RWA Report and Book Giveaway

I've been back from my trip to the RWA National Conference for a week and a half, but it has taken me this long to get around to reporting on it because A) as usual, I was exhausted when I came back and B) I've been really busy.

But here, at last, is a quick report on my trip.

It was good.

Oh, sorry, you wanted a little more detail? I got in Wednesday late morning, checked in, and caught up with my roommate, the fabulous Maria V. Snyder. (I adore her books. If you haven't read them yet, go run out and catch up.) The two of us ended up going out to dinner that first night with two of my favorite peeps from the Coastal Magic convention, author extraordinaire Carrie Ann Ryan and copy editor extraordinaire and Official Woman with the Coolest Hair Chelle Olson. We went to a fun brewery restaurant and shared tastes of all the different beers made in house. Also, yummy guacamole.

Chelle, Carrie Ann, and Maria

 One of the best things about going to this particular convention is being able to meet up with people I never get to see anyplace else. I had a great lunch meeting with my agent Elaine Spencer (which I somehow completely failed to get a picture of, dammit), met the glorious Tawna Fenske in person at last

The glorious Tawna Fenske

 Had breakfast and then other meet-ups with one of my favorite people, Harlequin senior editor Patience Bloom (who has the best red hair evah and is also a sweetie of the Nth order).

Patience!

One of the reasons I decided to go this year was because one of my very favorite authors was giving the keynote speech at the luncheon. I love, love, love Susan Wiggs' books (they're an auto-buy for me) and while we follow each other on Twitter, I've never met her. She was a great speaker, and when I got to meet up with her later at the Berkley party, it was absolutely the highlight of my con. (And AGAIN, no picture! Argh!)

Susan Wiggs

At these cons, you tend to run into the same people over and over again. At this particular one, that person was the lovely and charming Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I kept swearing I wasn't stalking her, but I'm not sure she believed me. Either way, she was absolutely gracious about it.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And yes, that book came home with me.

At the "Cool Kids" table for the awards ceremony.

 One of the highlights of the convention is the RITA awards ceremony. I actually got to sit at the Cool Kids table between amazing author Kristan Higgins and my lovely pal Patience.

The last night, I had fun in a photo booth with Princess Alethea Kontis (who I also know from Coastal Magic--seriously, you people want to go to THAT convention) at Sherrilyn Kenyon's book release party. It is possible we got a little silly.

As always, I kept my goal to have bacon every day at the con. It's important to have goals in life, don't you think?

Dinner on the last night with roomie Maria. BBQ by the pool, yum!

Best roommate ever

 I always come home from these things with a million books. This time I swore I would limit it to ten, so I didn't have to pay to ship a big box home. Yeah. Not so much.

27 is the same as 10, right?

 Although in my defense, the three books in the middle are ones my agent brought me to read for inspiration on the current book I'm writing, and the pile on the right is for the cat sitters and some friends, and a giveaway. AND I had to mail home the rest of the swag I brought with me to give away.

 Oh, wait, did I say giveaway? I brought home a copy of Susan's last book, The Family Tree (I already have it in hardcover), plus a luggage tag with a picture of her upcoming book, A Map of the Heart. Plus, there are two tote bags! I'll probably also throw in some misc. bookmarks and such. Who wants to enter?

Goodies!

This is going to be a quickie giveaway, only on for a few days, so be sure to enter right away. Oh, and Magic the Cat would like you to know that she helped me pack.

She's never happy about me leaving, and you can tell.

Enter by filling out the Rafflecopter form. You get credit for anything you've already done, like following me on Twitter. (You've already done that, RIGHT?)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Next up, a blog about my visit to Animal Adventure Park to see April the giraffe!

Heading to RWA Nationals

I am leaving on Tuesday afternoon for one of the largest writing conferences in the world, the RWA (Romance Writers of America) National conference, being held this year in Orlando, Florida. The location changes, although every four years or so it heads to NYC, since that is publishing central. I usually go to that one because I can get there by bus (5 1/2 hours!) but Orlando is close enough to manage, and it is the only place I get to meet up with my agent Elaine Spencer in person, so I decided to go this year even if it meant flying.

I'm going to be sharing a room with the lovely Maria V. Snyder, who is not only an incredible author whose work I adore and admire, but a very cool person to boot. So yay for that! I'm also going to get a chance to meet up with a bunch of author friends who I never get to see otherwise, do some networking, and take a few workshops that might help with some of the new directions my writing is heading in.

Thankfully, I have an amazing cat sitter coming to take care of Mystic, Magic, and Angus--she used to work at a vet's office, so I know that Mystic (who is doing quite well) will be in good hands. It makes it a lot easier to go than it would be otherwise. Thanks, Alicia!

