While in line, Tracey and I were asked to give an interview to Random House - and enjoyed every second of our 15 minutes of fame (make that 12.) Diana signed my book "To Carol (filmstar!)" and I cannot tell you how great that made me feel. Even though I wasn't capable of forming many words,  she still made me feel special.

OK - SO - after this we all went to dinner at St. Andrews in NYC - and a special THANK YOU goes out to Sheila from Compuserve for arranging this. We were sitting there enjoying libations with other fans when "Herself" - Diana - walked in - and we were all shocked/thrilled/humbled that she'd actually choose to have dinner with the fans. At this, antics and hijinks ensued at our table (see my pitiful attempt at jokes from the videos for reference) and a great time was had by all.

Later in the evening, when it was appropriate (and the poor woman wasn't trying to actually eat her dinner) we approached Diana and gave her a shirt I had made for her. It said, simply, "Herself" on the front... with myoutlanderpurgatory.com on the back. She stood there and listened to a group of us tell her our stories for a good long while... and I cannot tell you how that made me feel. To have someone whose books are so important in your life actually care about what you have to say is a breath of fresh air in a world where almost everyone is too busy or too important to bother with the likes of us.

Sooooo - that is my (very long) story about meeting Diana Gabaldon - and I wouldn't change a thing. She's truly an amazing woman and I look forward to her future works with an eagerness I canna even describe, lassies.  If she writes it - I'll read it.

And that's all I've got to say about that.