RNA's Joan Hessayon Award

I was hoping to be hot off the press with congratulating the winner of the Joan Hessayon Award at the RNA's Summer Party this evening, but sadly I'm still waiting. (Come on ladies, enough with the champagne now ... spill the good news).

The reason I'm on tenter hooks is that Sally Minx is one of the five nominees for this distinguished award. GO SALLY!

As it's now nearly 11pm here in South Africa, and as I have a tech recce starting at the crack of dawn tomorrow, I'm going to have to try to sleep without news. But I'll be online tomorrow as soon as I possibly can to share the joy with you - and the shoes.

PS: Sadly (for the Minxes) Sally Minx did not win. The JHA trophy went to Charlotte Betts. Congratulations, Charlotte!

Greenwich - last day

Once again, I've been adventuring rather than blogging, but here, at last, is my take on the last day of the RNA conference.

The first talk I attended on Sunday morning was by far my favourite of the whole conference: Sarah Duncan's talk entitled 'Mind the Gap: how to get your manuscript across the publishing divide'. Sarah presented ten points that are essential for hooking the reader, and ended by looking at how to add Pizazz to your writing. Her talk was dynamic, easy to follow, and she illustrated every point in ways that made the talk memorable.

After a coffee and breakfast / snack break I attended Adele Geras' talk on 'Young Love' and writing for the young adult market. I enjoyed the talk, though with a combination of tiredness and the fact that I have no immediate plan to write for teenagers, this was the first talk in which I didn't take serious notes.

Then back into the large auditorium (which was packed!) for Joanna Trollope's key note speech. I was struck by how gaunt she looks, but her words certainly pack a punch that belies her apparent frailty. At one stage in her prepared speech I found myself shifting in my seat and thinking 'I'll have to agree to disagree' as she had some quite uncompromising things to say about romance novels and novelists, including talking about a "poverty of ambition" among women writers. However, she ended her talk on a rallying cry that had me cheering for her and determined to do all I can to raise the public image of women's fiction and women writers.

After the lunch break (and the most delicious chocolate brownies!) I attended Diane Pearson's First Line Workshop which opened my eyes not just to the importance of the opening line (who doesn't know that?!) but to just how much can be conveyed with those opening words. It also made me realise how poor all my opening lines have been so far and that I need to up my game in this respect.

As Fiona Loakes (aka Fiona Harper, though it took me ages to make the connection) was unable to attend the conference for very sad personal reasons, I had a gap in my schedule (much-needed by this point!) and Lorraine Minx and I headed out for Ben & Jerry's ice creams before parting ways. Tempted as I was to have an afternoon nap, I then headed back to Queen Anne Court for the closing talk of the conference: an informal chat session with author Judy Astley.

Thank heavens I still had the pub dinner at Wetherspoons to look forward to, so I didn't get all maudlin over the fact that the conference was now over. The inimitable Gemma Jackson kept me entertained all evening, and it's impossible to be maudlin in Gemma's presence!

I'd like to say a massive thanks to conference organisers Roger Sanderson and Jan Jones for all their hard work in organising such an amazing and seamlessly well run conference.

I'll still be away from home and enjoying a jam-packed holiday schedule for another week but once I'm home and back in my rut (well actually a new rut inspired by the conference) I'll type up my conference notes. If any of you would like notes from a particular talk (or all of them!) just leave a comment here on my blog with your details, or email me through the Contact link on the right, and I'll send them to you once they're ready.

Greenwich - Day 4

Though I'd left the gala dinner reasonably early (and still sober) the night before, it was an effort to drag myself out of bed and back to Queen Anne Court on Saturday morning. I should have planned my holiday for before the conference rather than after, though waking to my first ever book review (and such a fantastic one) did give me some impetus.

Another hot and sunny day began with jay Dixon's talk on Adding Colour to your Novel, which covered exactly that: the meanings and uses of colours, especially important in historicals. jay's tips on making use of colour associations, and carrying a colour through your novel (for example, to represent a secondary character) really stuck with me.

Sadly I then had to miss Nell Dixon's talk on Believable Secondary Characters as I had an appointment to meet the editor from Mills & Boon who requested a new partial from me after last year's Presents contest. (Sadly? I met my editor!) The interview went well, with the editor complimenting the interaction between my hero and heroine, and the dialogue. She also gave me a few points to ponder, so I went away with ideas tumbling through my head.

Then on into Kate Walker's talk on Conflict, which started on a high (See left and you'll know what I mean!). A lot of what Kate covered wasn't new to me, but it's an important topic and always worth reiterating. Best of all, coming on the heels of my editor appointment, what Kate shared with us helped to resolve the jumble in my head.

Lunch was followed by a talk by various Mills&Boon editors on 'How to increase your Page Turning Quality in the 21st Century'. Sounds like a mouthful, but really the gist was simple: they're looking for fresh voices and fresh ideas. The insight given into the new directions their contemporary lines are taking was very exciting so it was an inspirational hour.

Imogen Howson's talk on publisher Samhain (pronounced exactly as it's written and not with the original Gaelic pronunciation) was equally inspirational, as much because of Imogen's enthusiasm and encouragement as the idea of an author-friendly publisher hungry for stories and going places.