On Saturday, there will be a Literacy Signing from 3-5PM. It is open to the public and the proceeds all go to benefit literacy (and there will be hundreds of great authors there, some of them WAY more famous than I am). I hope if you are local, you'll stop in and say hello.

Here are a few pictures from past conferences--I'll post an update with new ones when I get home. Are any of you going to be there?

Me and Maria in 2015

The lovely Patience Bloom--I can't wait to see her this year!

At the book signing in 2015

With favorite author Jennifer Crusie

Let me know if you're going to be there!

At RWA 2015 in NYC

I'm sorry I haven't been around much, but I have a good excuse. First I was madly prepping to go to the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Convention. This means writing like a crazy person to make up for the fact that I was going to lose five days of writing time (I normally write almost every day). And trying to figure out what the heck to wear, and then packing, and then (gulp) five and half hours on the bus to NYC.

Then, of course, I was actually AT the convention, and too busy to do much more than occasionally post a picture of my breakfasts on Facebook. (No, really, they were very good breakfasts. Lots of bacon.)

There are a number of reasons I go to the Nationals every few years. There are good workshops, and it is a great opportunity for networking. For me, though, the best part is the people I get to see that I don't have the opportunity to meet up with anywhere else. This was my third time attending, and in many ways it was very different from previous conventions. The first one I went to, in Washington, DC, I was just starting out in the fiction field, still looking for an agent. The second one, four years ago in NYC, I had my agent (the wonderful Elaine Spencer), but we hadn't sold a book yet. This year was my first time attending as a published author. This meant I got to take part in both the Literacy Signing Wednesday night (an insane mob scene also open to the public) and the Berkley signing on Friday for conference-goers only.

At the Literacy Signing

I love having piles of my books! And they all disappeared in the first hour!

Of course, it was a crazy hectic manic rush from the minute I got there. But I did get to see agent/author pal Lucienne Diver after the signing on Wednesday, where she convinced me to go to the Coastal Magic convention next February in Florida.

On Thursday, I had breakfast with some Betty friends, including roommate Megan Coakley. If you're a Betty, raise your hand in the comments :-)

Stephanie, Karen (who wasn't even at the convention and just drove in to see the rest of us), and Megan

 Then I had lunch with Elaine and we took part in a panel that featured agents and authors from The Knight Agency...and didn't manage to remember to get a picture of either. Sigh.

Hung out with brilliant author pal Mindy Klasky and hatched some possible plans...

Mindy!

 And then the highlight of my trip, finally meeting my amazing Berkley editor, Leis Pederson. We had such a great time together! (It's a funny looking picture because we convinced the security guard at the desk to take it.)

Me and Leis Pederson

She took me to a yummy Mediterranean restaurant called Kellari Taverna and we shared a bunch of appetizers including lamb riblets, and the most delicious flaming cheese. No, really. They soaked it in something like brandy and set it on fire. It was delish!

That's the cheese in the cast iron pan, no longer flaming.

On Friday, I got to go to two different workshops given by my favorite author, Jennifer Crusie. Jenny is not only a terrific author, she is a great teacher, and I credit her "Turning Points" workshop (that I went to at my first RWA, and then again this time) with improving my writing to the point where I finally got an agent. I started a standing tradition at that first Nationals of stalking her throughout the conference and giving her chocolate. (If you're going to stalk someone, you should at least make it worth her while.) This time I brought her handcrafted chocolates made by a local chocolatier. Yum.

The stupendous, amazing, inspirational Jennifer Crusie

Megan, Jenny, Stephanie and me

I also got to finally meet the lovely Patience Bloom, who is both an editor for Harlequin and the author of a funny, sweet, and poignant memoir called Romance is My Day Job (all about her real life love story), which I recently read and loved.

Patience Bloom, who made me wish I had red hair

 And of course, there was New York City. I'm not a city girl, myself, but you have to admit it is pretty splendid.

Bryant Park, where people were watching Shakespeare in the Park

I had a lot of fun, ate some wonderful food, and met up with a whole bunch of terrific people. But I was still really glad to get home to the kitties and you people.

I suspect we'll celebrate with a giveaway sometime this week. Just because.

Where is the last interesting place you traveled to? Are you a journeyer or a homebody like me?

What Was In The Box? BOOKS! And contest winners

For those of you who weren't around yesterday, you missed all the fun! I posted a picture of a LARGE and MYSTERIOUS BOX, and asked people to guess what was in it. The winner would get part of what was inside.

