It started with a great workshop on writing Romantic Comedy – which is near and dear to me, as you all know, and how much we can learn about writing it from watching classic RomCom movies. Excellent stuff, peeps.
The worker elves at Kensington made these gorgeous frames for us to display
and you can see where I placed mine in the picture above of the table. The room, let me tell you, was jampacked with readers when the doors opened at 11. I had to turn my hearing aid DOWN because the level of excitement was shooting through me at warp speed! I gave away all my books – signed! Such a great turnout. And it was nice to connect with fellow Lyrical writers Susan Mann , Kate Pearce, and Mary Ann Marlowe.
The rest of the day was spent at workshops, including a fabulous marketing class taught by the wonderful and uber smart and talented, Kilby Blades.
The evening ending with annual RITA AWARDS where romance authors are recognized for their writing. This night, history was made as the first and second black women EVER were awarded Ritas. It was a long time coming and these uber talented women richly deserved the honors.
I’m going to do one last post tomorrow, a wrap-up of sorts, of this year’s RWA experience for me, so you won’t want to miss that.
Today was the official first day of the conference, but nothing started until 2 pm, so i took advantage of the beautiful day and toured around the city a bit.
Visited the place where I spent many a happy day as a NYC college student, The New York Public Library on 42nd street and Bryant Park
Okay, go ahead and laugh, because my eyes really do look crooked int this photo!
I passed by my favorite street address in all the world
and two buildings I’ve visited more times in my life than I remember.
SO when the festivities began at 2, I spent the rest of the day learning, networking, eating, and visiting with the best people in the world: My romance sistahs from from and near!
Today is the INDIE BOOK signing, so if you’re attending, look for me! I’ve got free books!
This is one of my favorite topics so far from the L&SR Weekly blogging challenge: My favorite quotes from books.
In no particular order:
1. BOOK: New York to Dallas, JD Robb, 2011
In a scene close to the last page of the book, Lt. Eve Dallas is being treated for multiple wounds she received from a serial killer. She is high on the pain killers and speaking to the doctor attending her. (Roarke is her husband).
Eve: “Is my faced messed up? I hate when that happens. Not like I’m pretty or anything, but–”
“You’re the most beautiful woman ever born,” Roarke said from the doorway, and Eve sent him a woozy, drugged smile.
2. BOOK: Peter Pan, JM Barre “For to have faith is to have wings.”
3. BOOK: LITTLE WOMEN, Louisa May Alcott “I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my own ship.”
4. BOOK: TWILIGHT, Stephanie Meyer Edward tells Bella: “You are my life now.”
5. THE GODFATHER, Mario Puzo. “Leave the gun. Take the cannolis.”
6. THE GODFATHER, Mario Puzo “A fish rots from the head down.”
Let’s see what some of the other authors in this challenge have to say; L&SR
And don’t forget: DIRTY DAMSELS is available now on KU and here:
Even though RWA doesn’t “Officially” begin until tomorrow, Wednesday, I still had a fairly busy Tuesday here in the big apple.
I started my day attending the Contemporary Romance writers of America workshop.
Forensic specialist Geoff Symons was the morning’s speaker and boy was he amazeballs! I think I could listen to him for days speak about all things law enforcement and evidence related.
Oh, I received this little thing while I was in class:
Made my day, I tell ya!
Then on to lunch at one of my favorite places,
Best chicken sandwiches on earth! Truly.
And finally, the doors opened to officially register for the weeks event:
My name tag hangs down to my knees, but so what. Just sayin’
In the evening the CRWA Stiletto awards dinner rolled around. We had a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel
and since the awards are called the Stiletto awards, I had to wear a pair of…well, stilettos
Alas, I did not win, but I had a great time and met some new amazeballs RWA members. It was a fun, FILLING, night. Hee hee
After that, I met up with some fabulous writer friends and didn’t go bed until waaaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime.
More fun today as RWA officially begins.
Until next time, from a very tired little romance writer ~ Peg
Remember that tootsie pop commercial “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Toostie pop?” If you’re over 40 you do.
I’m waaaaaay over 40.
But I digress.
I’ve been TRADITIONALLY published for 4 years now. My first book hit the shelves from The Wild Rose press in 2015. Since then I’ve had 3 books published with Kensington/Lyrical, 9 more published with WRP and 3 more contracted, one ( so far) published with Limitless and 3 more planned for that series. I’ve won over 20 industry writing awards for my books, the most recent, the 2018 OKRWA International Digital Award and the 2019 Golden Quill Award. I’ve done speaking engagements on romance topics, I have a fierce social media presence and a good following of readers and bloggers and I’m an active member of my local RWA chapter.
I’ve done all the work to get those books contracts, too. On my own. No Literary Agent. And let me repeat – these are traditionally published, not self-pubbed books.
So, why am I still trying to land a Literary Agent when I’ve had such success on my own getting book contracts?
A good question and one I’ve had a lot of people ask me.
I see having a Literary Agent has having someone who is always guarding my six ( or, at my back for those of you who don’t watch NCIS). Someone who will do their best to try to find the publishing contracts for me, instead of me having to invest so much time and energy in doing so when I could be writing. A literary agent knows the ins and outs of the publishing community, what’s new, what’s going out of style. They’ll be able to garner you international rights so your books get to other readers in other countries; they know what conferences to attend, what CONS to do books signings at to increase your exposure and get you more sales. They are your first professional reader and editor, able to tell you where you need to make changes to your manuscript to get it “publishing ready.”
