In October, I’m leading an interactive workshop at the Writer Unboxed OnConference called “Losing the Plot: Writing by the Seat of Your Pants.” It’s the workshop I’ve always wanted to see at a conference, and when I gave it at Pike’s Peak Writers in May, the feedback was excellent.
One attendee called it “group therapy for pantsers.” I’m not a therapist, but I agree. There’s value in feeling seen, and in an industry that pushes plotting really hard, those of us who don’t/can’t plot often feel like we’re in the minority or doing it wrong. Spoiler: we’re not!
I’m excited about the OnConference. Therese Walsh of Writer Unboxed has put together an incredible line-up of writers and industry folks, including literary agent and craft expert Donald Maass (teaching new material from his upcoming book), novelist and playwright Desmond Hall, and editor and authenticity reader Grace Wynter.
Not only that, but the format is different from the typical all-day cram fest. The sessions are spread out over several weeks—and recorded—so you don’t have to drop everything else in your life to attend. The platform is open 24/7 to allow writers to virtually hang out at tables, and even make their own tables by topic.
Sound good? Click the image below to check it out. Discounted early bird registration ends August 31st, so don’t delay if you plan to sign up!
Serena Bell photobombed me and Jaycee Lee at the RITA Awards
I love a good writers conference, and this year’s Romance Writers of America’s National Conference in Denver did not disappoint. Sure, the hotel was a bit of a maze, but the workshops, speakers, and socializing opportunities were fabulous.
And downtown Denver is a gem.
Mural on 16th Street
South Platte River
Even the alleys had fun in Denver
Need a spot of fresh air?
I only remembered to get pictures with a few other people, but it was nice to catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and finally meet online friends face-to-face. My Scrivener workshop went well—at least based on feedback from those who stopped by my signing table or caught me in the hallway. Any haters ignored me, lol—and I had fun signing books at my first RWA literacy autographing (which raised nearly $40K for the cause!).
With Laura Griffin at the literacy autographing
With JoAnn Ross
Do you have a favorite conference experience, writing or otherwise?
Any chance you’ll be in Denver next month? If you’re nearby and you’re a fan of romance, don’t miss the Romance Writers of America (RWA) “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing on Saturday, July 21st.
I’ll be there—with about 300 other romance writers—signing Blindsided and Running Blind for charity. As an author and avid reader, adult literacy is an issue close to my heart. (To that end, I recently started volunteering as a book club leader for the LA Public Library’s literacy program.)
Thanks to awesome readers like you, since 1990, RWA has raised over $1 million for literacy organizations. According to ProLiteracy, that’s enough to help 40,000 adults learn to read!
I hope you can join me to support the cause, and take home some great reads in the process. I’d love to say hello, sign a book or two, even take a selfie with you. 🙂
The Deets
FREE admission, open to the public (no advance tickets required)
100% of the proceeds go to ProLiteracy and the Literacy Coalition of Colorado
July 21st, 3-5 pm, Sheraton Denver Downtown, 1550 Court Place, Denver, CO
If you’re in Northern California and looking for an inexpensive, one-day workshop for writers, check out The Great Capitol Crimes Writers Workshop in Rancho Cordova (Sacramento) on April 22nd. It’s sponsored by the local chapter of Sisters in Crime, but the topics are relevant for any fiction author.
The lunchtime keynote speaker is New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter.
And, I’ll be there, talking about—what else?—Scrivener. 😉 I’ve cut back on appearances since the move, and this is my only scheduled in-person workshop (so far) this year. Maybe I’ll see you there!
By the way, if your group or conference would like a Scrivener presentation, contact me about putting on a one-hour or half-day workshop. I’m also available for group presentations via teleconference.
At the end of July and early August, I spent two consecutive weekends in New York City, mingling with my kind—aka writers, you know, the ones who understand why I stare at the wall and call it “working”—exploring the busy streets on foot, attending workshops, and giving my own presentations (on Scrivener and self-publishing).
The first weekend, I attended the Romance Writers of America (RWA) annual national conference. Imagine 2000 writers and industry professionals, 99% of them women, talking plot, characterization, self-publishing, industry trends, writer’s block, query letters, and work-life balance.
The fun goes from sunup till midnight for four straight days. Once conference starts, you could easily never leave the hotel. After you've faced the mad crush of Times Square, Hell's Kitchen, and Broadway—think facing off at the line of scrimmage—you might not want to. 😉
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Can you tell I woke early and spent the morning on a train? Keely Thrall and I won signed quotes from Nora Roberts at the Golden Network retreat on Wednesday.
Running down Central Park West before the conference starts on Thursday.
A fruit stand we found on 8th Ave in Hell's Kitchen on the way back from dinner. I loaded up on snacks.
Running north on the Hudson River Friday morning.
All but one of us from kissandthrill.com managed to attend RWA this year. It was great to catch up with each other in person.
The Highline Trail (an old elevated railway turned multi-use path).
View of the Hudson from the Highline Trail.
This ad made me laugh on my run to the Hudson River. You can just see the USS Intrepid at the bottom right of the picture.
The following weekend, I returned for the annual Writer’s Digest (WD) conference, an event for all types of writers in both fiction and nonfiction. In my unscientific visual survey, the 800 or so writers, agents, and editors in attendance appeared to be split roughly 50/50 between women and men. That definitely affects the atmosphere (not better or worse, just different).
