RWAus 11 - The Awesomeness of Saturday

Saturday began with an intro from our esteemed President - Alison Ahearn - and the first sale ribbons. I think the rumour has already got out that I almost FORGOT to go line up for my first sale ribbon. This moment I've been dreaming of for years and yes, I almost missed it. Luckily I wondered why the huge line of people were gathering at the front and quickly remembered. No thanks to my CP Becca J Heath who FORGOT to remind me as I asked her to do at about midnight the night before.

Thanks to the lovely Fiona Palmer (fellow WA author) who took this pic of me collecting this much-wanted ribbon from Alison.

Next on the busy schedule was the plenary speech from Susan Wiggs! I only recently fell in love with Susan Wiggs' books but I fell HARD (blog post coming soon about a book I just read by her) so I was eager to hear what she had to say.

In her inspirational speech she spoke about her journey to publication and her very first conference where she learnt a) not to bring your whole mss when you pitch to an editor and b) not to bring your hubby :) She showed her writing successes came through sheer determination and hard work. I'm sure I took notes (and I KNOW I tweeted) but I can't actually find them so I can't think of anymore specifics at this stage.

Next we had a panel with editors and agents from overseas and Australian publishers. There was much discussion on the distinction between romance and women's fiction and it was great to see Australian publishers more open to publishing romance. They admitted to be a little late to the party but eager to join in :)

Speaking of eds and agents, I pitched to an agent and an Australian publisher on Saturday. I pitched Jilted - otherwise known as The Book That Won't End - and got a great response. I was asked to send the book to both parties and so now the waiting begins.

The first workshop I went to was.... drumroll... Susan Wiggs - Plotting From The Inside Out. It was so interesting listening to her writing process. Some of the gold I took from Susan's workshop:

• Every story needs a shape (this is the plot)
  
• Last scene - key scene for making the reader satisfied and eager to read your next book. Put EVERYTHING into making this scene emotional and satisfying.
• She called one of her books the ''plotless wonder''. Love that term!
• Focus on an emotion for each book - a BIG, POWERFUL emotion that you are currently feeling and can therefore spill onto the pages. She discussed writing her book ''The Goodbye Quilt'' at a time when she was saying good bye to a daughter going off to college.
• You don't need a big elaborate plot if you have a BIG issue for you character.
• Once she has an emotion she combines it with an image which she then hangs the story on.
• Think like a filmmaker - what do you want the viewer
  to see about your story?
• Take your time to develop a story.
• Figure out your main point.
• And last but by no means least - ALWAYS LET YOURSELF BE SURPRISED!

And unfortunately Susan's was the only workshop I really went to on Saturday because I had pitches during the next one and the last one was cancelled, but that was okay because I went shopping for toys with my peeps.

Saturday (well the day part) finished with a panel of bestselling authors telling and showing (many dressed up) WHY they love writing romance. From wearing pajamas to work to being able to go on exotic holidays and claim it for tax to meeting the absolute best friends - there were so many reasons these fabulous ladies brought up! It made all of us in the room PROUD to be part of the romance writing community.

Then of course Saturday night was the AWESOME FEEL-GOOD awards night. I was stoked to sit at a table with my favourite romance people, to watch my friend Jacki

e Ashenden take out the High Five Award and to accept my second place in the Single Title and Loving It contest. I'll leave you with some photos from this wonderful night...

Me with the gorgeous Amanda Knight and Cathryn Hein!

Day Two - Bob Mayer and Cocktails!

After a late night chatting in my room to the gorgeous Becca J Heath, we still managed to wake up before my barking dog alarm!

Friday was Bob Mayer's Warrior Writer Workshop - he's actually changed the name, but I like Warrior Writer Workshop better anyway :)

FEAR - was talked about a lot in the first half of this workshop and this really resonated with me. He quoted Stephen King - ''Fear is the root of most bad writing.'' And spoke about ''you'' being the only person holding ''you'' back.

