Eleni-fest: Awards Dinner & Writing Community

Romance Writers of Australia's Hot August Nights Awards Dinner was a lovely event. Our hostess was the stunning Robyn Grady, Silhouette Desire author, who was just wonderful. As was the presentation slides prepared by the talented Tina Marie Clark. 

What is better than a room full of people cheering you on for finalling, let alone placing and winning. It really is a charged atmosphere of positive energy. My congratulations to everyone for their successes.


Check out the Hall of Fame for placings.


But there are a few mentions that I would like to acknowledge. 


First off is fellow RWA Paranormal member Ms Kylie Griffin, contest diva extraordinaire. Goodness this lady has been on fire this year entering competitions. OK let's do a round up of Kylie's Award Dinner bonanza:

• 3rd placing in the First Kiss Contest
• 2nd & 3rd placing in the Emerald - Single Title category
• Winner of the Valerie Parv Award!! & and 3rd placing as well.

Kylie made such an uplifting acceptance speech. She set goals and she achieved them by working hard. Well done Kylie! I'm sure you've inspired many people. And congrats on winning RWNZ's Clendon Award as well! 

Another shout out is to AJ Macpherson - registrar extraordinaire and a member of Team Hearts Talk and RWA Paranormal group. She received 3rd placing in the Selling Synopsis and 1st place in the Emerald - ST! Great job.

See the thing is the longer you belong to an organisation, the more people you know, the more who become writing buddies.... hence why really this is a shout out to everyone but unfortunately, time is a ticking away here to mention everyone's name. So well done to the all the finalists and the place getters. Great job!

Saying that though, I want to make mention of two SARA members who came home with prizes. Much cheering from the SARA members in the crowd I can tell you.

First up is Tess LeSue (aka Amy). Tess is a very talented lady. On Friday (during the workshop), she won the Crab prize for a piece she wrote and read out to the whole room (brave all of you who went on stage). At the Awards Dinner, Tess came 2nd in the STALI and was awarded the Anna Campbell Award for Best Historical. Well done Tess!

And then there's the talented and amazing Trish Morey. Trish has given so much time to RWA over the years. In fact as Kaz Delaney pointed out, without Trish as one of the people who stepped up to the plate in 2002, RWAus would have folded. And for all her tireless efforts, Trish was awarded the Honorary Lifetime Membership. Go Trish - thanks for everything. 

More wonderful news for Trish as her book 'The Italian Boss's Mistress of Revenge' won the R*BY award in the Best Short Sexy category. Congratulations Trish!! And don't forget that Trish will be a special guest on this blog on the 26th October.

I must mention two other SARA authors who were nominated this year - Claire Baxter in the Short Sweet Category for 'The Single Dad's Patchwork Family' and Elizabeth Rolls in the Long Romance Category for 'A Compromised Lady'. Congrats on your nominations....

(don't forget Elizabeth will be joining me on the 23rd)

Though with all awards, it reminds me of Highlander...'there can be only one'. *grin *

So congratulations to the other R*BY winners:

• Anne Gracie with The Stolen Princess (Long Romance Category)
• Marion Lennox with His Island Bride (Short Sweet Category)
• Suzanne Perazinni with Beneath the Surface (Romantic Element Category).

Congratulations to Anne Gracie for being the recipient of the Lynne Wilding Meritorious Award. This is the award to recognise and and honour an individual's outstanding contribution to RWA. Thanks Anne and the nominees for all the work you do and have done for RWA. Being an organisation run by volunteers it really is remarkable how much time people devote. Round of applause to you all. This also goes to the contest co-ordinators and the contest judges, and the Conference Committee & volunteers (Denise Rossetti, Louise Ousby, Tina Marie Clark pictured left) (don't forget Anne Gracie will be joining me on the 17th and Denise Rossetti on the 27th)

That's why I think the RWA Awards Dinner is an amazing place to be. It's so great to share the joy, to cheer fellow members as they receive their awards, to toast members with their successes. What a buzz!!

                            SARA members

 

 Bootcamp Members

  

So that is the end of my conference round up. I hope you have enjoyed my commentary. 

