Showing posts with label Daphne du Maurier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daphne du Maurier. Show all posts

Recap of My First RWA National Conference

While I have been writing for most of my life, romance since 2004, this was the first year I attended the RWA National Conference. Once I'd registered and booked my hotel, once I'd accepted the reality of my going, this was me:


Going to RWA...finally! on Make A Gif

(make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif)

I was like: "Yippee-yi-yay! I'm going, going, going!" 

I was finally making it to the Romance Writers of America conference, the national gathering of my people. People who wrote and read and loved books, who actually understood me and my obsession with words, and there'd be books. So many books! 

Once in San Antonio, I made this face quite often to the amusement of my more experienced peers...

kiIBoZ on Make A Gif, Animated Gifs

I made it is every time I saw the awesome Nora Roberts. When I did speak to her (okay, I fan-girl gushed at her), she was uber gracious and posed for a picture:


Since I had a breakfast date with Nalini Singh, I was up at the crack of dawn. Fortunately by the time we met, I was able to control my fan-girling and actually have a conversation. We both gushed about Sari Sister Sonali Dev's Debut Release:




Then, Nalini showed me how to take a selfie:



I also attended part of her Writing Paranormal Romance workshop and caught this gem:

"Be logical, be consistent, and be passionate!"

Speaking of workshops, they were awesome and there were several tracks to choose from -- craft, marketing, industry, self-publishing, career, writer's life and more. I attended several and learned a lot! 

My favorite was the last workshop I attended -- Reviews: Reaching, Receiving and Reacting to Them. The presenter, Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, did a great job. 




Her straight talk made sense and put reviews into perspective. But, even better, she's freaking hilarious and made me (and others) laugh out loud over and over. By Saturday afternoon, I was in zombie mode and a good laugh was exactly what I needed. I left energized and headed to a donut party courtesy of Carolyn Jewel, one of my co-authors on the Alphas Unleashed anthology.

This next picture perfectly sums up my first RWA experience:




Yes, it was SWEET! Wildfire did me proud...




2014 Prism Award Winner for Best First Book
2014 Prism Second Place winner in Light Paranormal

2014 Published Daphne du Maurier Award finalist in the Paranormal category

Would I attend another RWA National Conference? 



A List of Happenings

Wow, so May took me by storm (literally) and had me in tears (good ones). So much happened that I'm still stunned, though exhilaration has crept in on soft cat paws. Yay! So let's catch up with all the news...

I'm participating in a paranormal romance anthology, Alphas Unleashed, with some awesome authors: Carolyn Jewel (I love her stories!), USA Today best selling author S.E. Smith, and my friend & RomCon darling Michele Callahan. SQUEE! I'm honored and thrilled to be working with all of them. Check out our fabulous cover (received in May):


Available: June 15!

I also found out Wildfire, the book of my heart, is a finalist in both the 2014 Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence and the 2014 Prism Contest. Wow, yes, this news made me cry and laugh. It has kept me happy dancing throughout the month. What a wonderful nod from my peers. And, wow, there are others who love my story as much as I do...SQUEE!


And then there was RT in New Orleans. About 3000 people attended the conference and then add in all other people who were at the hotel for different reasons...yup, you can imagine the crowd. It let me frazzled, dazed and confused for the most part. However, I did manage to meet up some awesome authors I have loved and admired and that was so much coolness!

(Met up with my mentor CJ Lyons! This was even more special because the first time I met her was in a Master Class that just happened to be in New Orleans....)

And I totally gushed and fan-girled over Marjorie M. Liu and Megan Hart, fortunately they handled me with grace and amusement. I also had a very nice breakfast with Rachel Caine, visited an oyster bar with Cathy Clamp, and hunted down oatmeal with L.J. Charles. I went on a ghost tour with Cynthia Eden, Katie Reus, Kaylea Cross and friends...yup, made lots of wonderful memories!

Then I returned home to tornado warnings, hail and, blessed, rain. After living with drought conditions for a long, long while, watching it dry out our lakes and turn much of West Texas brown, I'll take the hail and be thankful for the rain that filled our lakes and nourished our gardens.

While I'm grateful for all the wonderfulness of May, it's good to be back home and in my own space. Happy reading y'all!