Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

by Danielle Jackson Well, is there anything more to say about RWA ? I know the blog has been quiet the past week or so, and now it seems most posts are about the national conference (but thank you to everyone who blogged while we were gone, and to those that blogged from the conference itself!). But I think we are all so excited to share the fun we had! It being my first conference, I was nervous and excited at the same time. I had no idea how NICE everyone would be--you'd think at a place where not only a bunch of women were hanging out together, but women who technically are in competition with one another, it would be an estrogen overload and complete mayhem! But I was pleasantly surprised--it was a support group for romance writers! A place where information, advice and stories were shared willingly and abundantly. What a great organization full of people who all know what the other is going through. I met so many amazing women--especially the Casablanca Authors that were able...

This year at the Romance Writers of America conference, I really had no idea what to expect except terror. I was presenting the Golden Heart to the next Single Title winner and I knew I’d either stutter, mess up her name, fall, or do something equally embarrassing. Reading aloud terrifies me. I think it’s a dyslexic thing. I have no problem reading silently, but reading out loud is the stuff nightmares are made of. I flew into San Francisco a couple of days before the RWA conference and began trying to acclimate to the time zone. The day or two before RWA has become a bit of a mental vacation for me. It’s a time I can be by myself, have my own bathroom, and not be responsible for a blessed thing except my writing and me. This year, I was at the tail end of my deadline and was at the point where everything in the story converged. The characters, the subplots, and the tension drew together and the manuscript seemed to write itself. The first few days of jetlag were great. I awoke at an i...

Posted by Christina Harlin Wow! You can almost hear the crickets chirping lately here at the Casablanca blog, and that’s because so many of our talented writers are at the RWA convention. Personally I’m so much happier here baking in the Midwest and going to work every day . . . wait a minute, no I’m not! Nine-to-five work is tough! My fantasy of being a full-time writer hasn’t yet come true, and so I’m still out there earning a paycheck. Segue. Speaking of earning a paycheck, I spent a some time recently contemplating the jobs available to the modern romantic hero. We readers want our hero to have a job that oozes masculinity and hopefully lots of money (though this is no longer a must), that involves his brains, brawn, bravery (hopefully a combination of all three), and that holds a sexy bit of risk. This puzzle gets more complex if your romantic hero is a vampire, because the job market for the undead is really glutted right now and prejudice is rampant. But for the most part, emplo...

posted by Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy No, I am not having a psychotic episode... Am I??? All kidding aside, the break from reality I mean is the one that I just had with about 1,999 other romance writers. Of course I'm talking about the annual RWA National Conference. I just returned home from this year's conference and my head is still spinning from "conference overload." You know that feeling... too little sleep, too much great writing/publishing information, too many great people and networking opportunities. For three or four days every year, we lucky RWA members have a chance to leave behind our regular routine. No family obligations, no fighting to squeeze in writing time around other responsibilities, NO REAL LIFE! Instead, we get to eat, sleep and breathe writing! We get to rub elbows with our favorite published authors. We get to talk to editors and agents. We get to attend workshops, talk to other writers who "get it." Best of all, we get FREE...

By: Marie Force I've just come from the RITA and GH Awards ceremony that capped off RWA's 28th Annual Conference in San Francisco. It's been an amazing few days during which I finally met our lovely editor Deb Werksman, along with our dynamic publisher Dominique Raccah and publicist/blog mate Danielle Jackson. Last night, Dominique took us all to dinner. I ended up in a limo with Casa blog mate and buddy Loucinda McGary (aka Aunty Cindy who took me and some of my New England Chapter friends to a fabulous hole in the wall in Chinatown on Thursday night) and new Sourcebooks author Judi Fennell. As we were coasting up and down the huge hills of San Francisco, we were talking about our kids and our dogs when all of a sudden it dawned on me that we were in a LIMO that our PUBLISHER had provided. I urged Cindy and Judi to join me in a "moment" to celebrate this significant occasion in our writing journey. So next year, when we're all together in Washington, D.C., if...

A friend came over the other day. I'm going to call him Jason because that is not his name. We sat at my tiny new table in my tiny new dining area of my new place. "Mary Margret," he asked, "how much do you know about SEALs?" A general answer ( i.e. a lot, not much) wasn’t going to satisfy him. He wanted to know a specific estimate of my knowledge. At fifty percent, seventy percent, ninety? After I recovered from my hysterical laughing fit, I said, "If you want to know how much I know about SEALS I’ll tell you: Next to nothing! Everything SEALs do, if they haven’t been doing for the last fifty years, is classified. Everything." Which is amusing in itself because one of my favorite neuroses with which I torture myself is that I don’t know enough. So what do I do? I pick an archetype about which it’s impossible to find one iota of concrete, current information. One single bit of supporting detail. Here's an example. My hero for the book that’s comin...

By Michele Ann Young Well here I am, in foggy San Fransisco. Not that I have seen much of the outdoors, there is so much to do. A writers paradise, you might say with workshops other writers and industry professionals. It is great to see old friends and meet new ones or meet those we have met on line, but I must say we did spend Tuesday in Napa Valley tasting some wonderful California wines. My first event was the Beaumonde/Hearts Through History workshops which took place all day yesterday. A plethora of information from ancient weapons to side saddles and surgery through the ages. Then of course the literacy signing, where editor Deb Werksman dropped by to say hello. And yes, that is me up there at the signing in my home made regency gown, all ready for the Beaumonde soiree where I danced Regency dances all night. Lots of people dropped by to tell me that they loved my book and had it at home, which gave me a real thrill. Others came to buy them, and to admire my cover for The La...

Since so many are goofing off at RWA...fun!!! And I'm not...lol, I thought I'd post something not writing related. Besides writing, what kind of hobbies do we have? For me, I make award-winning teddy bears that have been featured in magazines including Texas Monthly, Texas Co-Op Monthly, The MacNeill Galley, Teddy Bear & Friends, Teddy Bear Review and numerous newspapers. The bears have sold all across the states, Canada, Russia, China, Switzerland, and as far away as Australia! http://terryspear.tripod.com/celticbears/ 1950's Poodle Skirt Bear with pink sweater and felt skirt. Like creating stories, each bear is unique, having its own personality. And when someone buys it, it's the bear's face that draws them in. :) these were 16th Century German dressed bears created for an author's new book release. I make everything from Celtic Clan Bears, vampire bears and wizards to birth bears with names and birth dates embroidered on the paws. But one bear I've...

Like bees to honey, RWA members (Romance Writers of America) travel to the hive each summer. This year the hive is San Francisco, and for me, the national conference feels like coming home - wherever home happens to be that summer. I, along with all the other writer bees, arrive for the big festivities beginning Wednesday. This is my fourth conference - I missed one so as not to leave my newborn. Otherwise, it's a Must Attend event. Now my only new babies are books. My first conference was in 2004. For new-bees, the conference experience is quite different than for pub-bees. I recall running into an Oklahoma author at the time who was a long-time pub-bee, and I asked her what workshops she was attending. She laughed and said, "Oh, I don't come for the workshops. It's a huge networking conference for me." I smiled, my huge highlighted workshop schedule in my bag, thinking, "when will it become a big networking event for me?" At the time, I had so much to...