Before I go, I wanted to talk a little bit more about the writing community. I must admit I'm not involved in any other organisations other than romance writing ones. RWA and RWNZ are the two major associations I belong to. Then there's the smaller groups which are a direct result from being with RWA - SARA, Bootcampers, RWA Paranormal, and the RWA NaNoWriMo. I'm involved with the Hearts Talk and the Web Teams, and so I feel pretty comfortable here in my 'wolf pack' as Anna Campbell mentioned the other day.

The romance writing community is generous and supportive, so I've been lucky with this. I really haven't branched out further afield. I am a member of the SA Writers Centre - though that has been an off and on again relationship - mainly due to finances. And I'd like to get more involved but time and energy haven't permitted. I'm sure there are other wonderful groups out there. 

Going to the conference, being involved with RWA, writing my grant application, has made me realise how lucky I am to call myself a writer. It's something I love to do. And not everyone gets a chance to say that. 

The community spirit really has come out in full force in response by authors to Eleni-fest. Your time and kindness has been wonderful. Thank you all so very much for making this a special month indeed. 

So if you aren't part of RWAus or RWNZ, consider becoming a member. They really are wonderful organisations. I have made great friends from this community and it's such a wonderful thing. If not RWAus or RWNZ, find the writing community, organisation or group that best fits you.

Now I'm still running the competition for the Writer's Pack but for today's post, just make a comment. No question involved (relieved sighs all around I bet) *grin*

Comments for Writer's Pack now CLOSED.

Congratulations to commenter Toula

Tomorrow my special guest is Nocturne Bites author Anna Hackett. Please drop by and make her feel welcome.

~yia~

Eleni-fest: Hot August Nights - part two

The Saturday and Sunday of Hot August Nights, the Romance Writers of Australia conference was a whirl of keynote speakers, workshops, pitches, chatting over morning and afternoon teas, & lunches. Also there was some time to browse the book stall (run by Rosemary’s Romance Books).

Saturday morning started with a breakfast with the RWAus Paranormal group. We have been running off and on for a number of years now. But with the coming of this conference our numbers grew and that is wonderful to see. Unfortunately I didn’t get to chat to everyone. But such are these things.

Our official day started with the presentation of members who had First Sales during the past year – this included Bootcamper Nikki Logan! (Go Nikki, Go!) And then there was the launch of the Little Gems anthology – which includes a short story by my fantastic CP, Fiona Gregory. (Go Fi, Go!)

This was followed by a wonderful opening address by our Keynote Speaker, Mary Jo Putney. Goodness I could listen to her talk about writing for hours. And what was even lovelier was how her husband beamed at her and embraced her when she finished. A man obviously proud of his woman – a true romance.

The day was then split into a choice of workshops/chat sessions. Believe me it was so hard to choose.

On Saturday, I attended:

Bronwyn Parry and Bernadette Foley 

with publisher/author relationship

I really enjoyed the way this session was presented with basically Bernadette asking questions of Bronwyn and vice versa. Some points made:

• Give yourself permission to play to find voice.
• Needs to produce a book a year to make a living from writing in Australia.
• In regards to cover, remember cover designers are limited to stock photos, hence why they don’t always look like characters. Eg 'Dark Country' – heroine a redhead, cover blonde but the blonde photo captured the essence of the character. (now darkened her hair with software).
• Resistance by booksellers to romance books (Australian chain stores).

World building with Rowena Cory Daniells

• Excellent notes – (ones that I will be going back to and rediscovering once Eleni-fest is over).
• Workshop split with groups to come up with story using character sheets.
• So character drives the story and plot.
• Had fun!!! I found it amusing that the fantasy writers group I was with didn’t progress along with the story elements as fast as other groups (urban fantasy, paranormal romance, science fiction/futuristic). I guess that is why we write fantasy- everything is epic! *grin*

Crime Control from Counter Terrorism to Search & Rescue with Superintendent Shane Chelepy
I missed this session as one of my pitches was scheduled during this time. Though from all accounts, it was a fascinating session. (Oh btw, I did get a request for a partial from Annette Barlow from Allen & Unwin *grin*)

Blogs & Blogging panel

Panel consisted of M.J Scott (pre published), Keziah Hill (erotic romance author, own blog), Christine Wells (historical romance author, part of a group blog) and Paula Roe (moderator and Silhouette Desire author). Each person had their own reasons for blogging the way they did.

