Tag Archives: Nora Roberts Foundation

July 12, 2016 · 12:05 pm

Leaving’ on a jet plane…..

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Coming to you LIVE LIVE LIVE from Bradley airport in Connecticut, anxiously awaiting my first plane departure of the day. Of course, there’s no such thing as  one-stop flying anymore, so I’ll be making one stop-over and then be on my way again until I hit sunny, fun-filled San Diego! I have been so looking forward to  this trip for months!! I have so much on the agenda this year that I’m fairly bursting  with glee.

After checking in, I think I’ll go explore the marina and the surrounding area a little. Jet lag will most likely hit pretty soon after that, so bed and beauty sleep.

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to help work at the Librarians luncheon and then my very first Nora Roberts Literacy book signing as a published author. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the excitement without coming unglued!

Thursday means workshops, plus I’m moderating a class ( another on Friday.) Then the Kensington Cocktail party in the evening.

I’ll be live blogging and filling you in on all the fabulous authors I see- and hopefully get a few words and pictures with.

This is my first time in San Diego since the Columbine tragedy in 1999 where I watched the horrible events unfold on my hotel television. It is such a beautiful city, I’m really going to make it a point to get out daily and explore, takes some photos and make some new friends.

People watching at my gate right now- trying to find any other romance writing looking peeps!

Check back daily for blog updates. Be well….

 

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Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, love, NHRWA, Romance, Romance Books, RWA, The Wild Rose Press, WIld Rose Press AUthor

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July 9, 2016 · 6:06 pm

Off to my version of the Wonderful World of Oz…RWA2016!

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In just a few days, I leave for San Diego for the 2016 RWA annual conference. Can I tell you just how excited I am?! I’m like a kid waiting anxiously for Christmas morning. I’m like that 18-year-old waiting for the college acceptance letter to come via snail mail. I’m like that bride-to-be the night before her big day. I’m like….okay, you get it!

This will be my third RWA conference. The first one I ever attended was in 2014 and that conference shaped my life to come. Dramatic much, you ask? No, not really. I’ll tell you why.

At the RWA14 conference held in San Antonio 2 amazing things happened that turned my life as I knew it then, completely around. First, I met the person who would become my first editor at The Wild Rose Press. I had submitted my manuscript Skater’s Waltz to WRP after winning a contest. Rhonda Penders was the judge and she asked me to submit. I had been exchanging emails with this editor for the champagne line for a few weeks, and she told me she would be at the conference and would like to meet up, so we arranged a time to do so. When we met she told me that  by the time I got home from the conference there would be an acceptance letter in the mail from WRP for my book, along with a contract. I was so stunned I couldn’t put a coherent sentence together. A legitimate publisher was going to put my book into print! Momentous event number 1.

Life changing event number 2 was when I met, talked with, and cried to Nora Roberts. Oh, and got a picture with her, which currently sits on my writing desk. Why did I cry, you ask? It was NORA ROBERTS!!!! And she was so damn normal and nice. We spoke for a few minutes ( well, I babbled between sob sniffs!) and she encouraged me wholeheartedly to go all balls out for my dream of writing and publishing romantic fiction.  She said no one could write the romance story I wanted to tell but me. Me! Holy Macaroni!

Holy Macaroni!

She said she knew she’d be seeing my at the Literacy Book signing someday, at my own table.

I left that conference with enough enthusiasm and good will to last until the RWA15 conference. At that one, I volunteered to work at the Literacy Book-Signing and was assigned to Jayne Ann Krentz! No crying this  time, but she was amazing. I learned an awful lot about being a gracious and  receptive author from her.

This year, RWA16, I’m volunteering at the Librarian’s luncheon and moderating 2 courses with some of my fav authors. Oh, and I’m doing the Literacy Book signing this year as …drumroll…. a SIGNING AUTHOR. God bless Nora Roberts’ prediction.

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So, if you’re in San Diego this year, join us for the Book signing. If you’re a first time RWA conference attendee, whether you’re an author or a reader, be sure to look for me around the Marriot and in classes and stop and say Hi!

And remember: dreams come true every day, in every way. You just need to dream them.

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Filed under Author, community advocacy, Contemporary Romance, Life challenges, Literary characters, love, NHRWA, Romance, Romance Books, RWA, The Wild Rose Press, WIld Rose Press AUthor

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July 11, 2015 · 10:00 am

Conference time again…

In less than 2 weeks I will be going to the National Romance Writers of America 2015 conference. For those of you who were here with me in the blogosphere last year, it was my very first time attending Nationals and I blogged about the experience while I was in San Antonio. This year it’s in NYC – my hometown – and I go a very different person and writer than I was in 2014.

Some of you may recall that at last year’s conference I found out from the person who would soon be my editor, my first book SKATER’S WALTZ was going to be published by the Wild Rose Press. I was speechless, terrified and excited all at the same time. I couldn’t tell anyone I knew at the conference because I hadn’t signed the contract yet and I didn’t want to jinx myself. Let’s face it, try as I might I can’t get away from my Irish Catholic mysticism thoughts. I had to hold that enormous news inside me until the contract was signed, sealed and delivered and it was a legally done deal. Then and only then did I let my crazed exuberance free!

This year, when I attend, I am no longer an RWA conference virgin, nor am I another unpublished author dying to network and get someone to read my work. I go this year as a published author with two books currently in release (Skater’s Waltz and There’s No Place Like Home ) with a third (First Impressions) coming out this Fall.  I’ve also contracted for a Valentine’s Day novella  3 Wishes releasing early in 2016. I know vastly more than I did last year about the process and business of writing, publishing, and marketing. Plus, I’ve now got street cred because I’ve walked the walk of the published romance writer.

Having said that, I still have oodles left to learn, which is why this conference is so wonderful for any romance writer to attend. There are dozens upon dozens of workshops with topics that cover the craft of romance writing, to marketing, to independent publishing, and even how to write great sex scenes ( a personal fav of mine.)

In addition, RWA hosts the Readers for Life Literacy Autographing session where over 400 romance authors are available for a meet and greet and book signing. This year, I am a volunteer at this event and I can’t wait to meet all my fav authors and snap a couple of selfies with them.

The week culminates in the Rita and Golden Hearts awards ceremony on Saturday night and this year is extra special for me because one of my NHRWA chapter sistahs is up for a Golden Heart award. I’m so happy I’ll be there when she wins – nothing like a little cocky self assurance, eh?! LOL

So stay tuned and I’ll be blogging from NYC come July 21. And if you’re in NYC on July 22, drop on down to the Marriott Marquis from 5:30 until 7:30 for the author signing.

If you see me, give me a shout out!

 

 

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Filed under 3 Wishes, Author, Contemporary Romance, NHRWA, Romance, RWA, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

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