Having a Literary Agent may seem old fashioned to some of the new wave of Indie writers, but I still see having one as an entree to places in publishing I could never go to or get into without one. Literary Agents have relationships with publishing houses that I never will – or can. Editors for those houses trust their judgement. If they talk up an author and her work, those editors will listen instead of unknown me writing a query letter that will probably go into a spam file.
I respect Literary Agents and think they are so worth having. You have a doctor to protect your health; a dentist to protect your teeth. A literary agent protects you and your work. Makes sense, no?
And yet, I still haven’t been able to get any LA’s interested in representing me, so I ask again, how many published books – traditionally published books – does it take before someone will be interested in representing me?
The answer to the tootsie pop question was 3. It takes 3 licks to get to center of a tootsie pop.
I’ve queried upward of 25-30 Literary Agents the past few years. And I’m still not …at the center of the tootsie pop.
Le sigh. Maybe this year at #RWA2019 I’ll finally meet the Agent of my dreams. I can always hope and dream……
Hey, did you know my current book is currently on sale exclusively at AMAZON and KU?
Here are the links:
My very first RWA conference was in San Antonio in 2015. First timers are given an actual stick-on to place on their name badges stating they are first timer conference attendees. Like everyone else, I attached my badge banner after registration. I was standing by an escalator nervously trying not to look conspicuous and awkward in my solitariness, when ubertalented multipublished author Shirley Jump approached me and introduced herself. She stated she was an RWA Board Member and asked how I was liking my first conference. She asked what I wrote, was I published, what chapter did I belong to, all questions that engaged me in conversation and put me at ease. She was absolutely charming, lovely, and (if you’ve never seen her) gorgeous. She made me feel so special, I went about the rest of the day feeling less like a fish out of water.
Knowing that she took the time to reach out to me, a total stranger, to welcome me to RWA and to encourage me to take advantage of the parties, courses and workshops, gave me such a feeling of acceptance and belonging.
The next year, as a seasoned conference attendee now (LOL) I remembered that encounter and did the same thing Shirley did: I reached out to several people who had first timer banners on their badges. I introduced myself and then engaged them in conversation about their experience the same way Shirley had.
It felt marvelous to reach out that way. I met three women who were much the same age as me, who were at that point in their lives where they wanted to devote themselves to their writing more and were attending the conference to network, see what was happening in the industry, and take advantage of some of the fabulous workshops and courses. They even asked me advice on publishing. Imagine. Me!
Ego-boosting stuff to be sure.
Every year since then I’ve made it my business to connect like that with first timers. And every year I’ve made more writing friends because of it.
Every one of us who write has at one time or another felt that solitary, awkward, what-am-I-doing-here feeling. RWA is a supportive community of writers in all phases of their publishing careers and we should embrace one another on all those levels. A smile and a word of encouragement go a long way when someone is feeling out of place or overwhelmed. So, I’m challenging all of us RWA seasoned members to reach out this year to a first-time conference attendee and welcome them into the community we all love so much. You just may make a novice writer’s day. And conference.
Until next time ~ Peg
And don’t forget – DIRTY DAMSELS is available now here:Amazon KU +
This isn’t your childhood version of Cinderella, folks, but a 2019 retelling of the fairy tale with a few modern twists.
What happens when a modern day Cinderella has a one night stand with a man named Prince?
Cynderella Jones, Ella to her friends and family, owns a thriving and successful cleaning service called Dirty Damsels.30, single and a self imposed recycled-virgin, Ella is looking to keep her company private. But when her business manager tells her he’s heard scuttlebutt about a takeover, she realizes she needs a plan to protect her business. Before she can, she has to navigate through a week where sick calls and marriages lighten her work force. When she goes out on a cleaning call for a very influential client, she meets a man so hot, so exciting, she literally comes out of her exiled celibate-state and has a one-night fling with him. But when Cynderella discovers he’s the front man for the supposed takeover, she scrambles to protect her her company…and her heart.
All is fair is business….and love.
Blurb:
When I first saw Cynderella all covered in soot in that sexy maid uniform, I knew I wanted to be her Prince.
She’s a small and savvy businesswoman who’s built her cleaning company from the ground up. But now that Dirty Damsels is booming, I’ve been hired to arrange a hostile takeover.
But the temptation of having her was too much to ignore… We ended up spending one night together—a night neither of will forget. Now, I want more. I need more. I want to spend every night, skin-on-skin, with my beautiful Ella.
Problem is, when she finds out who I really am, she’ll never forgive me. ~ Duncan Prince, Wall Street Wunderkind
My hero is a Prince – not a royal one – but his name is Prince. The original tagline for the book was What if Cynderella had a one-night stand with a man named Prince? Get it?? hee hee
Anyway, I love my hero. He’s wicked smart ( Ph,D from the London School of Economics), sexy as all hell and uber kind!
Remember: Preorder is best, because you get the book delivered to you on release day!
Peggy Jaeger, Author 