Some tips:

•  Be clear about what you want to achieve from the blog.
• Keep it regular posts – though your writing is most important, so work to your schedule.
• Think before you vent.
• Entering into a relationship with readers, so need to work out how will portray self and how much you will blog about yourself (ie most don’t write too personal details).
• Group blogs handy when blogging takes up so much time.
• Opportunity to promote but don’t let it be all about promoting.
• Drawbacks - Have to manage time. Be available for comments (though pointed out that you don’t have to respond to every blog comment.).
• Use of RSS readers to consolidate feeds into one spot helps manage time eg Bloglines or Google Reader.

Our luncheon speakers were Mary-Theresa Hussey (aka Matrice -photo on left taken from Harlequin site) who discussed what is happening over at Harlequin, and Melissa Jeglinski from The Knight Agency, who let us know what a day of the life of an agent is like. Both ladies are great speakers and their information was fascinating.

At the end of the day was AGM, and we Bootcampers showed up wearing our caps… that was a laugh. The President’s report (the lovely Kelly Hunter) really highlighted how much RWAus has grown. Thank goodness. Back in 2002, it looked like it was going to fold.

photo by Monique Wood

I will focus on the Awards dinner as part of Friday’s blog post. So stay tuned!

Breakfast was a quiet one with me and my CP, and it was great chatting in person. We have IM chats, always great with distance, but this was fantastic. So glad to have had time to do a one on one chat.

Sunday Sessions I attended were:

Spotlight on The Knight Agency with Melissa Jeglinski

A really interesting and informative session. I actually sent my notes to Pam Collings for the Market watch column and it’s in the October Hearts Talk. But

here are just a few points:

• Follow submission guidelines – electronic only.
• Remember sometimes it comes down to “the right book at the right time.”
• Agent works for you but be kind.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Media? with Allison Rushby

I missed this session as one of my second pitches was scheduled during this time. It’s unfortunate but that’s part of the pitching process. (Oh btw, I did get a request for a partial from Mary-Theresa Hussey from Harlequin *grin *)

Trish Morey's Great Beginnings, Big Bang Endings 

& High Stakes in Between

Trish is a fellow SARA member and she had a chuckle when she found out when I was coming to her session – but the thing is I haven't seen her workshop in action even at the Roadshow in Adelaide.  While the information were things I'd heard before, Trish has a way of making you think ‘aha’ yep, gotta remember that or 'now I see'. It’s always good to revisit some craft topics and information, such as:

• Start in the right place.
•  Any questions raised for the reader need to be built on and delivered.
• In category must get Hero & Heroine together on page as soon as possible.
• Big Bang Ending is a natural result of your story and will spring out of your conflict. 
• Conflict sustains the middle of the story – external conflict brings together, internal forces them apart.
• Characters & conflicts arise from premise - avoid the bicker-bonk conflict.

Paranormal chat

Authors chatting were Keri Arthur, Rowena Cory Daniells, Emily Gee, and Denise Rossetti. It was a Q&A type session and it was absorbing, & totally engaging (I couldn't stop yakking and asking questions *grin*). Some notes taken:

• Publishers place labels on genres.
• Space Opera – becoming more popular.
• Urban Fantasies – see more of the continuing series.
•  Steampunk – fun with Victorian era.
•  Always good to check out what happening outside of the paranormal romance world to the ‘straight’ speculative fiction community – including Supanova, Conflux, Continuum, WorldCon – Aurealis Awards
• Vampires need a new twist - harder to sell.

