Susanna Carr signs her December 2001 release, The Wrong Bride at the RWA National Conference book signing.
Day by Day: My 2002 RWA National Conference Diary
Wednesday, July 17, 2002 -- Day 1
My nerves are a jumble as I board my plane from St. Louis to Denver. My 1st plane from Bloomington was uneventful, but now I'm on my final leg and the reality that my first conference is here is setting in. Of course, it's marred a little when I sit down next to a gentleman who decides his game is "20 Questions". When I tell him I'm attending the Romance Writers of America National Conference in Denver, his eyes glaze over as he repeats each word with a brittle voice. He then pulls out an inspirational novel he says is about changing your life and asks me if I've thought about changing mine. I'm tempted to tell him I'm thinking about adding more sex to my work, but decide that isn't what he means. I lose myself in Tracy Sumner's Tides of Passion for the remainder of the trip.
We land in Denver and I manage to find a shuttle. Six other romance writers are also inside and we have a lively, loud discussion that reminds me why I love my sister writers.
Susanna Carr signs her December 2001 release, The Wrong Bride at the RWA National Conference book signing. |
I check in and run my bag to my room. My roommate, Susanna Carr, is already downstairs preparing for her book signing so I register and get myself together before heading down to join the throng. The literacy signing is wonderful. I see so many friends and lots of people see passionatepen.com on my badge and compliment me on the site (thanks to all of you who approached me. I'm so pleased the site has helped and I was happy to meet you all!). I hit a few good friends to say hello, as well as get a few books from my favorite authors. If National ever comes to a town near you, the signing is open to the public and all the proceeds go to a literacy program. This year RWA raised over $47,000. |
To put the icing on my experience, Julia Quinn remembers me and Shelley Bradley, a great author who I've become friends with, hugs me. Have I mentioned I love romance authors?
I also begin to realize how much I love conference when I exit the book signing with Pat Pritchard and bump into Michelle (my agent). The three of us go to a leisurely dinner. While we mostly just talk, Michelle does mention that she read the revision I did on A Lady's Desire and she liked the prologue much better. We make plans to talk about it in detail after the conference.
Later, Susanna and I meet for drinks and then off to bed. Lots to do on Thursday, the first real full day of conference activity.
Thursday, July 18, 2002 -- Day 2
After a night of tossing and turning, I head off for the client breakfast hosted by Michelle. There are about 13 of her clients all in her suite sharing coffee and an assortment of breakfast treats that our dear agent walked over HERSELF from the Starbucks across the street. It's so much fun to meet with the other people she's working with and see who is who and what is what. Now I have someone else to root for in the Golden Heart contest and I have more people to celebrate with as Michelle makes more and more sales for us.
My first workshop is The Lies That Keep Us From Becoming Published, presented by the incomparable Debbie Macomber. She is amazing! Her workshop is funny, inspirational and touching. There's not a dry eye in the house when she's done and I leave resolving to stop talking negatively to myself about my journey toward publication. I believe I can do this and I will.
My tears are hardly dry when I find myself in the Plaza Ballroom listening to Luncheon Keynote speaker, Teresa Medeiros. Again, I'm floored by her inspirational words. She talks about the struggle and the joy of writing. She touches on the impact writers have. And when she tells the reasons why she has to believe in love, the tears flow again as the audience rises to its feet in a show of appreciation. I'm convinced that these two presentations are worth the price of admission for me, and there's so much yet to come!
After a spirited RWA Annual General Meeting, I head down to the Moonlight Madness Bizarre (a fun vendor event) and bump into Shelley Bradley for a second time. Now that she isn't surrounded by adoring fans, we launch into a great discussion. An animated discussion. About being on the edge of publication and the frustrations of it. And of being published and the continuing frustrations faced at that point. Once again, I thank the heavens for the published authors who are willing to sit down and talk to me as a fellow writer. We have a fun and educational (at least for me) time over drinks in the Tiffany Rose bar. I go bed a writer ready to dig in again for the long haul.
