At RWA
I had a great time in NYC this year. Before the conference started the hubby and I spent a few days touring the city, eating too much and generally having a lovely few days together. Then he left and the work began. Not work in the sense of writing. Work in the sense of doing writerly stuff. I went to exactly one workshop. That's one more than usual, in case you're counting. The rest of the time I met with editors and my agent, talked with authors friends, reader and bloggers, and met new friends. Sounds like work, doesn't it? Yeah, it was tiring but not difficult at all.
I got to meet Blogger/reviewer Pearl and chat with Limecello and Joy from Joyfully Reviewed. Totally fun.
The highlight? My dear friend and roomie, Jill Shalvis, won the RITA for single contemporary romance. Yay for Jill! This was much deserved. She is an incredible writer. Here's a photo (apologies for the phone camera quality) of her with the RITA and fellow awesome author Robyn Carr (left) and Jill with her editor, Alex Logan (right):
I heard about some "author behaving badly" moments and witnessed one – interestingly, this was all the same author – but for the most part I thought there was very little drama this year in that direction.
Heard a lot about editors looking for contemporary cowboy stories and more small-town contemporaries with a big community feel. The latter is not a surprise. That's been a request for more than a year now. Many authors are writing those. My concern is publishers will flood the market and give us too many covers with lawn chairs. I'm a big proponent of diversity in the publishing program and not a huge fan of the sweet contemporary romance covers.., but that's just me.
The Harlequin party was a blast. I danced. I drank. I ate some chocolate thing that tasted a little funky. My Harlequin editor also had a separate party for the Intigue authors on a different night. It was great fun.
One author told me that last year people thought she was nuts for publishing with a digital publisher (she makes a very confortable living doing so, by the way) and this year people told her she was nuts for not self-publishing. There was a lot of that sort of thing. The "your choice should be the same as my choice" thing. I really think people should do what's right for them. Seems to me the prospect of more publishing options is a good thing. My only complaint is with those who have chosen to publish a certain way and look down on those who choose another. We all have different strengths and goals and abilities. Doesn't make any sense to insist we all do the same thing.
The author panic of last year subsided. I'm guessing the rise of self-publishing played a role in that. Many authors now have the freedom that comes with knowing (or at least believing) they could self-publish and potentially flourish if traditional print publishers cut them.
The market for romantic suspense still seems tight. I want to whine about this but won't.
Every year there are a few authors I see over and over, while there are others I never see. This year I saw Beth Williamson and Vivian Arend everywhere. Since I like them both very much this was a good thing!
My roomie, Jill (see above), didn't walk into a men's bathroom this year like last year. In fact, she was totally put together. I, on the other had, was a bit of a mess. Lost my glasses for a few hours (they were in the Goody Room), lost my key (it was at the bottom of my bag) and missed a breakfast with author Leigh Court because I set my alarm incorrectly (sorry Leigh!!!). Yes, I was scary this conference, but somehow I got where I needed to be (sort of) and functioned.
