RWAus Conference

WooHoo! I'm off to RWA's annual conference today. I'm so excited.

There is so much to love about conference: catching up with friends you only get to see once a year, learning more about the craft of writing and the industry from some amazing people and getting to let your hair down (and leave the responsibilities of home - at home!).

Plus the opportunities at conference are priceless - pitching to agents and editors (which I am doing, keep your fingers crossed for me) and making professional contacts.

This year I'm also a finalist in one of RWA's contests, the Valerie Parv Award. So awards night is going to be a whole lot more exciting.

Above all, conference leaves me inspired. It's like an annual injection of enthusiasm for my writing. It reinvigorates me, reminds me what it is I love about writing, gives me hope and determination that I will be published.

I can't wait!

Post-RWAus Conference 2011

Me in my Roaring 20's costume for the cocktail party.

Conference is over for another year, and what a weekend it was. There are so many amazing moments from the weekend it is hard to pick my favourites. From a non-writerly perspective it was so nice getting all my meals prepared and cleaned up for me, my bed made and linen washed and no-one to concern myself about except me. Definitely the icing on the cake as far as the weekend was concerned.

One of the highlights was meeting all my cyber-writing friends in the flesh - whether it was the first time or catching up again. I also met some absolutely lovely people I hadn't known before conference, but am very glad I have now. This may be part of the reason I have returned home with no voice!

My brain is swirling with all the new information I'm trying to absorb from the sessions I went to. For the first time I didn't automatically go to all the craft sessions and so have taken away from conference a lot of new information on other aspects of writing (but I did buy 4 new craft books...).

Overall, I think I loved conference because, like everyone says, it's the chance to be in a room full of people who get you.

 See you all on the Gold Coast next year!

RWAus Conference 2011

Today is the official first day of my 2011 conference experience. Yippee!!

I actually arrived in Melbourne yesterday, but today it begins. I get to register, attend my first workshop session and start to catch up with all my writing buddies who spend most of the year existing only in the cyber world.

The workshop session is "Taking the terror out of pitching" (and if you read last week's post you'll know I'm really hoping this session will prepare me for my pitch).

I've chosen not to do the Warrior Writer workshop tomorrow (motivation I don't need - more hours in the day, yes... but I don't think the workshop will provide that, lol). The decision also stems from the fact that towards the end of conference my brain starts to fry - am hoping that this will help me pace myself. I am doing the slush pile session though, and of course tomorrow night is the cocktail party (which I am looking forward to).

Then the Sat/Sun workshops (and that was a difficult choice when deciding between sessions) and of course the awards dinner Sunday night.

This is also the first year I have stayed at the conference hotel (very exciting) and I hope this will make things a little more relaxing.

Before I know it conference will be over for another year, but I intend on enjoying every moment of this one!

Roaring 20s

This year the theme for the RWAus conference cocktail party is the Roaring 20s. I'm very excited as I love the fashions of the twenties - although I don't actually own any and am still yet to organise a costume for myself. I love the idea of going as a flapper, although I think there will be quite a few there!

But I'd happily go with a dress of the times, the funky hats they wore with them and a few sets of beads.

Don't know what they wore back then? Here is a still from a great movie set in the early 1920's "Thoroughly Modern Millie", and a sketch of one of the dresses worn by Julie Andrews during the film.

A Moment on the Lips...

One option for Thursday's tours at RWAus conference in August is a chocolate tour *drool*. That could have been made for me. A few hours of chocolate tasting -  Lindt, Cacao, Haighs and Koko Black - is my idea of heaven.

But (there is always a butt when it comes to chocolate) I am flying down early to allow myself time to settle in and write and prep for my pitch. My first conference session is straight after the tour. Can I be strong and focus on my writing, or will the urge to indulge win out?

I don't know right now. Maybe I need to think about how 2 hours of chocolate indulgence is going to look at the awards dinner on Saturday night. I don't really need the lifetime on the hips.

RWA Conference 2010

Wow, what a weekend. I've just returned from RWA's annual conference and have to say I've had a ball. Learnt heaps, socialised just a little *wink* and left invigerated and enthused about my writing - what more could you want?

Some things I've learnt:

• I'm not supposed to be able to write my GMC in one sentence. Nuh-uh. If the GMC guru herself, Deb Dixon, can't drill it into me, no-one can. I can write a goal, and a conflict, and a motivation. But I cannot for the life of me write it in that neat little "character wants goal because motivation but can't because conflict" sentence.
• But I also learnt that it's okay if you don't do it that way, and Deb showed us the way she does it, which isn't a little sentence but a detailed table - now that I can do *grin*.
• To write a dominant impression for your character (again Deb Dixon). That is, an adjective + descriptive noun. For example, Hans solo is a cocky smuggler and Princess Leia is a royal rebel.
• That I now view Pretty Woman through very different eyes after Melanie Milburne's From Bin to Bestseller session. Melanie used Robert McKee's five story parts to demonstrate why Pretty Woman works - and in doing so how to apply it to your own ms.
• Denise Rossetti's key to deep pov: you (the author) are in the character's head looking out their eyes, hearing what they hear, feeling what they feel (and that verbs are your friend).
• Any would be muggers need to beware because thanks to Ray Floro I now know how to maim and kill an attacker - and how to turn anything into a weapon. There should probably be a lot of scared husbands around the country right now, lol.