Friday, July 19, 2002 -- Day 3
| After breakfast with my Illinois chapter (which I won't get in to. If you ever stay in Denver, the Adam's Mark has abysmal service and terrible food), I head off to the full menu of workshops. Today is the real meat of the conference and I dig in with gusto. Though craft, publishing and research tracts are offered, I decide to further my industry knowledge by attending the Spotlight On... sessions. These are designed to let representatives from specific publishing houses or subgenres of romance to talk about their wants/direction/structure in an informal way. |  Some of the ladies from Heart and Scroll RWA chapter share what we laughingly call "breakfast". |
First I attend the Spotlight On Dorchester and learn that not only is editor Chris Keesler cute (he really is, I know that's entirely inappropriate), but that they really are interested in a very wide range of books and are more willing to take a chance on the funky, especially in contemporary romance (they don't want straight contemporary much). In the Spotlight on St. Martin's, I see the great relationship between editors Jennifer Enderlin and Monique Patterson. I silently cheer when Patterson expresses her interest in dark tones and tortured heroes.
At the Spotlight on the Regency Market, I mourn with the authors of traditional Regency who are experiencing a drop in their readership and market share even as we Regency Historical authors continue to thrive. I found myself wracking my brain for how to help and you may see some traditional Regency pushes here in the future.
And at the Spotlight on Warner, I celebrated as Beth de Guzman and Karen Kosztolnyik announced the launch of a regular line of romances called Warner Forever. This new line will guarantee the release of two romance titles a month with the Warner name on the spine.
 Susanna Carr, Lucy Monroe (who got a contract from Harlequin Mills and Boon within months of this picture) and Diane Hall-Harris enjoy the conference. |
As I enter the Awards Luncheon, I get the great news that a
close writing friend had a terrific editor appointment and now has a total
of FOUR requested manuscripts to the same editor at a line at
Harlequin. As we happy dance to the unidentifiable food, we help RWA
celebrate the wonderful volunteers, librarians and booksellers who keep us
moving forward.
That night is the Unpublished Pizza Dinner. This was set up in response to the fact that many publisher parties are Friday night and the unpublished asked for a meal to hang together. A few people have very cruelly called it "The Loser Meal" but I say boo to them. Good company is had by all. Have I mentioned, yet again, that I love romance writers? :) |
Saturday, July 20, 2002 -- Day 4
After a quick bite of breakfast (which will turn out to be my last meal until 4:30am Sunday), I am back on workshop row. I finish off my conference with two final Spotlights.
At the Spotlight on Ballantine, I learn that they are taking more historical romances with some level of fantasy. However, Senior Editor Shauna Summers makes it very clear that she doesn't like time travel and finds that many paranormal romances get too tangled up with focusing on the element, rather than the characters and their story. At Spotlight on Pocket, Executive Director Maggie Crawford leads a lively discussion that leads me to believe they're really opening up to different kinds of submissions. Everything from erotica to werewolf heroes are mentioned. Then they go over Atria, their new line of hardback books.
Our final luncheon (which is hard for me to smell, let alone eat) consists of a presentation of the Waldenbook Bestseller Awards and a final inspirational speech, this time by Suzanne Brockmann. This bestseller touches on how all our lives have changed since September 11, but reminded us with gentle wit that we are still important. And that our stories about love conquering all are ways to combat the hatred we sometimes face in the world. And that we should celebrate our writing. Again, I'm moved to tears as a swell of appreciation for this wonderful group of women (and a few men) fills me. I leave inspired.
Unfortunately, this is the point where my conference experience begins to take a nosedive. I get sick. Between the altitude, dehydration, lack of food and sleep, my little body revolts and I spend the next couple of hours laying on my bed cursing all hotel food. My roommate joins me with a killer headache and we limp our way through a discussion on how conference went.
Jesse in her "little black dress" pre-GH and RITA festivities. |
But I bought a little black dress for the RITA/GH awards,
damn it and I am determined to wear it. I drag my sorry, sick behind
out of bed and get ready. The ceremony is lovely and the crowd is
dressed to the nines. It's like our very own Oscars, with a running
skit theme throughout and terrific, moving speeches from the winners (go
to rwanational.com
to see the list of winners.). Finally, RWA honors Maggie
Osborne with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Maggie is one of my
favorite authors, and wrote my all-time favorite romance, Silver
Lining.
Though there is an after party, I go upstairs. Exhaustion has made me cranky and I won't be going to bed because my flight is very early. But as I fight my need to sleep and carefully pack my things, I reflect what I wanted from conference, what I got and what I'll do with it. And I come away feeling very satisfied. Final Thought: I honestly believe that this conference was the greatest thing I've done for my career since I started writing full-time. As long as I can afford it, I'll never miss another National conference. Not only did I learn a lot about the industry, but I was inspired by my fellow writers. I left feeling ready to write, confident that I can and will succeed and proud to be a romance writer. |