I have some good news to share this week. I found out that I have been nominated for the position of Vice President of ESPAN (the RWA chapter specifically devoted to epublishing). This was a nice surprise as I had not declared for a position. Not too long ago, I did volunteer to be part of a committee.
ESPAN elections will be at the beginning of November.
This past year, I have served on the Board of Los Angeles Romance Authors in the PR position. It has been a hectic year, but I've been very blessed to have made wonderful friends. Just this weekend, LARA had its annual Book Fair, featuring fourteen of our published authors. While I won't be staying on as Director of PR, I will stay an active part of the LARA membership.
I am very excited to see what 2010 will bring and hope I will be given the opportunity to serve on the Board of ESPAN. Wish me luck!
And, if you are an RWA member interested in learning about digital publishing, please consider joining ESPAN at: http://espan-rwa.com or follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/espanrwa.
Showing posts with label RWA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RWA. Show all posts
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
My first year at RWA Nationals
I just returned home from Washington, D.C. where I attended the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference. It was a surreal experience. I hardly got any sleep the entire five days or so that I was there (though I can blame Jax Cassidy for that).
Even on the first official day (Wednesday) I was overwhelmed. Put 2,000-3,000 women in one hotel all obsessed with the same things and craziness is bound to happen.
I figured I'd give out a couple of conference highlights:
1. Spending every day with about 30 or 40 Romance Divas. These are some awesome ladies and it was great to match names and faces. I even got to pitch Romance Divas to several authors, including Susan Krinard, who was very nice! (Btw, she was writing vampires and werewolves long before they came back into fashion).
2. My friend, Jeannie Lin, won the Golden Heart for Historical Romance!!!!!!! We cheered very loudly for her. She made us all cry with her acceptance speech. I cannot think of anyone who deserved it more. PLUS, she got her first sale to Harlequin Mills & Boon during the middle of our impromptu pilates class two days before the win. Jeannie is all kinds of awesome. And, you can get free excerpts on her blog.
3. Meeting Kresley Cole. She's my favorite paranormal romance author and cute as can be. She's very warm and friendly and I just loved her. One of the divas is as obsessed as I am and went to all of the Kresley signings and generally just found her around the hotel. She said, "I'm stalking Kresley Cole." We were talking about this as we both waited to have Kresley sign books for us and Kresley said, "She's not stalking me. I'm stalking her."
4. Kresley told me that my favorite character in the Immortals After Dark series is getting her own book!!!!!!!! I'd spill the beans, but I don't know if the information is out yet.
5. Seeing Gena Showalter and Kresley Cole together!! I'd stalked--I mean talked--to both of them at the signings, but Jax and I happened to catch them together in the hallway. She knows both of them--lucky Jax. I got so excited and said, "I wish I had a camera to take a picture!" I hope they weren't scared of me. LOL. Though, honestly, I can't see much phazing Kresley.
6. I feel I must say that Gena Showalter is beautiful. I mean gorgeous. Really.
7. Attending the Rogue Digital Conference with Angela James, from Samhain Publishing, Jane from Dear Author, and Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I am not entirely sure of the spellings as there are many Ja(y)nes at Dear Author.
8. Anne Stuart's workshop on Writing Dark Love Stories. It was really good. Detailed, informative, funny, and useful.
9. Diva Karaoke, swimming with Divas, Diva pajama party after the Ritas
10. Riding the Elevator with the famous Nora Roberts twice.
11. The Harlequin Party. I now understand why it is the place to be. Even Nora got down. Fun, fun, fun! My friend Amanda Brice even got up and sang Summer Lovin' with the DJ. Much better than when I sang it at karaoke.
12. Rooming with Jax Cassidy & Eden Bradley. Though we missed our good friend Lilli Feisty who had to stay home due to illness. I already miss them and I've only been home for 14 hours.
I made so many good friends and deepened other friendships. It was awesome.
RWA National has been a wonderful surprise. There were a few bumps here and there, but overall it was an incredible experience. I'll never forget meeting the wonderful friends at Divas. I have officially adopted Christina, Sandy, MG (Michelle), Emily R-D, Jax, and I'm already joined at the hip with Eden Bradley. And, of course, I'll never forget my little odd moments with Kresley and meeting Gena.
This post has already gone on long enough, so I'll end it by saying I had a very good time!
Even on the first official day (Wednesday) I was overwhelmed. Put 2,000-3,000 women in one hotel all obsessed with the same things and craziness is bound to happen.
