The "Nautical and Nice" Cocktail Party last night was a blast with a good representation of Pirates (I am a buccaneer...my hearties!), vikings and sailors. Winners of the best costume was the Melanie Milburne and her lovely husband...unrecognisable as Olive Oil and Popeye. I suppose with a room full of creative people, I shouldn't be surprised at the amazing costumes.
Conference proper kicked off this morning with the personable Julia Quinn as the keynote speaker. the theme of her talk was based on lists. She gave us 4 wonderful, affirming lists. No blue sky stuff but practical down to earth advice. She talked about goal setting...not just "I want to be a NY TImes best seller" but to set goals for each manuscript whether published or unpublished. Other items on her list.
- Finish your book...the world is full of first chapters
- Have a life outside writing.
- SAVE your work at regular intervals
- Help other authors. It may not help your career but could do wonders for theirs.
- Everyone needs an editor and when you find a good one don't let them go
- Get a treadmill desk.
Next up were Sheila Hodgson and Margaret Marbury from Harlequin talking about the revitalized E Harlequin and single titles.
Paths to Third Party Publication panel discussion: Kate Cuthbert (Escape), Bernadette Foley (Hachette), Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press), Nina Bruhns (Entanged), Abby Zidle (Pocket). Some forthright questions about response times and reversion clauses in contracts. We have an educted membership these days!
Unfortunately my first pitch appointment cut across the first breakout session and I had a workshop to prepare for. An early lunch and then straight into the workshop Sasha Cottman and I had prepared on Scrivener for complete beginners. With only an hour to covers such a big topic we had to keep it moving but I think our punters were up to the challenge. We had fun and hopefully won a few converts :-)
From there it was straight into moderating the Published Authors Digital First Roundtable. Wow! How the landscape has changed in 12 months. The Destiny and Escape Authors were there in force and we had some great conversations around marketing and promotion and most importantly, the support we can offer each other.
On the RWA AGM. For those of us who were there in 2003 when the organisation nearly folded, we can hardly recognise this organisation today. Nearly 1000 members and a comfortable bank account. It just goes from power to power. So proud to be part of RWA!
So over and out from your Fremantle correspondent for tonight. Time to put my feet up and rest my bones before the Awards Event tonight. Will I have the energy for the After Party? I suspect not!
Post Script: The "pretty" was in my Inbox this morning. An Honourable Mention from the RONE Awards for Gather the Bones.
Unfortunately my first pitch appointment cut across the first breakout session and I had a workshop to prepare for. An early lunch and then straight into the workshop Sasha Cottman and I had prepared on Scrivener for complete beginners. With only an hour to covers such a big topic we had to keep it moving but I think our punters were up to the challenge. We had fun and hopefully won a few converts :-)
From there it was straight into moderating the Published Authors Digital First Roundtable. Wow! How the landscape has changed in 12 months. The Destiny and Escape Authors were there in force and we had some great conversations around marketing and promotion and most importantly, the support we can offer each other.
On the RWA AGM. For those of us who were there in 2003 when the organisation nearly folded, we can hardly recognise this organisation today. Nearly 1000 members and a comfortable bank account. It just goes from power to power. So proud to be part of RWA!
So over and out from your Fremantle correspondent for tonight. Time to put my feet up and rest my bones before the Awards Event tonight. Will I have the energy for the After Party? I suspect not!
Post Script: The "pretty" was in my Inbox this morning. An Honourable Mention from the RONE Awards for Gather the Bones.