Some gold nuggets I got from Bob's workshop:

• Rejection is high - TRY anyway!
• Conquer your fear and change.
• Networking is critical.
• Titles - use words that don't belong together. Bad example but like ''Hot Snow''.
• Go from craftsman to artist.
• Be ruthless with yourself.
• Success is a struggle.
• Don't wait for the muse or you'll be unemployed!
• You need rules as a writer - for yourself on parts of writing, marketing, etc. Like how often you'll blog and how much time to spend on Twitter.
• Blog AT LEAST once a week but every three days is better.
• Set goals! If you don't, you won't achieve them.
• Write what you WANT TO KNOW!!!
• Please yourself first but be aware of the consumer.
• THREE is the magic number.
• Keep your goals positive.
• Reverse your thinking - think like a publisher.
• Write in the POV you like reading.
• Define yourself in ONE sentence.
• 99% of what we do each day is habit.
• Readers want to be entertained and informed.
• Sometimes you have to write about a character you don't like and make them do things you don't agree with.
• Emotion is more important than logic.
• Action is the truest indicator of character.
• If you really want to get to know a character, put them in crisis.
• Have a growth mindset not a set mindset.

I left Bob's workshop early to go brainstorm with the very talented Fiona Lowe (who incidentally found out her book Boomerang Bride got a Romantic Times Top Pick this weekend). We chatted about the conflicts in my new mss - now titled ''Hollywood Heartbreak.'' I finally think I'm making some progress with these two characters :)

The evening of course was the fabulous Harlequin party - always a dress up, this year the theme was Roaring Twenties to tie in with RWAus's twenty birthday. As always it was a crazy night of drinking and talking and not having nearly enough time to catch up with everyone I wanted too. My highlight was meeting Carina Press Executive Editor, Angela James. Photos below :)

Me with the gorgeous Becca J Heath!

Becca J Heath and Jackie Ashenden at the bar! Aren't they stunning?

• 
Cathryn Brunet/Hein (amazing writer), Angela James (editor extraordinaire) and me :)

• 
This is me taking a photo of myself - as you do :) And the one above is the beautiful Leah Ashton and Joanne Dannon with moi on the right!

Romance Writers of Australia Day One!

I got up at the crack of dawn last Thursday, excited and bouncing to get into the taxi and on my way to the airport to catch a flight to ''From Here To Eternity'' the 2011 conference for Romance Writers of Australia. I had the most gorgeous (yes, inside and out taxi driver) but unfortunately forgot to take a photo of him.

On the plane I read my gorgeous CP Jackie Ashenden's book and looked forward to seeing my other gorgeous CP Becca J Heath at the airport. My plane was a little late but Becca waited patiently (actually, she happily escaped into the land of a book) and once we met up, we were on our way!

The first person we saw was ANOTHER gorgeous CP of mine Cathryn Hein - yeah, I'm amazingly blessed in the CP department. All my CPs are talented writers and gorgeous people, making them fabulous friends. My favourite part about the romance writing conf is meeting up with my friends, whom I talk to LOADS online but only see once a year if I'm lucky!

The afternoon was spent chilling with roomie Becca J Heath in our hotel room and then in the evening I attended my first ever Harlequin Author dinner. HUGE thanks to the gorgeous team at Harlequin Australia for inviting me along - I had a blast! See below for some photos from the night.

Debut Special Edition author - the divine Helen Lacey with her NEWBIE AUTHOR chick, given to all new Harlequin, Mills & Boon or Carina authors by the established Aussie authors.

Me, with the gorgeous and supremely talented Nikki Logan and Leah Ashton. All of us hail from WA and these two ladies are very special to me :)

More conference posts tomorrow....

Countdown to Conference!

SQUEE!!! This time next week, I'll be getting all dolled up for the Harlequin ''Roaring Twenties'' cocktail party at the Romance Writers of Australia 20th Conference.

To say I cannot wait is a MASSIVE understatement.

Going to RW Oz, is one of the most inspiring things on my annual calendar. Not only do I KNOW I'm going to be blown away by fabulous speakers and have light bulb moment after moment at the workshops, but I get to catch up with people who have become some of my closest friends.

