Monday, July 27, 2015

RWA15

I just got back from my first Romance Writers of America National Conference in New York City. 2,000 romance writers took over the Marriott Marquis—I’m pretty confident we raised a few eyebrows of the other guests, although we were in Times Square, so maybe not—for five days of networking, workshops and events.

It was great!

The smart elevators did not outsmart me and elevator conversations were a lot of fun.

Random man in super crowded elevator: You can fit. Suck it in everyone!
RWA lady: We're dressed for the awards and wearing Spanx. We can't suck it in anymore.
Everyone else: And we're romance writers. You don't want to continue this conversation!

I roomed with my best writer friend and we still like each other. We ate yummy food and discovered new restaurants. We might have offered to marry the cute waiter who gave us a bowl of coffee, but I was really tired at the time and don’t fully remember.




There were a ton of workshops offered and it wasn’t possible to go to all of them. I had hoped to get some really good information on marketing, but those workshops weren’t particularly helpful. However, there were some great ones on different writing tips, such as conflict (and then…and then…but!), subtext (taught by a writer who’s first language is not English but who has won multiple writing awards for her English-language romances—I would have wanted to kill her but she was really nice, as well as hilarious), and characters (taught by Susan Elizabeth Phillips).



I skipped the keynotes because they were really early in the morning and I’ve heard many of them speak before. They’re awesome speakers, but I needed my sleep. I escaped from the crowds by hanging out in the New York Public Library, absorbing the solemnity of the building and the love of learning that was built into the walls. It was surprisingly noisy but the architecture was beautiful.



I saw a romance cover model up close—a little disturbing but wow, the muscles! I ate breakfast in the same space as Eloisa James. And I met a Twitter friend for the first time and we found each other, despite knowing neither names nor faces! And my shoes made it into a blog!




It was a fabulous time and now I’m looking forward to taking what I learned and applying it to my writing. I’m inspired, I’m grateful and I’m exhausted!

Monday, July 20, 2015

I'm Going To The Conference

I’m getting ready for RWA this week. Romance Writers of America is holding its annual national convention and this year it’s in New York City. I’ll be joining approximately 2,000 other romance writers for several days of workshops, meet & greets, book signings and networking.

It’s a writer’s dream and an introvert’s nightmare. J Seriously. 2,000 in one hotel and having to be “on” all day every day. What I find even funnier, though, is that most writers are introverts; certainly most of my writer friends are. We all talk about it on Facebook for about 50 weeks a year (in between our “buy my book” posts, of course). Yet for two weeks, we all make plans to see as many writers and editors as we can, and make plans to learn and socialize. I guess those other 50 weeks are our recovery time.

I’ll be there Thursday through Saturday and my days are mostly filled with workshops—writing and blogging ones, marketing strategy ones, and ones where we learn about different publishing houses. My good friend and I are rooming together and already making plans to slip away and have dinner by ourselves. I’ve arranged to meet my other agency authors for dinner one evening so that we can get to know each other better. And I’m capping off the conference at the awards ceremony, where several friends are nominated.

My outfits are purchased and planned, along with the most comfy shoes I could find that still look pretty. And I’m told that the conference is very close to the Magnolia Bakery, so I’m leaving room in my schedule for cupcake time.


By the end of the three days, I hope to come away exhausted, but armed with lots of good writing advice. And probably a desire to go hide in a cave for a month!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Where To Find Me

I'm busy with writing and summer plans, so no big post this week. If you want to keep up with me:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-Wilck/201342863240160?ref=hl

Interested in my newsletter (scroll to the bottom and click "Join"): http://www.jenniferwilck.com

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