So What Do We Do At A Writers Conference?

   Last week I was in San Diego for the annual Romance Writers of America conference where a couple thousand women converge to learn the craft of writing, make business connections and consume copious amounts of coffee and chocolate. (And the bar gets a fair bit of action, too.) Parties and power lunches abound and the diet gets thrown out the window.
     It's a treat to see all my favorite people in the business - writing pals such as Nancy Naigle, Lisa Hendrix, Pam Binder, Brenda Novak, and Shirley Marks, and my buddy Susan Wiggs, to name a few, the great team at my publishing house, Harlequin, my wonderful publicist Nancy Berland, and my lifelong friend and agent Paige Wheeler. And I so enjoyed making new friends like the gorgeous Carla Neggers. Most of these people I only get to see in person once a year so this conference is always a treat. The frosting on the cake this year was getting to visit with readers and even a member of my street team at the Literacy for Life book signing event.
      Lots of brainstorming goes on at these conferences, where authors come to learn new ways to grow their readership and improve their books. In between, we have some fun sight-seeing and partying. But in the end, the purpose of the conference is business, and as writers we take our business seriously.
We all want to write the best story we can, hopefully one that will encourage and entertain you, our readers. Because, after all, you're the most important part of this business. What would we do without you?!