The Pink luncheon on Sunday was for  Breast Cancer Fundraiser organised by the lovely Carol Marinelli. I bid on a number of items - and was lucky enough to win the Barbara Hannay pack in the silent action - go me!! And the delightful Barbara signed the books for me! We SARA gals got together a donation which ended up being the 2nd prize (we were stoked! And congrats to Christine who won the prize). First prize was a wonderful Dell Pink baby laptop donated by Trish Morey, Carol Marinelli and Yvonne Lindsay. Go ladies. (Congrats to Leah who won the prize).


But the best part was that Harlequin Australia matched each dollar raised - so the $5K ended up being $10K for Breast Cancer Research. That is absolutely positively awesome!!

And that concludes the official conference programming but in no way concludes the conference experience as I spent the next couple of days meeting with writers, brainstorming and having chats. Fantastic conference!! Thanks RWAus and everyone who made it possible.

Bootcamp writing lunch (from L - Tracey, Roseanne, Alison, Nikki, Me)

See I told you in my flyer there would be yakking involved. *grin*

Reminder: for your chance to win the Writer’s Pack with extras (as seen in yesterday’s post) make a comment on the below topic to any of the posts on Monday, Tuesday (this post) or Friday. You have until the end of 11^th October to enter.

Topic comments for Writer's Pack now CLOSED.

Congratulations to commenter Toula.

What was the best part of the conference for you? This includes the Clayton’s conference.

If you didn’t go this year’s conference, comment about a time you did go (again can include the Clayton’s Conference).

If you haven’t been to a conference (either in person or online, what keeps you away?


If you are not a writer, what do you think the best thing about being a writer would be?

Other Eleni-fest activities

Here are two more stock images used for my website banner (That makes 6 so far).

 

Remember comments are still open over at the Bootcampers 101 blog until the end of the 7^th.

Tomorrow, Anna Campbell will be here to chat to us about RWAus conferences. See you then!

~yia~

Eleni-fest: Hot August Nights - part one

Romance Writers of Australia’s national conference – Hot August Nights - was held in Brisbane in August this year.

I really wanted to go. I hadn’t been to a conference in 6 years. It was time. I have my monthly meetings in Adelaide with SARA group and had a Roadshow last year but this year I really wanted to meet my online buddies, talk to authors, publishers and agents, to experience the thrill of seeing the finalists and winners at the awards dinner, to experience pitching (yes nervous, but exhilarating too).

And the conference didn’t disappoint. What I loved was the hub of people who all love the same thing – writing (romance or stories with romantic elements), who understood what you were talking about, and who don’t think you are crazy because you hear voices in your head! At this point, other people would be slowly backing away....

It was a whirlwind from the moment I got to the Adelaide Airport on the Thursday (meeting up with fellow SARA members), flying and waiting at Brisbane airport to meet in person a few of my Bootcamper buddies who were arriving not long after - Nikki Logan, Alison Leake & Melissa James. It was so wonderful to be able to talk to my virtual friends and not only know what they look like but what they sound like. 

And I gave them some memories they can hold onto – my lack of being able to run for the Air Train, my crashing the trolley, my getting stuck outside the train…oh yes ladies and gentlemen, I am what you call a walking disaster zone. But it was a laugh and it’s a great memory to have.

After a mad dash to the hotel and then after some comedy of errors (I had a shower door incident – this one wasn’t my fault - honest), I made it to the book launch of Heart & Craft, though Greek style I arrived late. Valerie Parv was at the podium talking about the book and how it came about. I loved the idea of having romance writers talk about their experiences with the craft of writing romance since I heard about it from SARA member Elizabeth Rolls (contributor to this book). And I was in awe of how calm everyone looked and how they conducted themselves. True professionalism folks. It really was fantastic.

I thanked my foresight for reserving my copies because they were flying out the door and had the books signed (remember for your chance to win a copy, go to my website for details – shameless plug).

At the book signing I met up with a group of 109 Bootcampers including fellow web team mates Monique Wood and Anita Joy. To say I was still whirling from getting to the book launch is an understatement. We managed to get a cab to go the e-list dinner, organised by our wonderful e-list mum, Tina M Clark. And there  for the first time I met Bootcampers Annie Newton and my fab CP, Fiona Gregory! (Fi is going to be a guest on Thursday the 8^th).

