Romance Writer's Of America Archives

Jul 26th RWA 2018 Conference – My Experience

My thoughts as a first time (RWA) Romance Writer’s of America Conference attendee! I enjoyed meeting people I’d only talked with on line. Surprisingly, my impressions were right on ninety-five percent of the time. We’ll not talk about that five percent. LOL

Anyway, I logged nearly six miles a day running from workshop to workshop, out and about for meals, and chasing the wrong elevator. Wednesday, my first day I spent lost, really lost inside the Sheraton Hotel. Wrong hallway, wrong elevator, wrong rooms and wrong garage floor. Whew it’s a wonder I got anywhere on time. Enter the helpful Sheraton staff. They pointed me in the right direction at every intersection I paused and am sure I looked totally lost all day. Eventually I learned to navigate by the huge posters of book covers, NYT Authors, and half-naked men on the walls and elevator doors. Yep. It was fun.

Oh I have to tell you about this older man and his wife I met outside an elevator. Their eyes were as big a saucers looking at the romance covers adorning the elevator doors and walls of the hotel. I overheard her say “The hotel didn’t look like this last time we were here.” I couldn’t help giggling to myself. Then I stepped up to them and explained they had arrived during the RWA – Romance Writer’s Of American National Conference. The pictures on the elevators, walls and billboards were book covers or companies involved in the industry. And all the people running around with tags like mine were either writers, editors, or involved with RWA in some capacity. I explained I was a writer. They asked if my book covers looked like these and I nodded. “Some of them.” Of course I gave them a postcard with all my books on it. Their elevator arrived and they stepped inside smiled and waved as the doors closed.

The workshops were interesting and informative. The Instagram workshop was way too short. I learned quite a bit from a couple of social media classes. I especially enjoyed Deep Point of View by Barbara Longley; Romance, Explosions and Dead Bodies by Karen Rose. Of course what’s not to like about explosions and dead bodies. LOL The PAN keynote Rosanne Bane (Around the Writer’s Block) was fantastic. Her explanation of how our brain works and changes under constant or long term stress and what to do about it was enlightening. Want to know more? Check out https://baneofyourresistance.com/rwa2018/ We got to color too! Gotta integrate play in your routine every day.

The Golden Heart and RITA ceremonies were interesting to say the least. The food was better than I had encountered at other conferences I’ve attended. The Goody Room was filled with swag galore. Free books were available in the Book Room and other places.

The highlight for me was encountering so many like-minded individuals and visiting with them. Meeting with a group of authors from my publishing house The Wild Rose Press was a blast! Seeing the Roses (as we dub ourselves) in the hallways and workshops made me feel at home, as did waving like crazy across the room at familiar faces of local authors.

The Industry Market Place event where you could walk up and talk to publishers, booksellers, editors, etc., was overwhelming. Yep, I talked to a few. TJ MacKay from InD’tale was entertaining and informative.

The ProLiteracy signing event was fun. Most of my books left with happy readers, which makes me a happy writer!

So there you have it, my take on RWA 2018 in Denver. It was an experience I will remember fondly for years to come. My advice—drink lots of water, wear comfortable shoes, soak up the experience and get more rest or sleep than I did! LOL

Can’t forget the shameless promo. Thanks for understanding.

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