Tag: Writing

This post is way overdue. In fact, I should have written it in July upon my return from the 30th Annual Romance Writers of America Conference. I certainly meant to, however, other post ideas jumped to the forefront, namely, the health-related posts that have dominated my blog for the past several months. Sometimes it's hard to find a balance between two strong passions. Sometimes it's just hard to admit that, having lost more than fifty pounds, but not having yet published a book, I feel more qualified to talk about exercise, nutrition and weight loss issues than I do talking about writing. But then I thought about it. This blog is about my journey as a writer, a woman and a weight loss maven. I've learned quite a bit already in my journey to publish a novel and there are people out there who can benefit from that. So here goes.

The 30th Annual Romance Writers of America Conference was held July 28-31 in Orlando, Florida. I almost didn't attend the conference because my manuscript had just gotten rejected by two publishing houses for, among other things, not focusing enough on the central romance. Since that is, in essence, what differentiates a romance novel from, say, a suspense novel with romantic elements, I figured that I wasn't writing a romance novel and thus, had no need to attend a romance writers conference. Boy was I wrong.

It's almost impossible for me to tell you about how much I benefitted from attending the conference, but I will try. First, I got to see my favorite author – Nora Roberts – give a keynote speech. It inspired me so much that, even though I will have to almost completely rewrite the romance novel I thought was done, I am not demoralized in the least.  She turned out to be the most down to Earth, likeable woman and she had very useful advice about writing and the writers life.

Until I attended the conference, I didn't know that spitting out the first draft of a novel is just the tip of the iceberg. Although I knew that some editing had to take place to make it a coherent story, I did not know that much of the craft of writing – the layering in of detail, character voice, imagery, symbolism, etc. went into the second and third drafts of a novel. Until I took the seminars, I didn't know that every scene had to have conflict and had to have a hook to keep the reader wanting to turn the page. I didn't know that each character had to have their own voice, goals and motivations, and that the best way to create conflict and tension in a book is to have those goals in opposition. I didn't know that each character had to have their own story arc or that my dialogue had to reflect, for example,  the fact that men generally talk less than women (I should say most men – I know some exceptions).

Until I heard agents and editors talk about what they look for in books, I didn't know that it was a bad idea to have my romance novel start with a dream sequence or to throw too much backstory into the first chapter. Until I began to read the books on writing recommended by the bestselling novelists, agents and editors who spoke at the conference, I didn't know that there were rules to writing a romance – for example I didn't know that no more than ten pages should elapse without the hero and heroine interacting together in a scene. In short, I did not know all of the things that my romance novel was missing. I didn't even realize that the last editor who rejected my manuscript was actually encouraging me to keep trying by taking the time to point out some of the pros and cons of the chapters I sent her rather than sending me a form rejection letter. Apparently, that is pretty rare.

While at the conference, I interacted with other writers and learned about useful websites and got recommendations on books on writing to assist me in revising my manuscript. I met an agent while waiting for the airport shuttle who encouraged me to pitch my books to her, gave me great advice and told me to send her my manuscripts when they are complete.

The conference itself was a great value for the money. The registration fee included several meals, over a hundred seminars, book signings, etc. Prior to the conference, I had downloaded audio files of seminars given at prior RWA annual conferences for $8.00 per seminar. At the conference, they offered CD's containing the top 24 seminars given at the 2008 and 2009 conferences for $5.00 for the 2008 CD and $10.00 for the 2009 CD. They also offered a CD-Rom containing .mp3 files and handouts for all of the 2010 seminars and speeches for $99.00. Considering that more than a hundred seminars were given at the conference on everything from writer's craft to the writer's life and you could not possibly attend all the ones you wanted to since many were given in the same time slots, that is a bargain indeed.

The bottom line is that I am very happy I attended the conference and benefitted tremendously from the experience.  I'm looking forward to attending next year's conference which will be held 6/28/11 – 7/1/11, at the Marriott Marquis in New York.  Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Peace