The workshops were great, and though I was on the committee that put the conference together (I was the registrar), even if I do say so myself, the event was really well organized (kudos to the other committee members!).

Juliet Marillier was one of the speakers, and it was a pleasure and a treat to meet her, attend her two sessions and have a great talk with her afterwards. Fiona Lowe was equally wonderful, and extremely generous in inviting Juliet and myself to her room after the conference was over for a cup of tea and some fantastic conversation until dinner. There was so much choice, I was sorry I couldn’t also attend Nikki Logan and Fiona Palmer’s workshops, too.

Juliet has blogged about the conference as well, over at Writer Unboxed, where she is a monthly contributor.

Such a good time was had by all, and we all left with a heap of great prizes and gifts. As they say in this neck of the woods – Beautiful!

2010 Romancing The West Conference

Programme

Registration: 8:30am– 9:00am
Welcome 9:00am – 9:30am
1st session 9:30am – 11:00am

Choice of:

Room 1 Conflict & Finding the Zen of your Backstory – Fiona Lowe

Room 2 Fabulous First Chapter & Paragraph – Fiona Palmer

Morning tea 11:00am – 11:30am
2nd session 11:30am – 1:00pm

Choice of:

Room 1 Branding – Why You Need it Before You Sell – Nikki Logan

Room 2 Finding Your Voice – Juliet Marillier

Lunch 1:00pm – 1:45pm

Introduction to RWA 1:45pm – 2:00pm

3rd session 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Choice of:

Room 1 Tension – how to write a Page Turner and avoid a soggy middle – Fiona Lowe

Room 2 History, guesswork and wild imagination: Creating believable historical settings in your fiction – Juliet Marillier

Afternoon tea 3:30pm – 4.00pm

Author panel and Q & A 4:00pm -4:50pm

Close 4:50pm -5:00pm

Dinner –Restaurant – The Metro Hotel – 7.00pm

It is going to be good!

RWA-WF is thrilled to announce our inaugural workshop: Direct Your Book! Theatrical Techniques to A Blockbuster Novel presented by best selling and award winning author Leanna Renee Hieber.

Leanna graduated with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University, with a focus in the Victorian Era. A scholarship to study in London helped set the course for her STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL series. The dramatic, historic, spiritual and paranormal are the primary forces in her lyrical, eerie, atmospheric fiction.

While performing in the regional theatre circuit she adapted works of 19th Century literature for the professional stage and her one-act plays such as Favorite Ladygarnered national attention and continue to be produced around the country.

She hit the fantasy fiction scene with her novella, DARK NEST, which won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, THE STRANGLEY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER is the first in her Strangely Beautiful series of ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels published by Dorchester Publishing and landed on Barnes & Noble’s mass market and overall Bestseller List.

Leanna uses her background in theater to break down theatrical constructs and uses a unique hybrid approach in writing her novels.

Direct Your Book! Theatre Techniques to a Blockbuster Novel:

When Leanna began doing interviews about her fiction, she realized her process had a unique angle to offer; that it’s defined in theatrical terms. Crack open a whole new way to think about your fiction by using techniques inherent to actors, directors and other theatre professionals. As an author, think about what it takes to step into the role of actor, director, cinematographer, etc. and feel the lightbulbs go off as you troubleshoot your way towards an engaging, character-rich, one-of-a-kind hit novel.

Mark your calendars as this workshop begins on Thurs. March 26th and will run through the weekend. There will be three sessions. This will be a yahoo loop. RWA-WF members are being offered a discounted price of $20 for this workshop. All non-WF members are welcome and can also participate in the workshop for $25.

You may pay via paypal: payments to treasurer.rwawf@gmail.com, please include your name, RWA# (if applicable), email address and the workshop name in the Comments section;

or check: RWA-WF Treasurer, 9710 Velilla Road, Burke, VA 22015, please include a note with your name, RWA# (if applicable), email address and the workshop name.

The final day to register for this workshop is March 20th. Please contact Maggie Marr at marrmrgrt AT sbcglobal DOT net for more information.

I’ve also been giving a lot of thought to promotion and what I can do when my books come out. I have a lot of time in hand, and I see that as a great thing. I’ve been reading blogs on promotion when I see them, and doing a lot of thinking for myself. I’d love to come up with something innovative! What is the most innovative book marketing campaign you ever saw?

This is the best day of my writing career so far. Woohoo!

1. Tell me about SPINNING FORWARD.

A New Englander born and bred, the last place Sydney Webster expects to find herself starting over is on an island off the west coast of Florida. Yet here she is in Cedar Key, trying to pull herself together after her husband’s untimely death—and the even more untimely revelation of his gambling addiction. Syd takes shelter at a college pal’s bed and breakfast, leading her to discover her true identity and feminine soul. Her passion for spinning and knitting draws attention due to the unique composition of her wool and a door is opened. She finds herself in the embrace of a community rich with love, laughter, friendship . . . and secrets. A tale of new beginnings, old friends and lives forever bound.

2. What pulled you into the story and made you think ‘I have to write this’?

The actual people of Cedar Key, the small town where I now reside, made me feel I wanted to write about the closeness and caring of a small community. As far as my main character, not all women have the final say-so when it comes to decisions or financial matters in their marriage and although it may seem fine and easy at the time, my story deals with the fact that women owe it to themselves to be aware of these issues. For Sydney, her uninvolved attitude came back to bite her.

