ROMANCE WRITERS OF AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE 2012 –

With Narelle Atkins, Laura O'Connell
and Andrea Grigg - my generous
host for Wed and Sun nights!

Now I have come out of the rather dazed and exhausted state I was in after this wonderful conference, I’ll share a few snippets with you and a few photos.

I always come home sorry I’ve been so enthralled I forget to take that camera out of my bag but did get a few. 

This “oldie” could not help but compare this conference with past years – years I’ve enjoyed and marvelled at too! For me this will always stand out as one of the very best. There are so many reasons and I cannot possibly share them all here except to mention here :



With Judy Griffiths and Kerri
at the Friday evening 50's
dress event



Well over 400 participants (I think did hear 463 mentioned!) 

The QT Hotel venue.

The professionalism of those who organised this event.

Many representatives from so many Australian publishers.

Excellent speakers and panels.

The usual fun Friday evening cocktail party.

The launch of Harlequin’s Digital First Imprint in Australia – Harlequin Escape.
Sharing with Ray's publisher, Rochelle Manners, at her workshop.

Applauding award winners – especially our generous Tas Roadshow speaker, Fiona Lowe, for her R*by as well as her RITA.



Michelle Douglas and Judy

As well as meeting face to face with many writers only previously “known” online, over the years perhaps the thing I have enjoyed the most is renewing acquaintances with many writer friends.

These included not only those from my old Maitland writers group, Malvina Yock but Emma Darcy and Marion Lennox too this year.

Then their was the generous and lovely Helen Bianchin. What a privilege to meet her family at the Award Dinner, and join in the standing ovation as she received the inaugural Romance Writers of Australia Hall of Fame award was particularly a treasured event.



Malvina Yock -
Kerri in background

 And so, although I came home exhilerated, excited and exhausted, it was a lovely welcome home. I slept for over ten hours last Monday night!

I can only hope other exhausted writers home from the Gold Coast had as understanding husband as I did. And he had only moved one item of furniture this year - the cupboard with videos and DVDs to make room for my vase of flowers. Sorry, a standing "in-joke" that each time I go away by myself "things" are different in the house on my return!



Ray takes our 2 yr old
and 10 month old for
the wheelbarrow ride!

 Now I've caught up on stuff here at home - including sharing this with you, what am I going to do?

FINISH THIS CURRENT MANUSCRIPT!

Sorry, but this will mean not as many posts here for the next few weeks - er...perhaps months too. However, Ray's blog is still a "work in progress" and hopefully will go public very soon.

And we are so privileged to be so involved with our beautiful grandchildren - the eldest even with Ray to welcome me home at the airport!

And Ray does have that knack of swinging that teething little darling to sleep today!

And yeah, simply couldn't resist sharing these photos of the grandcildren with you today!


 

RWA TASMANIAN ROADSHOW

Last Saturday, Sarah Brabazon and I are privileged to be with three outstanding writers and speakers, Fiona Lowe, Melanie Milburne and Ebony McKenna.

Fiona Lowe presented workshops on "Maintaining Tension" and "Writing From the Male Point of View".

Read about Fiona, a finalist in this year's RITA contest, on

http://www.fionalowe.com/

Ebony McKenna shared workshops on "The Staircase Of Turning Points" and "Writing Young Adult Romantic Fiction".

Read about Ebony on her website:

http://www.ebonymckenna.com/

Melanie Milburne is well known in Tasmania. We are very proud of her wonderful achievements and so grateful she was able to share some of her insights this day with us.  http://www.melaniemilburne.com.au/

Do check out all three websites.

And then it was over. Melanie had returned to southern Tasmania and I had driven our other two wonderful and generous Victorian guest speakers to the Launceston airport for their flight back home.

An hour or so later my understanding husband quickly helped me unload the car. I was exhausted but after a cuppa still yielded to temptation and checked the Feedback Forms from the thirty writers who had attended that day seminar,  our first Romance Writers of Australia sponsored event in Tasmania.

Had writers been helped on their journey to being published? Had it been as successful a day as I thought it had been?

Very soon, my weary eyes were moist. Page after page, comment after comment. Each one thrilled me, made all the many, many hours of preparation over the months, the weeks and especially those last two exhausting days with my fellow coordinator worthwhile.

Now Sarah Brabazon and I have recovered somewhat, it is time to finalise reports for the Romance Writers of Australia’s Event Coordinator to take to the RWA executive. There is still some tidying up to do, including the list of writers who have indicated interest in forming a RWA Hub group here on our Island state.

And last night there was that email from a writer who had this brief, one day “taste” of what can be expected at our annual RWA Conferences. She is fired up! Encouraged in her writing efforts, she went home and registered to be at the Gold Coast RWA Conference this year. It will be so good to see her there, as well as so many other romance writer friends I’ve made through being a member of RWA for nearly twenty-one years. 

There is still much information and inspiration for me to personally sort through from those workshops last Saturday – as there always is after every RWA event I’ve been to. Now, just how do I improve the way I show my hero’s male point of view, put into practice those other “light bulb” moments in this current manuscript of mine?