I figured I'd give out a couple of conference highlights:
1. Spending every day with about 30 or 40 Romance Divas. These are some awesome ladies and it was great to match names and faces. I even got to pitch Romance Divas to several authors, including Susan Krinard, who was very nice! (Btw, she was writing vampires and werewolves long before they came back into fashion).
2. My friend, Jeannie Lin, won the Golden Heart for Historical Romance!!!!!!! We cheered very loudly for her. She made us all cry with her acceptance speech. I cannot think of anyone who deserved it more. PLUS, she got her first sale to Harlequin Mills & Boon during the middle of our impromptu pilates class two days before the win. Jeannie is all kinds of awesome. And, you can get free excerpts on her blog.
3. Meeting Kresley Cole. She's my favorite paranormal romance author and cute as can be. She's very warm and friendly and I just loved her. One of the divas is as obsessed as I am and went to all of the Kresley signings and generally just found her around the hotel. She said, "I'm stalking Kresley Cole." We were talking about this as we both waited to have Kresley sign books for us and Kresley said, "She's not stalking me. I'm stalking her."
4. Kresley told me that my favorite character in the Immortals After Dark series is getting her own book!!!!!!!! I'd spill the beans, but I don't know if the information is out yet.
5. Seeing Gena Showalter and Kresley Cole together!! I'd stalked--I mean talked--to both of them at the signings, but Jax and I happened to catch them together in the hallway. She knows both of them--lucky Jax. I got so excited and said, "I wish I had a camera to take a picture!" I hope they weren't scared of me. LOL. Though, honestly, I can't see much phazing Kresley.
6. I feel I must say that Gena Showalter is beautiful. I mean gorgeous. Really.
7. Attending the Rogue Digital Conference with Angela James, from Samhain Publishing, Jane from Dear Author, and Sarah from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. I am not entirely sure of the spellings as there are many Ja(y)nes at Dear Author.
8. Anne Stuart's workshop on Writing Dark Love Stories. It was really good. Detailed, informative, funny, and useful.
9. Diva Karaoke, swimming with Divas, Diva pajama party after the Ritas
10. Riding the Elevator with the famous Nora Roberts twice.
11. The Harlequin Party. I now understand why it is the place to be. Even Nora got down. Fun, fun, fun! My friend Amanda Brice even got up and sang Summer Lovin' with the DJ. Much better than when I sang it at karaoke.
12. Rooming with Jax Cassidy & Eden Bradley. Though we missed our good friend Lilli Feisty who had to stay home due to illness. I already miss them and I've only been home for 14 hours.
I made so many good friends and deepened other friendships. It was awesome.
RWA National has been a wonderful surprise. There were a few bumps here and there, but overall it was an incredible experience. I'll never forget meeting the wonderful friends at Divas. I have officially adopted Christina, Sandy, MG (Michelle), Emily R-D, Jax, and I'm already joined at the hip with Eden Bradley. And, of course, I'll never forget my little odd moments with Kresley and meeting Gena.
This post has already gone on long enough, so I'll end it by saying I had a very good time!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Happy New Year!
2009 is officially here! I'm grateful for a new year and new opportunities. Though I didn't accomplish every goal, this was a productive year for my writing career.
A few things I was able to do this year:
1.Finish a solid draft of Secrets Uncovered and send it out to 4 publishers.
2.Enter Secrets into several contests. I won 2nd Place in the Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest.
3.I joined my local RWA chapter (I'd been a national member, but hadn't joined my local group)
4.I volunteered for the 2009 Board of Directors for my chapter.
5.I entered the Romance Divas mentoring program last April and worked with Madelyne Ellis for three months to polish my manuscript & improve my writing.
This year, my goal is to sell a novella or novel. To that end, my next goal is to finish another story, preferably by the end of April. I'm planning to go to RT (Romantic Times conference) on April 22nd. My other personal goal is to move to a new apartment, hopefully in the same timeline.
I generally don't make New Year's resolutions because I find I generally don't keep them. I like to make goals for myself, but keep them a bit flexible.
One of my favorite quotes is this: "The greatest miracle is life itself. You are that miracle and you can create anything you want, which is another great miracle. There is no limit to what you can have, only what you can ask for, picture, and receive." Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer in Creating Money.
I wish you joy, contentment, creativity, prosperity, and love immeasurable.
Happy 2009!
