After finishing a book (more on that in another post!) one of the immediate tasks is cleaning up the desk. Which is what I've been doing, on and off, for the past several days. Yes, I did say several days and that's not because my desk is THAT messy, I just get distracted by what I find. Yesterday I found Kelly Hunter's latest Sexy Sensation SLEEPING PARTNER (snaffled it when I saw it on the shelves in early October, then hid it so I wouldn't be distracted from the writing) and flipped open to the first page.
Several hours later...(more on the book and other recent reads also to come.)
Today I unearthed a list which was meant to be my blog about the conferences of Romance Writers of Australia and Romance Writers of New Zealand. I came home with a monster of a cold and a deadline and never finished the list or posted the blog. That conference trip was in August. It's now...lemmesee...November. But I can't just put it through the shredder with all my research and character and plot notes, can I?
(Correct answer = no.)
In the context of better late than never, here is my top ten list of 2007 conference memories.
1. Book launch parties are fun. (Congratulations to
Paula Roe and
Lilian Darcy for launching your books in spectacular fashion.)
2. Publisher dinners are also fun. (Thank you
Harlequin Australia.)
3. Visits to Korean ginseng bathhouses COULD be fun, but I would need to have consumed a lot of champagne to make it so. (There's the nekkidness, see, that I
so do not do. On the other hand, it's all fodder for future books, right?)
4. The Woman Fuzzie Awards (TM, Ally Blake) are not only fun but funny, and a fabulous bonding experience for the Harlequin authors. As are the new chick awards, welcoming the newly published into the fold.
5. I love awards nights and the highlight this year was seeing Barbara Hannay receive her RITA from Marion Lennox who had collected and lovingly transported the golden lady back from the RWAmerica conference in Dallas. Congratulations also to Anne Oliver and Karina Bliss who won the 2007 Romantic Book of the Year Awards (short and long, respectively) with
debut books!
6. Presenting workshops is not fun when the audio goes haywire and takes out the eardrums of the entire room.
7. Waiting in airports for delayed flights is usually not fun, but it passes much more pleasantly with good company. (Thank you Sheila Hodgson.)
8. A writing retreat between conferences is a brilliant idea, especially when in the company of Fiona Brand and Daphne Claire (who makes the best apple cake!)
9. Conferences would never be fun without fun roomies. (Thank you Fiona and Fiona.)
10. The sparks that lit this year's conferences were our visiting speakers, the inimitable Jennifer Crusie and Anne Stuart. Everyone left conference with a different perception of rats, squirrels, Japanese poprock, Yani, and themselves as writers!
Labels: Conference
posted by Bronwyn Jameson @ 10:09 AM