As you can see from the picture above, what was inside was LOTS and LOTS of BOOKS.

Many people guessed that the box contained copies of my newest book, but since my newest book is being written right now, alas, that wasn't true. The books, as winners ROBENA and SIERRA so cleverly surmised, are my booty from my recent trip to NYC and RWA. Some of them I bought at the literacy signing, and some I picked up at the various publisher book signings, and some were given out during the course of the conference. And, to be fair, about a third of that pile are autographed for and destined to be given to my pal Robin, who was supposed to go this year and couldn't.

Most of the books I picked up for myself are signed to me. But there are nine books that are up for grabs, and winners Sierra and Robina get to pick one of those and I will send it to them as their prize!

NOTE: Robena and Sierra can email me at magicmysticminerva at yahoo or contact me at the BettyVerse in FB so they can tell me their choice and give me an address to sent it to.

This was so much fun--I think I'll have to mail myself mysterious boxes more often!!! Thanks to everyone who took part.

There is a little bit of everything here: historical romance by Grace Burrowes (HEIR) and Mary Nalogh (A SECRET AFFAIR), two SF/paranormal romance by Joss Ware (BEYOND THE NIGHT, EMBRACE THE NIGHT ETERNAL), paranormal romance from Stephanie Rowe (TOUCH IF YOU DARE), Jenna Black (THE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND), and Kristina Douglas (our own Krissie/Anne Stuart RAZIEL), a romantic suspense by Susan Crandall (SLEEP NO MORE), and a contemporary romance by Lori Wilde (THE FIRST LOVE COOKIE CLUB).

Have fun picking, ladies! And no fighting! They're all good...

Upcoming Appearances

Wondering where to find me this year? (Yes, you know you were.) Here's a list of the three conferences I'm planning on attending, and the workshops I'll be giving there. I hope I'll see a few of you at one or the other of these!

Upcoming Appearances

FEBRUARY 2011
Pantheacon
Doubletree Hotel
San Jose, CA
(Pagan Convention)
Fri 18th-Sun 20th
Sat 9PM – Llewellyn “Meet the Authors” Panel
Sun 9AM – Llewellyn “Publishing” Panel
Sun 11 AM – “Spiritual Spring Cleaning” Workshop
www.pantheacon.com

APRIL 2011
New England Chapter RWA Conference
Hawthorne Hotel
Salem, MA
(Writers’ convention)
Fri 29th-Sat 30th
“Writing for the Paranormal Author” Workshop
Literacy Booksigning
http://www.necrwa.org/conference.html

JUNE/JULY 2011
RWA National Conference
Marriot Marquis Hotel
New York, New York
(Writers’ convention)
Wed June 28th-Fri July 1st
“Getting an Agent: The View from both sides of the table”
With The Knight Agency agents Elaine Spencer/Lucienne Diver
And author Candace Havens
http://www.rwa.org/cs/conferences_and_events

Getting Ready for RWA Nationals

Well, it is only a week before I leave for the RWA (Romance Writers of America) National Convention in Washington, DC—and I’m madly trying to get things ready before I go.

I am traveling by train with my pal, writer Saoirse Redgrave (13 to Life, St. Martin’s Press 2010). We’re leaving at the crack of dawn on Wednesday, and won’t be back until Sunday night. (Don’t worry—the cats are being well taken care of!) That’s a long trip by my standards, so I am trying to get my “to-do” list done before I go, in case I am really wiped out from a week of networking, workshops and agent meetings (please goddess) by the time I get back.

I am really looking forward to my first Nationals. In part, because of the opportunities to possibly get my work noticed by people who could make a serious difference in my success or failure as a fiction writer (i.e. agents and editors), and of course the fab workshops that will hopefully make me a better writer. But mostly because I am finally going to get to meet up with some of the great folks who I’ve been talking to online for over a year—many of whom have gone out of their way to be helpful and supportive—but never had the chance to meet in person.

Tops on this list: author Mindy Klasky, author Candace Havens, author/agent Lucienne Diver, and author/agent Lois Winston. And then there are the writers I just follow around the web and admire (an occasionally correspond with): Jeri Smith-Ready, Maria V. Snyder and Jennifer Crusie. Not to mention a few agents and editors I’ve been in contact with professionally, like Patience Smith of Harlequin and agent Kevan Lyon. Needless to say, this is just the short-list.

Trying to figure out what to pack is just crazy, and the scheduling is next to impossible. But still, another week and a day and we’re on our way.

I’ll try and blog more often in the week to come, and from RWA itself if I can. Wish you were all coming with me!

Blessings,Deborah