Liz Fenwick and Kate Johnson's chat about Social Media and how to use it for promotion was a delightful end to the day, informative but not too much on top of the saturation of information in my head.

My co-Minxes and I then got so caught up in chatting that we arrived a little late at the evening barbecue where we carried on chatting ... and we carried on chatting back in our accommodation long after the barbecue. I still find it amazing that we hit it off just as well in person as we had on-line.

Below are Minxes Lorraine and Jo with Romance writer Nina Harrington at the barbecue.

PS: I neglected to mention that I managed to spill champagne all over my dinner companions at the gala. Sorry, ladies!

Greenwich - Day 3

For me the third day of my adventure, but really this was the first day of the RNA's 50th anniversary conference: the Industry Day.

The day (in fact the entire weekend) was blessed with sunshine, though the sultry heat was occassionally overwhelming. The speakers of the day were mostly publishers and agents, giving us writers the insider view on publishing - fortunately not all doom and gloom. Again and again the message was reinforced: even though fewer titles are being bought and publishers are taking fewer risks, a good book still has every chance of being published.

After registration and Katie Fforde's welcome introduction, we were straight into the first talk of the day, by Charlotte Bush and Rob Waddington of Random House. The major gist of their talk was the importance for writers to understand their market.

Next up was David Shelley of Little Brown who spoke about changes in the market place, including the rise of supermarkets and digital, as well as current trends.

Then after lunch editorial consultants Jane Eastgate and Sally Cummings spoke about what writers can do to make their work stand out for an editor. Sadly they didn't really have the magic answer of 'what is the X-Factor?'

Then my personal favourite of the day: four writers published in the US (two of whom live in the US) spoke about the differences between the UK and US markets in an open Q&A session that was both lively and informative. Thanks ladies!

[From left to right: agent Erin Niumata, writers Janet Mullany, Nicola Cornick and Rosemary Laurey]

The working day ended with another informal chat session, this time with 5 writers each representing different decades of the RNA, and obviously focussing on the RNA itself in this anniversary year.

The day was not by any means over yet. We dressed up in our glad rags and hit the Trafalgar Tavern for a delicious dinner, with champagne, conversation and speeches at the historic Trafalgar Tavern. I'll admit to falling into bed with exhaustion that night.

RNA submission packed and ready to go

The Playboy Duke's Reluctant Bride is now printed, packaged and sealed into its padded envelope, ready to be sent first thing in the morning. It's such a relief to have it done as I feel like I've edited this manuscript to death. Now I've just got to hope that the South African post office doesn't stuff up and mangle or lose the parcel. There are just 18 days left to the deadline, so I really don't want to find out a week or more from now that it's gone astray!

The timing is just right as I had a job confirm at the office today, so after more than a month sitting around, the day job will be swinging back into action and I need to give it at least a little attention. (Also, I really need the commission!). This is a two day shoot for BP and wouldn't you know it, the shoot overlaps with my planned holiday to Greece. Lucky I haven't confirmed those flights yet!

All Quiet on the Southern Front

I would love to say that my life has been as quiet as this blog, but in fact the last three weeks have been an emotional roller coaster ride.

So much for thinking that my manuscript was done ... my on-line crit group picked up some major flaws in my final three chapters and I've had to dig deep and do some difficult re-writing. At last it looks like it might just be strong enough to withstand the RNA reader's scrutiny, but any hope I had of sending it off well in advance of the deadline is now well and truly shattered. But as one of my crit partners wisely said, it's better to be at the back of a long queue with a better novel than rush a weaker novel to the front of the queue.

These last few weeks have been difficult for me on the personal front, but I am truly humbled by the realisation that when you make hard decisions and experience tough times, life hands out unexpected gifts to help you cope. In my case, the unexpected gifts were courtesy of Nina Harrington and Wild Rose Press.

Nina Harrington (http://ninaharrington.wordpress.com) is Harlequin Romance's debut author. I entered a launch contest on her blog and actually won something! The bonus is that I really enjoyed her novel. Her heroine is different from the norm, with a whole life lived before her story even starts. If you enjoy Harlequin Romance, check out Always the Bridesmaid.

A couple of blog posts back I mentioned that I sent off an historical short story to Vintage Rose. I hadn't received the expected automated response, so I emailed again last week to check if it had been received. Almost immediately, I received a lovely email requesting that I re-submit - and just one day after I resubmitted, I received a request for the full manuscript.

I'm floating on air - not just because they're interested in Let's Misbehave, but also because of the charm with which they replied to me. I'm really happy I chose this publisher, if they treat all queries with the same promptness and enthusiasm.

RNA Conference

With great reluctance I've finally decided that I won't be going to this year's RNA conference in Cumbria. I was really excited about going, especially as I'd planned to couple it with my sister-in-law's birthday party and a visit with my oldest and dearest friend.

But as much as I really want to go, even I have to admit it would be supremely selfish of me to leave my kids for yet another 10 days, having already been away from them twice this year for work.

I keep reminding myself that there will be another conference next year. And my dearest friend will be visiting South Africa in June for the Lions tour, so I won't be missing too much. I will just have to satisfy my curiosity by devouring every blog post I can find by anyone who attends this year's conference (hint, hint).