RWA Nationals Survivor

When I first heard that the 2009 Romance Writer’s of America Conference in Washington DC was only 4 days long, I was bummed, bugged and bamboozled – how are they going to fit everything into so short a time?

Turns out, if there was one more day of workshops, I would have spent the day in bed – sleeping! – and missed it. Every single minute was filled to the brim with information, eating or hunting for an intended location. And yet, I didn’t make it to several of the parties that my roommate did. Mental note: sleep before conference.

The 2 main speakers, Janet Evanovich and Eloisa James, were so well spoken and had such fascinating stories to tell, I thought of dumping the idea of becoming published and let the big fish do all the work – they were so good!

Of all the wonderful classes I attended, I think my favourite was “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Erotica but Were Afraid to Ask” given by Eden Bradley, Roberta Brown, Angela Knight and Susan Swinwood. (Lilly Feisty was also expect, couldn’t make it and whose seat was taken by Jax Cassidy). Ideas like ‘How to make sex a bonding tool between characters’ and ‘romance should appear every 20 pages’ were new ideas for me, as I don’t (as a rule) write the explicit stuff…yet :) There was another memorable difference with this workshop: it was interrupted by a Security Alert. This course was so hot, it set off the fire alarm!

My favourite publishing house is Dorchester and one of their head editors, Chris Keeslar, hosted a fabulous presentation on “The Anatomy of a Best Seller”. He says ‘trust yourself’, ‘personalize – stay exposed; it moves the reader and the reader wants to care’. Simple, powerful concepts. There was also lots of advice regarding your website, blog, MySpace and hand written letters. A lot of time was devoted to helping your fellow authors because we are all in this together; no two writer’s can submit the same book so there is really nothing to fear from each other… and much to gain. “Respect your friends – give back.” This is what the conference is really about – camaraderie.

See you next year?