As a side note, I created a section of Twilight and Romance Writing T-Shirts on Cafe Press to earn some extra cash toward my goals (moving and RT): http://www.cafepress.com/vromancewriter
There are tote bags, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and more. Most of them have a paranormal theme (Twilight, Buffy, Heroes), but I also have gifts for "Romance Writing Addicts".
Until next time...
A few things I was able to do this year:
1.Finish a solid draft of Secrets Uncovered and send it out to 4 publishers.
2.Enter Secrets into several contests. I won 2nd Place in the Reveal Your Inner Vixen contest.
3.I joined my local RWA chapter (I'd been a national member, but hadn't joined my local group)
4.I volunteered for the 2009 Board of Directors for my chapter.
5.I entered the Romance Divas mentoring program last April and worked with Madelyne Ellis for three months to polish my manuscript & improve my writing.
This year, my goal is to sell a novella or novel. To that end, my next goal is to finish another story, preferably by the end of April. I'm planning to go to RT (Romantic Times conference) on April 22nd. My other personal goal is to move to a new apartment, hopefully in the same timeline.
I generally don't make New Year's resolutions because I find I generally don't keep them. I like to make goals for myself, but keep them a bit flexible.
One of my favorite quotes is this: "The greatest miracle is life itself. You are that miracle and you can create anything you want, which is another great miracle. There is no limit to what you can have, only what you can ask for, picture, and receive." Sanaya Roman & Duane Packer in Creating Money.
I wish you joy, contentment, creativity, prosperity, and love immeasurable.
Happy 2009!
As a side note, I created a section of Twilight and Romance Writing T-Shirts on Cafe Press to earn some extra cash toward my goals (moving and RT): http://www.cafepress.com/vromancewriter
There are tote bags, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and more. Most of them have a paranormal theme (Twilight, Buffy, Heroes), but I also have gifts for "Romance Writing Addicts".
Until next time...
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Reading Frenzy
Lately, I've been on a book-buying binge. Not sure if it's stress or just exciting gems every time I pass by the bookstore or the online bookstore...
Recently, I'd become obsessed with the Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark Series. I love those books! I got one for free or maybe it was 50 cents at my local RWA chapter. We have book exchanges and raffles. One day, I got some books both in the book exchange and I won a goodie bag in a raffle. At first, I was dismayed by the quirky title: Dark Needs at Night's Edge. Who thinks up these things?
But, then I got to reading. And, I got to liking. And, I realized there was a whole series...So, from that point on, I was a goner. I read them all except for book #5--which I am postponing because I don't want to wait a long time for book #6 to come out.
A week ago, I got an email from Amazon saying that there was a 4 for the price of 3 romance novel sale. Temptation got the best of me. I saw a Christine Warren book in the promotion and I'd already read She's No Faerie Princess, so I was excited. I thought, why not just buy the rest of the series since I'm brainstorming a paranormal right now. So, I bought 5 books!
And, my friend Eden Bradley's book Forbidden Fruit came out and I was at the bookstore last weekend and had to buy it. A few weeks ago, my RWA chapter had a fundraiser at Barnes & Noble and I just had to buy something in support.
Is it time to check me into book-rehab? Or some kind of obssessive compulsive support group? Book Buyer's Anonymous?
Recently, I'd become obsessed with the Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark Series. I love those books! I got one for free or maybe it was 50 cents at my local RWA chapter. We have book exchanges and raffles. One day, I got some books both in the book exchange and I won a goodie bag in a raffle. At first, I was dismayed by the quirky title: Dark Needs at Night's Edge. Who thinks up these things?
But, then I got to reading. And, I got to liking. And, I realized there was a whole series...So, from that point on, I was a goner. I read them all except for book #5--which I am postponing because I don't want to wait a long time for book #6 to come out.
A week ago, I got an email from Amazon saying that there was a 4 for the price of 3 romance novel sale. Temptation got the best of me. I saw a Christine Warren book in the promotion and I'd already read She's No Faerie Princess, so I was excited. I thought, why not just buy the rest of the series since I'm brainstorming a paranormal right now. So, I bought 5 books!
And, my friend Eden Bradley's book Forbidden Fruit came out and I was at the bookstore last weekend and had to buy it. A few weeks ago, my RWA chapter had a fundraiser at Barnes & Noble and I just had to buy something in support.
Is it time to check me into book-rehab? Or some kind of obssessive compulsive support group? Book Buyer's Anonymous?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)