This year specifically, I'm looking forward to:

• Getting my first sale ribbon thanks to the fabulous Carina Press who bought my book One Perfect Night, which will be a December release.
• Meeting Angela James - also of Carina Press.
• Going to the Harlequin Author Dinner on Thursday (because Carina Press authors are Harlequin authors).
• Networking with other writers, editors and agents.
• Listening to Susan Wiggs - who I've recently started to read and of whom I'm now a HUGE fan.
• Going to Fiona Lowe's workshop - having been to a few of hers before now, I KNOW we'll be in for a huge treat!

So what about you? Will I see you at RWAus11? What's your favourite thing about going to conference?

Nuggets of Gold from RWA Oz!

Debra Dixon's GMC Workshop

• Characters who want something they don't have = BETTER.
• Goal - important enough for character to act against their own best interest; needs a sense of urgency.
• Make sure short term goal outweighs long term goal but will affect long term goal.
• Make the goal specific - something that is ACTIONABLE.
• Starter goal - gets book going but is not necessarily what the book is about.
• One goal should lead to the next - and keep raising the stakes!
• You have to support the BIG GOAL with SMALLER GOALS.
• External Goal - go something/do something - created FOR THE STORY.
• Internal Goal - what character brings into the story - their baggage/damage that character has to deal with by the end of the book.
• EVERY character should have goals/have an agenda.
• Goals are NOT ALWAYS achieved.
• If character doesn't read the goal, we need to know WHY.
• If character is NOT going to achieve a goal - make the reader satisfied by showing it was the WRONG goal.
• If you don't show character growth - YOU FAILED.
• There are two choices for any character: 1) Sucky 2) Suckier.
• Give characters grey areas - not necessarily noble choices/actions. eg) Give them decisions to make that are HARD - to adopt out a baby or to abort it.
• Think about what a character will sacrifice and what they will not, then bring them face to face with these things/those choices.
• Give your characters what they say they want and take away what they say they don't want - because its one thing to say things and another to actually do them.
• Motivation - can be multi-layered/have more than one.
• Characters can lie to themselves and they can take action on lies they've been told.
• Minor goals need motivation too.
• Any time the goal changes, check the motivation.
• Conflict - bad things happening to good people or Two Dogs + One Bone.
• The characters GMCs should COLLIDE.
• Love is often a conflict - eg) wrong guy, wrong time.
• Good conflict doesn't have an obvious conclusion.
• You don't have to get BOTH the external and the internal conflict on page one.
• You have to break your h&H to make them WHOLE AGAIN.
• You need to be able to sum up each character's GMC in 25 words.
• Each book has a life lesson and its often good when the character vocalises the life lesson.
• Each scene in a book needs THREE reasons to be there - at least one reason needs to be G or M or C!!!

Debra Dixon's Hero's Journey Workshop

• There needs to be a physical outward journey AND emotional inward journey.
• Mass Market Fiction deals with BIG LIFE ISSUES and shows that change is possible, offers hope.
• Journey teaches hero how to change.
• Ordinary World - gives context for story; establish as quickly as possible but take as long as you want - LOL.
• Call to Adventure - make clear the goal and what's at stake; big or small.
• Reluctance/Refusal to the call - shows character is not stupid.
• Mentor - helps prepare hero for journey.
• Cross The First Threshold - point of no return.
• Tests, Allies and Enemies - has to face things and take action, helps readers understand the conflict, develops character and plot development, tests character's motivations.
• Approach The Inmost Cave - character faces danger, there's often a love scene.
• The Ordeal - grey moment, on the brink of greatest fear, secrets about to come out, goals in jeopardy, characters lose ability to lie to them-self.
• Reward - small victory.
• Roadback - hero's decision to get out; recognises that we haven't won the war yet.
• Resurrection - old self becomes new, central problem comes back, last gasp of evil forces, characters make decisions that they wouldn't have made at the beginning.
• Return with the Elixer - back in their ordinary world, helps readers leave the character/s in a better place.