Give it a few more days and I think I'll have to revisit my notes because after such an intensive few days I don't want to let anything slip out of my head.

Thanks for an awesome event, RWA, and I can't wait for the 20th anniversary conference in Melbourne 2011.

Post in Absence

Today heralds the first day of the annual Romance Writers of Australia conference. Unfortunately, it's published author's day today - so that counts me out. Maybe next year.....

But tonight is the e-list dinner, where those of us attending conference who are on the RWA Romaus e-loop get together so we can chat face-to-face, often for the first time. So tonight it will really feel like conference is starting. Then tomorrow it begins. I can't wait.

It's actually going to be a busy conference, because I have organised the First Time Conference Attendee's program, and am helping with the Silver Lunch fundraiser for Ovarian Cancer.

Highlights to look forward to are hard to pick, but I think Deb Dixon's GMC/Heroes Journey workshop, the Harlequin cocktail party (because I love my costume) and the awards dinner where I'm nominated for the Lynne Wilding Award (for meritorious service) probably have the edge.

It goes without saying catching up with all my writing friends and being immersed for a weekend with other romance writers is also very exciting.

Next week I'll report back on how I found RWA's 2010 Sun, Surf and Sizzle conference. I'm sure I'll have loved every minute.

I'm going to Conference!

I've registered for the 2010 RWA conference, Sun, Surf & Sizzle. WooHoo!!

The line-up is great, and like last year, I had to mull over the sessions to decide what to choose. There are awesome sessions on offer, including two with Debra Dixon - Goal Motivation Conflict & Characterisation.

And of course the Harlequin Cocktail Party. This year the theme is Fantasy Island. Okay, I have to admit this has left me a little puzzled. I've found out it was a TV show, but I've never seen it, and know absolutely nothing about it. But I think the idea is to come as your fantasy. I have the twinkling of an idea, but can see some research coming up before I can be certain it is a goer - I'll leave that for a future blog.

I can't wait for conference :)

My Blog's 1st Birthday

I can't believe it. It's been a whole year since I started my blog.

When I started I didn't really have a goal, but after I did Susan Meier's goal setting workshops I decided I would blog once a week on my writing experiences and how I was meeting my goals.

I haven't done too badly, having blogged 51 times already this year. Some weeks slide by without a posting, while for others I keep my blog quite busy.

So how are my goals going? Well, I can tick the boxes for the following:
- enter First Kiss competition
- enter Valerie Parv Awards
- attend RWA conference
- pitch at conference
- enter High 5 competition

It's very rewarding knowing I met my goals for the first 9 months of the year.

The last few months of the year are a different story. I was lucky enough to have a successful pitch, and get a request for a partial - with the added requirement of starting the story further on. So my focus has been on rewriting and editing my submission, getting it to shine. So it's not so much I won't meet my goals, more the goal posts have just shifted


So this is my new list for the downhill run to Christmas:
- enter Emerald competition
- submit partial to Mills and Boon

I can't wait to see what the next year brings - and don't worry, you'll read all about it on my blog.

Missing in Action

I've been a little quiet on my blog of late. Of course I have an excuse, but I think it is quite a good one.

Back in August I e-pitched to Harlequin as part of RWA's national conference. Seriously, while I desperately wanted a positive outcome, that litle red devil in my head didn't think I stood a chance. I was thrilled when the request came back for a partial + synopsis. The only catch was I needed to start the story further along.

Oh my gosh!!! I reread the request a good half a dozen times looking for the catch, or the word I'd misread. Once I'd convinced myself it was real, it hit me. Start the story further along. Ummmm, where? I struggled with that decision. I thought of 3 or 4 places I could re-start it. I didn't want to screw the opportunity up, so I took a while analysing and thinking, and finally made my decision.

As a result, my hero and heroine meet in a totally new way, and quite important elements have been changed as a result. But I think it is a much better story for it.

So I have been rewriting my first 3 chapters, and am now well on the way to having them shining. Will let you know once they have been sent off, but for now I need to pick up that polishing cloth and get back to work.

Conference Pics Pt2

Sexy author talk

Bootcampers Rock!

Bootcamp 109ers - Shelley, Suzanne, Rachel, Shayne, Anita & Mon

Harlequin Harem - Haylee, Cristina & Michelle

Gail, Chelle & Alissa

Mon & Anita

Some Conference Pics Pt 1

Valerie Parv launching her new craft book "Heart and Craft"

Elizabeth Rolls at "Heart and Craft" launch

Karaoke Queens - Sue Webb, Imelda Evans, Kerry Lane

Checking out local hero material

Monique Wood, Eleni Konstantine, Nikki Logan

Christine Wells, Natalie Hatch

RWA Conference 2009

Conference was everything I had hoped plus more. In short, this is what I got from the weekend:
- met people who were previously just names on an email
- spent time in a room with 239 other people who don't think it's weird for characters to chat in your head
- realised RWA is full of friendly, sharing people... regardless of publication status
- had more lightbulb moments then Bunnings
- spent time with my awesomest friend and CP
- found inspiration and determination

Will post more over the next little bit. But will leave you with this. If you are wanting to write and publish a romance, 2010 conference is a must. See you there!