It was wonderful to talk to Bootcampers and other e-listers and enjoy a lovely meal. And there were bubbles – yay, bring out the kid in me – thanks to Tina. We had a nice walk back to the hotel yakking away. Brisbane is hilly and luckily it was downhill. I remember passing a fire station but could not see any firemen around. The group behind us did actually meet the firemen. There's a photo on Monique's blog to prove it. 

As you can see it had been a long day and we hadn’t gotten to the ‘official’ stuff yet.

On Friday morning, I met up with Team Hearts Talk members for breakfast. Again it was great putting faces and names to the people behind the emails. I want to thank our fearless and incredible leader (& Bootcamp buddy) Rachel Bailey for presenting us with our ‘RWAus volunteer’ badges. It was lovely. 

And then there were the conference co-registrars, Louise Ousby and Lisa Barry. These ladies were fantastic and had been wonderful to deal with correspondence before the conference. In fact every, volunteer and helper were just great. Thank you to the conference committee team!!

Friday was the day-long optional workshop called The Noble Art of Storytelling with the wonderful duo – Anne Gracie and Mary Jo Putney.  There were so many fantastic nuggets of useful information. We studied the movie ‘While You Were Sleeping’, worked on our own stories, and listened to the wisdom of these two wonderful authors. And in between there was morning and afternoon teas and lunch. Oh people preparing our meals – yay!

Nuggets of info from workshop:

• Heroism is sacrifice not just survival.
• Play the opposites in a character – the light and dark traits.
•  Every word, every paragraph moves the story forward.
• Conflict arises out of character’s choices and dilemmas and fears and actions.
• Place character in a crisis or situation that will test their principles or forces a choice that goes against their self interest.
• Find your hero’s vulnerabilities and then stomp on it via plot.
• Can use archetypes and mix it up e.g. the Warrior Poet, Warrior Priestess.
• Heroine has to connect with reader – have empathy and respect her (we have the inner Mother-in-Law that wants a heroine worthy of hero).
• Show heroine with a small piece of everyday courage – because readers can engage or disengage from the start.
•  And much more...

It was also great meeting up with Bootcampers Tracey Turner, Jacqueline Wilson & Moya Pennell.

On Friday night, there was the Arabian Nights themed cocktail party sponsored by Harlequin Australia. How thrilling to mingle and talk to people, though I don’t think I made it past the middle of the room until right at the end. My favourite costume was Paula -ala Hussein- Roe, but really there where some wonderful looking costumes and everyone looked fantastic. 

It was a buzz even though I must admit I wasn’t sure how I would go – cocktail parties are usually in smaller rooms (as this one was) and I can get a little claustrophobic. But concentrating on one conversation at a time, one person at a time, and feeling the buzz of chatting, really helped me have a wonderful evening. And meeting Roseanne Smiles was a scream.

 

 

These are a few of my photos from the cocktail party. I have started to put some on my site but am not as organised as I would like to be, though I have been organised for SARA and Bootcampers 101.

For SARA conference photos

For Bootcampers 101 conference photos

So that was the first couple of days of my RWAus conference experience! And that was the optional part.

Tired yet? I know I was but I was also hyped up to be there so sleep was abit of a problem. As well as having nerves about pitching, though as soon as I thought of it as a job chat, I felt a little better .

Come back tomorrow for more of my experience at the conference.

I am also giving away a Writer’s Pack with some extras. For your chance to win, make a comment re the topic below on any of the posts from  today, tomorrow or Friday. You have until the end of 11^th October to enter.

Topic comments for Writer's Pack now CLOSED. 

Congratulations to commenter Toula.

extras

What was the best part of the conference for you? This includes the Clayton’s conference.

If you didn’t go this year’s conference, comment about a time you did go (again can include the Clayton’s Conference).

If you haven’t been to a conference (either in person or online, what keeps you away)?


If you are not a writer, what do you think the best thing about being a writer would be?

Update on Eleni-fest
I've added a few hints on the H&C competition question form. Here are a two of images I used in my banner...will post more during the month. You can check stock photos on this page but one is missing.

 

~yia~