Since WD is affiliated with a magazine rather than a membership organization, most people didn’t know each other—and many of them seemed to be earlier in their writing career—but everyone was friendly and excited. I met three people in the first hour, just standing in line to register (wrong line, oops) and sitting on the hotel’s mezzanine. Along with the workshops and keynote speakers, the pitch slam—like speed dating with agents and editors—was a huge draw.
It was also nice being in Midtown East, which despite boasting Grand Central Station, the United Nations, Park Ave, Madison Ave, and the Chrysler Building, was far less crowded than the west side.
The lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel from the mezzanine level.
I stumbled upon Grand Central Station while walking down Park Ave on my way home from dinner the first night.
The Chrysler Building at sunset, towering over Grand Central Station.
Inside Grand Central. There's even an Apple Store.
Part of the ceiling inside Grand Central Station. Zodiac signs in the stars.
On Saturday morning I ran down Park Avenue–which was closed to cars for the morning–to the Brooklyn Bridge, then veered west to find the Freedom Tower and World Trade Center Memorial.
World Trade Center Memorial, north pool. I was surprised how small the footprints of the WTC buildings were.
The “guy” loitering near the door of this restaurant on Park Ave looked a bit out of place…
Hanging with Patience the lion outside the NY Public Library on 5th Ave.
The Chrysler Building at night from 5th Ave.
Running on the East River on Sunday morning.
Back-to-back weekends in Manhattan was definitely exhausting, but I squeezed as much as possible out of both the conferences and the city. I had a fantastic time, reconnected with old friends, made new friends, learned lots, and came home motivated and inspired to get back to writing in my quiet little suburb.
More than 2,000 romance writers and industry professionals have descended on the San Antonio Riverwalk for the Romance Writers of America National Conference. For the fifth year in a row, I’m one of them.
The conference workshops don’t start until tomorrow, but I’ve been here since Monday and I’ve been busy, busy, busy.
Monday:
After a long morning of travel, I spent the afternoon and evening with three of my fabulous Kiss & Thrill blog sisters and a new friend. In addition to eating good food, chatting, and laughing, we brainstormed each other’s stories. I’m not usually comfortable getting feedback on my book or premise before the first draft is done, but after Monday’s session, I might be a convert. We came a ton of great ideas that I think will help get me back on track with Men of Steele book #2.
Tuesday:
Yesterday kicked off with a sunrise bus ride to Lackland AFB where we visited the National Military Working Dog monument and spent the morning learning about how the Air Force security forces (military police) train, and their various missions. I had no idea that one in six new enlisted recruits enters the security forces.
During lunch I got a chance to chat with a real live Air Force combat controller! It was the first time I’ve met a member of the special operations forces and it was great to learn about what motivated him to choose the USAF and special ops, and learn more about what he does.
After lunch we drove to Fort Sam for an informative session on Army combat medics. They showed us their state-of-the-art training facility complete with the sounds, smells, and feel of a real combat scene with life-like “casualties” that breathe, have pulses (or not) and blood pressure, and have gruesomely realistic injuries. We also had a Q&A session with several decorated medics who are now instructors at the school. As usual the tour with my Kiss of Death chapter was worth the trip to conference all by itself.
We capped off the day with dinner and a fun speech by suspense author Wendy Corsi Staub.
Wednesday:
Today I started with a sunrise run on the Riverwalk. Due to a lack of “you are here” stickers on many of the maps, I ended up running a couple more miles than I intended, but I can’t fault the view. From mid-morning on, the Riverwalk is packed with tourists, but before breakfast, the only people on this oasis below street level are the walkers, joggers, park police, merchants, and sidewalk cleaners. It was the break from chaos that I needed.
Despite getting back to my room later than planned, I made it to my Golden Network (for current and former Golden Heart finalists) retreat on time, and what a day. Robin Perini, Jennifer McGowan, Cathy Maxwell, and many others shared their words of wisdom, I made new friends, and I finally met several online friends in person.
After three nonstop days, this introvert-at-heart was ready for some downtime. I skipped the madness that is the literacy signing, ordered room service for dinner, took a short nap, and just decompressed.
Now I’m ready for the conference to begin bright and early tomorrow!
Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately. We finally moved into our house and I’ve been buried under boxes—it took me nearly three days just to get the kitchen in order. Plus, I always forget how much time it takes to make address changes, update insurance policies, get a new driver’s license, and on and on…
Write? Fuggeddabout it (okay, sorry, that's NYC).
The good news is that we’re loving the Boston area already. New England is somehow even greener than northern Virginia and there’s so much to do here. I can’t wait to start exploring. We’ve already done a bit of it, and we’ve been enjoying the nearby bike trail as much as possible.
My oldest is off to college in about a month—yikes!—so we’re going to do the touristy Boston thing before he goes (he’s forgotten a lot from our trip back in 2008). But my list is long, and that’s just for around here. All of New England and Quebec beckon. 🙂
This week, though, I’m still trying to arrange, rearrange, and unpack. Plus, I’m getting ready to fly to San Antonio on Monday for my fifth Romance Writers of America national conference, so I have lots of packing and some shopping to do. It takes careful planning to get a week’s worth of clothes, shoes, and workout gear into a carry-on bag, but I’ve done it four years in a row and it’s worth it.
BTW, if you’ll be at RWA14, my workshop, “Easy E-books with Scrivener,” is on Saturday the 26th at 3:15pm. Even if you can’t attend the workshop, I hope to see you in Texas!
Now back to my regularly scheduled unpacking, unwrapping, and piling things in corners until I figure out where they go…
It takes a lot of mint green tea and dark chocolate to fuel these posts. If you found something helpful, please consider a small donation to my pantry (via PayPal, cc accepted). Thank you!
