Report from Romancelandia
Apr. 28th, 2008 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaitou (aka. the Romance Writers Association's Spring Fling Workshop) It was a very interesting trip. I honestly had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.
When we, my friend from Dayton Writer's group and I, registered, they gave us a giant bag of goodies which included a 1GB flash drive, a notepad and 3 random free books. I got Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (squee!), a category romance called 'The Pied Piper of Red Rose' and a book about an FBI agent that goes undercover as a wrestling Diva and falls for one of the wrestlers. We also got more free books through the week. Each headliner gave everyone at the con a free copy of their latest book, in Debbie Macomber's case it was a hardback that doesn't even come out until tomorrow!
I honestly can't say I'm a big fan of any of the headliners. In fact I was afraid I'd say something unforgivable to one of them because I desperately want her life but didn't enjoy the book I read. But I didn't! I was totally good all weekend. And I have to admit that, even if I wasn't enamored of her plots, I was deeply impressed by her attitude, business acumen, and her speaking ability.
It really was interesting that while all the panels were good, and everyone had interesting advice to offer, the 3 headliners were fantastic speakers. Their speeches had excellent pacing, were clever, and came very close to having a plot of their own. I wonder if it's a result of speaking more often, or that a part of what makes them bestselling authors. (I am totally incoherent when I need to speak in front of others...not a good sign)
And everyone was extremely nice and approachable. My friend and I rubbed elbows with women who make a living at writing and some who're just considering maybe trying their hand at writing. We had a great evening with the 2nd place winner of the Fire & Ice Contest. And we even had breakfast with Christie Ridgway and lunch with Debbie Macomber. (Telling Christie Ridgway about Urban Fantasy books she simply MUST read was kind of surreal)
The workshops were almost all excellent. I think the only one I didn't get my money's worth out of was a panel of agents who's only real useful piece of advice was what kind of books they personally were looking for. But there was really some excellent advice from everyone else about both writing technique and the writing business.
One of my favorite lines came from the Q&A with the authors session where someone asked the panel, "What do you do when people say 'Oh, you write those books?'" And Debbie Macomber came back with "What, you mean the kind with no pictures?"
When we, my friend from Dayton Writer's group and I, registered, they gave us a giant bag of goodies which included a 1GB flash drive, a notepad and 3 random free books. I got Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (squee!), a category romance called 'The Pied Piper of Red Rose' and a book about an FBI agent that goes undercover as a wrestling Diva and falls for one of the wrestlers. We also got more free books through the week. Each headliner gave everyone at the con a free copy of their latest book, in Debbie Macomber's case it was a hardback that doesn't even come out until tomorrow!
I honestly can't say I'm a big fan of any of the headliners. In fact I was afraid I'd say something unforgivable to one of them because I desperately want her life but didn't enjoy the book I read. But I didn't! I was totally good all weekend. And I have to admit that, even if I wasn't enamored of her plots, I was deeply impressed by her attitude, business acumen, and her speaking ability.
It really was interesting that while all the panels were good, and everyone had interesting advice to offer, the 3 headliners were fantastic speakers. Their speeches had excellent pacing, were clever, and came very close to having a plot of their own. I wonder if it's a result of speaking more often, or that a part of what makes them bestselling authors. (I am totally incoherent when I need to speak in front of others...not a good sign)
And everyone was extremely nice and approachable. My friend and I rubbed elbows with women who make a living at writing and some who're just considering maybe trying their hand at writing. We had a great evening with the 2nd place winner of the Fire & Ice Contest. And we even had breakfast with Christie Ridgway and lunch with Debbie Macomber. (Telling Christie Ridgway about Urban Fantasy books she simply MUST read was kind of surreal)
The workshops were almost all excellent. I think the only one I didn't get my money's worth out of was a panel of agents who's only real useful piece of advice was what kind of books they personally were looking for. But there was really some excellent advice from everyone else about both writing technique and the writing business.
One of my favorite lines came from the Q&A with the authors session where someone asked the panel, "What do you do when people say 'Oh, you write those books?'" And Debbie Macomber came back with "What, you mean the kind with no pictures?"
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Writing and Speaking
Date: 2008-04-28 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-28 11:36 pm (UTC)Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Sometimes being around other creative people, whether their interests are the same as yours or not, can be a tremendous inspiration.