Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Romance Writers Conference

This past weekend, thanks in huge part to my dear friend Penny Watson, I was able to attend the New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America's annual writer's conference.  Now can you see why people like to use anagrams for these things!  You can see the event's motto and logo above.

I'm actually not a member of RWA.  At this point in my life I don't really have the money to join nor can I take the time off from work to enjoy the benefits, mostly monthly meetings at least a few hours away from where I live.  All of that meant that I walked into the event without a core group of people that I met with on a regular basis.  In fact I went in knowing only one attendee, one very busy attendee!  Luckily I'm pretty good at branching out and finding new people.

Highlights included a lecture by Penny Watson on how to promote with 'peeving' everyone off, Marie Force's inspiring e-publishing story and advice, and my first face to face pitch with an agent. I've been a big fan of Emmanuelle Morgen for a few years and it was nice to finally see her.  She gave me some great ideas on how to improve my book and also seemed very interested in a new project that I've been working on.

This was my first real experience with an RWA event and I was impressed with how helpful much of the information was.  Also swaying my opinion was the desserts that they had hiding around every corner of the hotel!  I met lots of wonderful women in various levels of success and hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to go back and get even more out of the event now that I know the ropes a bit better.  Very inspiring!

3 comments:

  1. So glad I finally got to meet you in person! I wish I'd had more time to talk. Being on the conference committee was a big time-suck...hee hee! I'm really glad you enjoyed the conference, and hopefully you'll be there next year when I have more time to hang out. Best of luck with all your future projects!

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  2. Thanks Penny! It was great to meet you too and thanks again for all of your help!

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  3. Hi Lindsay,

    I have your blog on someone else site and decided to add you to my small list of blogs that I follow.

    I have been writing romance/erotica since I was a teen, but had not done it on a professional level until recently. I am currently working on two manuscripts and I am consumed with writing :-)

    Funny as it may sound, I don't have a 'favorite' romance author per say, at least not one that writes exclusively romnance. I do however like authors such as Susan Brockhart and Catherine Coulter, who mix up suspense w/a tad of romance. I have read Nora Roberts & Jackie Collins of course, alog with a bunch of other e-authors on my Nook.

    I appreciate you sharing your experience. Be well! Maria

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