3. What is your writing process and where do you write?

When I’m on deadline, I begin around ten in the morning and generally work six to eight hours a day. When we moved to Cedar Key, we had a writer’s studio built for me, detached from our house but connected by a screened lanai. So this is where I work.

4. What is your favorite thing about writing? What is your least favorite thing?

I’d have to say my favorite thing about writing is all the feedback I get from my readers. Their comments on my characters, plot, how my story affected them, etc. Least favorite? Call me Pollyanna, but I really don’t have one. I love writing and the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a story.

5. What is your advice to aspiring writers?

Don’t ever give up. If writing is your passion, then keep writing. Believe in yourself and make great things happen.

Check it out at: http://www.rwa-wf.com. I had a fantastic team, as well as the amazing Alison Kent to help me with the tech and design issues, and a lot of people contributed copy. I think it rocks .

I love it when something comes together, and not only do you learn a lot (which I really did) but you meet amazing people and get a real sense of accomplishment. I’m interested to know, do you belong to an RWA chapter, or other writing organization, and what do you look for from the website?

1. Tell me about THE GIFT.

Certain members of the Dearborn Family are born with some variance of an empathic gift. Beth’s “gift” manifests in a particularly frightening manner, by enabling her to experience the final moments of those who’ve died violently. As an adult, she chooses a career as a homicide detective, and–obviously–is very successful. However, the experience of being “murdered” repeatedly takes a terrible toll and she turns to alcohol for solace. When she hits bottom and seeks treatment for her addiction, she is convinced the only way she can stay sober is to somehow suppress her gift-turned-curse by avoiding places where the spirit of someone who died violently might contact her. She leaves her position and takes one as a nomadic insurance investigator.

Her new career keeps her safe and sober for three years. Convinced her gift has faded from lack of use, she finally accepts an assignment involving possible life insurance fraud, which leads her to a small town in eastern
Tennessee.

Ty Malone’s wife, Lorilee, disappeared over seven years ago. Though the town and his father-in-law remain convinced she ran away to pursue a career as a painter in Europe, he has always maintained that the only thing that could keep his wife away from her children is death. It’s time to learn the truth, so he petitions the court to have her declared legally dead. The life insurance claim brings investigator Beth Dearborn into his life.

THE GIFT is part mystery, part ghost story, part suspense, part romance, part thriller. The novel also touches on the issue of women and alcoholism on various levels. Beth is a recovering alcoholic, and the reader will also meet a character who is a practicing one.

Both Beth and Ty will be forced to face their greatest fears to learn the truth, and to find happiness.

2. What pulled you into the story and made you think ‘I have to write this’?

A protagonist always pulls me into a new story. In this case, I “met” Ty’s wife, Lorilee, first. She introduced herself to my muse, and I wrote a scene that appears very late in the book (it would be a spoiler if I told you about it) as a prologue initially. Then I saved it and used it later. From that scene, the entire story evolved. She is the catalyst who brings about all the events.

3. What is your writing process and where do you write?

I prefer to write at my desk, mostly for comfort. Since I have rheumatoid arthritis, ergonomics are extra important. I have a special keyboard, keyboard tray, chair, mouse, etc. I love my laptop, but if I spend too much time on it, I pay the price. I’m typically a very early morning writer–a lark–and often wake hours before dawn to work while the rest of the house is sleeping soundly. I love quiet, and rarely listen to music while working–especially in first draft. While editing, I can listen to anything, but in first draft I can’t have any lyrics. They pull me out of the story.

I’m very much a “pantser”–and I have to say I hate that term. I much prefer Jo Beverley’s “writing into the mist” description. I start with a character in a situation, then start writing. Once I have a global idea of the general plot and the cast of characters, I write a narrative synopsis and send it to my agent. Once we go to contract, do any revisions to the proposal, if requested, I plunge ahead. I confess my finished product does not always follow that synopsis verbatim. And I NEVER outline. Perish the thought….

4. What is your advice to aspiring writers?

It’s your book. Trust your instincts. There are no rules. Critique is a smorgasbord–take what you want and leave what you don’t. There are a thousand how-to books, workshops, and know-it-alls out there dying to tell you how to do your job. There is no special handshake. There is no secret potion. There is no magic elixir. You only have yourself, your muse, and the blank screen/Big Chief Tablet/whatever medium you choose. Keep throwing the spaghetti against the wall until something sticks.

5. What is next for you?

I am currently at work on the sequel to THE GIFT–working title is THE SECRET. When you read THE GIFT, you will meet Beth’s cousin, Sam Dearborn. His “gift” manifests in a different way. He jokingly refers to himself as a “psychic errand boy.”

Happy reading!

Thanks, Deb, and best of luck with your new release.

My eye definitely picks up new things looking at print. It isn’t so much the fact that its on paper, I think, but that it is simply a different medium. Looking at the ms backwards on the computer, starting from THE END and working your way back, would also throw up a lot of nits to fix, but I like doing it chronologically and getting the same result, if I can, because chronologically also shows up continuity errors. And for some reason, with the ms I’m revising at the moment, I get the feeling I’m too abrupt with my scene endings.

What’s your view on hard copy edits. Must do? Could take ‘em or leave ‘em? Waste of time?