Melanie Milburne's Bin To Bestseller workshop

• Each story needs a controlling idea - controlling idea is NOT the same as premise. (eg. Think I worked out the controlling idea in my current wip is "Hero throws himself into relationships because he doesn't feel worthy and heroine avoids relationships because she doesn't feel worthy." They both need to learn that they ARE worthy.
• Characters are only revealed in their true essence when under pressure - when they have to make hard choices.

Jessica Hart's A to Z of Writing Life

• Understand your writing process and accept it - however wacky and different from your friends, CPs and famous writers.
• h&H's have to recognise the truth about each other and falling in love makes them realise the truth about themselves.
• Reader has to understand why the characters think the romance can't work out.
• Her take on Presents vs Romance: Presents = unresolved sexual tension; Romance = unresolved emotional tension.

The Girl Who Spread The Lurgy...

Otherwise known as The Conference Delegate Who Kept Kleenex In Business.

That's right... I hit RWA Oz on Thursday laden with the most shocking cold I'd had in a long time, so I want to take this opportunity to apologise to anyone I passed on the shocking cold to. Send me your snail mail addie and I

'll post you a box of tissues :)

Did I let the Cold From Hell ruin my weekend? No siree!

The conf was as fabulous as it always is, but this time it was even sweeter cos I had so many good writing friends I got to catch up with. Always awesome catching up in person with the delightful bloggers Becca J Heath, Leah Ashton and Janette Radevski,

my other CPs Melissa Smith and Joanne Dannon, my lovely email buddy and now rooomie Cathryn Brunet and of course finally meeting the gorgeous Jackie Ashenden (who I felt like I'd known for a lifetime). Was also fabulous and awesome to share one night with my good friend Fiona Lowe and to meet people I'd met online via the loop or email but hadn't met

in person until the conf. Too many to mention, so I'm not even gonna try.

Enough with the name dropping, hey?

The whole weekend was fabulous - being in the company of other writers

is always inspiring but my favourite session would have to be The A to Z of Writing Life by Jessica Hart. She is one very funny and down-to-earth lady and I reckon her local pub will be famous after her talk. If only I could remember its name.

I hope to write more about what I

heard/learnt at the conference when I'm feeling a little better but I'll leave you with some pics from the Fancy Dress party on Friday night. Apologies in advance if Blogger won't let me position them properly!

The top pic is of Jackie, Janette and me.

The middle pic is my lovely CP Melissa Smith and moi!

The bottom pic is me with three of my fave writing people - Becca, Jackie and Janette before the conf... pic was taken by the gorgeous Cathryn!

Absolutely completely only two sleeps to go!

Two sleeps until all the fun of the RWA Oz conf begins. I arrive in Sydney on Thursday and its pretty much straight to the e-list dinner. From there there's dinners, drinks, workshops, brekkies, parties, more workshops, more dinners and I just can't wait.

Cannot wait to get up and cheer on my fabulous friends Becca J Heath, Leah Ashton and Melissa Smith (aren't my buddies talented?) who are up for awards. It's the first year I'm not up for an award, which is a bit depressing, but oh well... hopefully it's the lull before The Call! LOL

So, I'll be quiet online until mid next week when I've settled back in home, spent time with my men after the weekend drought and caught up on the mammoth pile of washing that will no doubt await me. But hopefully I'll be back with lots of pics (please send me remember-to-take-photo vibes, cos my track record isn't fabulous) and lots of inspiration to get writing again!

Until then... HAPPY WRITING!

Another course!

Last day of July and I must say I'm glad to see the back of it, cos August is RWA Oz Conference and I absoluely completely CANNOT wait. Catching up with good writing buddies, talking writing ALL weekend, learning heaps, hanging out in a swish hotel, having the odd wine... can't think of much better! Hopefully I'll remember to actually USE my camera this year and take lots of pics.

August is also a course month for me. Yep, I've enrolled in yet another online course. This one is with the fabulous Shirley Jump and its entitled ''Take Your Book From Good To Sold.'' I thought that as I seem to have relative success with M&B eds, I needed something to take me over the line. Hopefully Shirley's course will be another step in the right direction. And I'm doing it with my good writing friend Becca J Heath, so at least I'll be in good company!

Anyone else coming to Oz or taken any good courses lately?