Yeah, I'm a fangirl.

Last Saturday I attended a book signing at Murder by the Book for Hank Phillippi Ryan. Her new hardcover release, THE OTHER WOMAN, has gotten wonderful reviews and made several bestseller lists, but that’s not why I was there. I wanted to meet her because she has been so generous with her encouragement over the past few years after reading my entry in NWHRWA’s Lone Star contest.

For “civilians”—non-writers who have never entered a writing contest—let me clue you in here. Contest judges can be kind, helpful, constructive, encouraging and on occasion make a suggestion that takes the writing to a whole new level. Other judges can be picky, petty, hurtful and even downright nasty in their criticism. Unfortunately, my entry had gotten a more than its share of the latter in previous contests and I was getting discouraged.

Then I got back the entry Hank judged. It was a hardcopy back then and I still have it. She gave it a very high score, but not a perfect one, however, it was her comments that showed she “got it.”  She said she loved my writing and would like to read the rest of the story and gave her name and contact information—very unusual for a judge. I emailed her a thank you and got a lovely reply asking me to keep in touch and let her know how the submission was going. And I have.

When I introduced myself on Saturday, Hank immediately remembered DEYROLLE, the oringal title of the story, and told me again how much she loved my writing. I admitted that it hasn’t sold yet and I was getting a bit discouraged. Her reply? “You’ll sell and one day we’ll laugh about this.” And her sincerity made me believe her.

Hank is only one of the generous authors I’ve met on this writer’s journey. In what other industry do successful professionals give their time, knowledge and friendship to newcomers trying to break in? And yet, go to any RWA meeting and published authors do just that. Like Hank, so many author friends have gone out of their way to help me along the road to publication. Extraordinary women like Sophie Jordan, Tera Lynn Childs, Colleen Thompson, Shana Galen, Dee Gist—just to name a few—have given me and so many others the encouragement and tools to follow our dreams. What a priceless gift!

Give a shout out to someone in your life who has given you a lift when you needed it! 

EXHAUSTED, ENERGIZED AND INSPIRED

Romance Writers of American National Conference in Anaheim ended Saturday night and most of us flew home on Sunday--exhausted, energized, inspired, and in some rare cases a little hungover. For me, this was a time to get away from my day-job identity and be a full time writer.

My two wonderful roommates, historical author Shana Galen and YA author Tera Lynn Childs, both had book deadlines looming (okay, Tera’s was stalking and ready to pounce) and needed to spend time working during the conference. Nevertheless, they took the time to attend workshops, greet readers, participate in signings and meet with their agents and editors. And we all did a bit of partying, especially at the Saturday night awards ceremony where we cheered on our friends and favorite authors.

What impresses me most about RWA is the generosity of published authors in helping those of us still on the journey to publication. These women—for almost all of them are women—share their knowledge through workshops on craft, career and the business of publishing. No other group in this industry or any other I know of offers the kind of in depth support and education for a newcomer who wants to learn the ropes. Seeing the hopeful faces of the people in line for agent and editor appointments, I remembered the nervous terror of my first pitch several years ago (a semi-disaster kindly endured by an agent who sent my partial a gentle pass letter) and was grateful to have passed that milestone in signing with my wonderful agent, Becca.

There’s always gossip, of course--who signed with whom, new imprints and e-publishers, what editors have moved/retired/been promoted, movie deals and encounters of the fangirl variety. There’s always some book buzz—this year’s star seemed to be the suspenseful GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn so I downloaded it in the airport. The first few pages grabbed me but since I couldn’t read on my Kindle during takeoff, I opened THE TAKER by Alma Katsu  (it was in our goodie bag) and have been engrossed in it since. Alma presented a workshop I attended on making unlikable characters sympathetic—she did exactly what she was talking about in her book and I was hooked.

Kay Hudson, Sarah Andre & Dee Gist

As for the awards fete—once again it was a sparkling evening. Imagine a room full of a couple thousand women dressed to the nines in formal and cocktail attire waiting to hear whether they or their friends would go home with a Golden Heart or Rita. (According to Keiran Kramer's FB posts, five woman wore the exact same dress!!) Even the yummy desserts were overlooked in the excitement.

There were plenty of nominees and finalists from West Houston to cheer as their names were announced. Tera (previous Rita winner) presented the Best First Book Rita to one of my favorite authors, Darynda Jones for her debut FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT. And nobody was surprised when J. D. Robb took the suspense Rita.  Here’s a list of all the winners…check it out!

It was an inspiring, fun-filled week--seeing old friends and making new. And now it’s time to apply what I learned, get back to finishing my almost complete WIP and get it to my agent to send out in the world, knowing I’m not on this journey alone.

Anyone want to share you conference experiences, remark on past conferences or just comment about anything writing related in general?