Plenary Session: And they lived happily ever after

Next was actually the Panel session: the Next 20 Years, which I posted at the time. And finally there was the last Plenary by Jane Porter. This was fun, and at times quite moving.  Jane read excerpts of the rejection letters she got for 14 books over a 17 year period.  During this time there […]

Plenary session: My Staffroom with Steamy Bits

Marion Lennox, a former university academic, and writer of more than 90 published romances, gave a very entertaining talk on what she has learned as a writer. – sex is fun – snakes don’t necessarily replace underpants (that was an editor’s suggestion in one of her early novels!) – your editor is not your friend […]

Breakout session: The Publishing Business for the Bewildered Writer

I did switch to this session by Bob Mayer after all, and I’m glad I did as it was very informative, even if I don’t have anything ready to publish right now.  At least it has made me more aware of what options are available.  There is a lot of information here under the cut, […]

Break out session: Living with the first draft

A good crafting session presented by Lisa Heidke. Motivation: If you don’t have any words coming, then research / work on setting. At least that is progressing the story. You might come up with inspiration which helps you to get writing again. Sometimes you might just need to step away from the digital world – […]

Plenary session: Publishers and Editors round table

What publishers are looking for. This is where all the ‘literary’ publishers had to admit they are chasing after the Romance dollars.  Except they didn’t really want to admit they were after anything so unliterary as money, and most could still barely bring themselves to use the word ‘romance’ even on the final day of […]

Plenary session: the Unpredicatable route to Happy Ever After

Presented by Lucy Gilmour, Editor at Mills and Boon UK. This was part of the Sunday plenary session, following on from the Susan Wiggs session.  I had intended to post it earlier but due to computer issues and also putting my notes in a ‘safe’ place, I am only just getting around to it Lucy […]

Plenary Session: Susan Wiggs and the Writer’s Journey

Presented by Susan Wiggs. Here are the 12 steps to being a writer, presented as a form of the Hero’s Journey.  I mentioned it in an earlier post, and have had a chance to write it up now. She also made the point that while it is nice to have a career as a writer […]

Breakout session: Writing the Emotional Rollercoaster

Presented by Joan Kilby, a contemporary romance writer.  She is from Canada but lives in Melbourne, and many of her stories are either set in Australia or have Australian characters. This was a good, practical crafting session.  Some of it covered ground that was similar to Valerie Parv’s session yesterday, but it was still good […]

Plenary session: The Next 20 Years

Panel discussion with authors Kelley Armstrong, Stephanie Laurens, and Bob Mayer, and also Angela James (Executive editor, Carina Press) and Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary Agency). This was really interesting, particularly in terms of where ebooks are going.  The consensus seemed to be that more and more technology would come into the publishing process, and as […]

Writers’ Conference – Day 3

These are my sessions for today:  8.30am – 10.15am – Plenary session, Keynote address by Marion Lennox.  Panel session ‘The Next 20 Years’ 10.45am – 12.15pm – Breakout session 4 ‘Writing the Emotional Rollercoaster’ 1.15pm – 2.15pm – Breakout session 5 ‘Sense and Sanity – Living with the First Draft’ 2.25pm – 3.25pm – Breakout […]