Conference workshop...

I've decided that I won't post my notes from New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs' workshop. It was called Plotting from the Inside Out and it was fabulous, but I don't want to poach on Susan's intellectual property.

However, I will say that her talk was all about the value of pre-writing time. She suggests using this time to really get to know your characters and their world very well, and that the better you know them, the fewer plotting decisions you'll have to make. What happens will feel inevitable.

And this was my favourite takeaway quote.

Writing a novel is like driving at night. You can only see as far ahead as the headlights show you, but you can make a whole trip that way.

Conference fun...

I've tried to show you a slideshow of my pics from the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Coogee, Sydney, but the technical requirements overcame me. I came close, but it took too long to load so I suspect  I may not have made the pics small enough. However you can view the slideshow here.

Sorry that I don't have the right captions on here before I started, but these pics cover the author dinner hotsed by Harlequin Mills and Boon (Sydney) at which the New Chicks (brand new authors) awards were handed out by old boilers (e.g. well established authors such as the eternally glamorous Meredith Webber) and Womanfuzzy (warm and fuzzy) awards for hilarious mishaps during the year, were handed out by authors, Trish Morey and Kelly Hunter -- always great fun.

There are also pics of the fab, wind-whipped waves on Friday, which made walking along the beach or along the clifftops (a favourite breakout activity) very exciting.

Then there are a couple of shots from the author book signing, and lots of photos from the cocktail partym which was a dress up affair with a Fantasy Island theme. Wow, what a party!  Aren't some people fantastically clever at dressing up -- as you can see? Above are fab auathors Kelly Hunter (pirate) and Alison Roberts (hula girl) with their fantasy Johnny Depp. The ultra fabulous reincarnation of Barbara Cartland (the winner for the best costume) was created and worn by the amazingly brilliant Anne Gracie.

And at the Awards dinner on Saturday night, I sat with my North Queensland posse, some of whom are photographed here... (The beautiful Mervet McClintock, Rebecca Quin, Shannean moncrief and helene Young)
And the final photo in the slideshow is of medical author Amy Andrews aka Alison Ahearn, president of RWAust, who won the R*BY award for best sexy romance.

Very hurried news from the Brisbane conference…

It might not be quite the news you’d expect… because for many of the published authors, going to conference is mainly social – or to give a workshop in the spirit of passing on the gems of wisdom about writing that we think are worth passing on.
I’m not giving any workshops this year, but this afternoon I’ll be involved in a Sweet Author chat (Yes, I know … I dislike the “Sweet” label, too) so I’ll be chatting with writers aspiring to write for the “sweeter” lines.
The conference started for authors on Thursday night with a Harlequin dinner hosted by the staff of the Sydney office. We all gathered in the hotel foyer in our glad rags and walked to the restaurant. (I was reminded of those “crocodiles” walking to church in boarding school books. It’s all very exciting, greeting people you haven’t seen since last year – or in my case, because I didn’t go to conference last year, for several years.
I was thrilled to catch up with Lynsey Stevens and Robyn Donald, two authors I hadn’t seen for yonks – and to meet two new Harlequin Romance authors, Michelle Douglas and Nikki Logan. (Nikki’a first book, Lights, Camera, Kiss the Boss… is coming out early next year.)
One of the nice things that happens at this dinner is a tradition begun by gorgeous authors, Marion Lennox and Anne Gracie. Firstly all new Harlequin authors are presented with “new chicks” badges – yes proper fluffy chickens.
Then, the womanfuzzy awards are presented. This award started several years ago when Ally Blake was doing a radio interview. She was asked why she loves romance and she said: ‘They make me feel so warm and fuzzy.’
‘Womanfuzzy?’ said the interviewer. ‘What’s womanfuzzy.’
Hence the awards.
This year I was given a Bah-Humbug Womanfuzzy, because I had to cancel my plans for last Christmas and stay home and fix the book. So it was very sweet of people to remember and this is what I got…

Yesterday, I went with a group of friends to the Art Gallery to see the American Impressionism and Realism exhibition that’s been brought out from The Met in NYC. So many fabulous, inspiring paintings with stories to tell.

Last night we had an amazing cocktail party with fancy dress on an Arabian Nights theme.

Wow – those writerly imaginations can come up with fabulous costumes.
Alison Brideson and her husband were a pair of English Egyptologists, complete with pith helmets and archaeological tools.
Anne Gracie was the River Nile, dressed in floating blue robes draped with water lilies and crocodiles.
I wore a rather embarrassing headdress made from a World Vision Shop mobile. The little ladies on the mobile were originally Pakistani, but I gave them Arabian veils.
Alison Roberts looked utterly divine as a belly dancer
Paula Roe came in a Saddam Hussein mask
And this morning the conference started with a fabulous keynote address from highly accomplished and acclaimed author Mary Jo Putney. She totally summed up what it means to be a writer, but she had some great things to say about readers, too. I’ll share just a few.

The ability to love a story is a great gift.

It takes imagination to be a good reader. It requires involvement and a well furnished mind (don’t you love that phrase?)

Most good readers, have the necessary imagination and the spark of talent to be a writer.

The annual staffroom gathering

People often ask me if I miss teaching and you know, the terrible thing is, I mostly only miss it when they ask me and I stop to think. The rest of the time, I'm so busy enjoying writing that my teaching days hardly figure in my thoughts.

Times I do miss teaching are when I see high school kids in the mall, especially from the school where I used to work, or when I'm invited to go and speak at a school, or when I get together with my teacher friends and hear them talking about work.

That last is something I do miss -- chatting with other teachers. The daily staffroom sharing of ideas, the give and take of advice, the jokes, the gossip. As a writer It's just me and my computer. Oh, there's email for communicating with fellow writers -- and the telephone, and the wonderful retreat I had with writer mates earlier this year, but the other big time for a major get-together of the staff (so to speak) is the annual conference of Romance Writers of Australia.

This is primarily organised for aspiring writers, but I never got to one until I'd already sold my first couple of books and I'll never forget my first conference in Brisbane and Helen Bianchin's wonderful, open-arms welcome. 'You're one of us now.'

The (rather dark) photo of us on the right is from last year's conference, when we were dressed in fancy dress for the cocktail party. This year we'll be more sedate as the theme is Venetian Carnivale and we'll be wearing glamorous masks ( a bit of a problem for those who wear glasses.)




That first conference was an indication of how it's been ever since. The writing sisterhood ( with the occasional brother) is incredibly special. Only fellow writers can understand the emotional attachment we have to our work, the vulnerability and self doubt.
Apart from that we have FUN! Dinners, cocktails parties, and lots of fabulous workshops. The level of professional expertise that's shared at these workshops would make a lot of other writing organisations goggle with surprise.
This year, I'm especially looking forward to Jennifer Crusie's full day workshop. She'll also be offering a tutorial just for published authors on theme and motif. But I'm also looking forward to hearing Bronwyn Jameson and Anne Stuart and a host of other wonderful speakers as well.

This year's conference is in Sydney, which means I'll also be able to catch up with a very special aunt. This dear lady is responsible for my lifelong love of books, because it was she who bought me 'Seven Little Australians' by Ethel Turner when I was seven. And then in subsequent years for birthdays and Christmas, she sent my sisters and me the rest of E T's books, plus the Anne books and Louisa May Alcott's books and the Pollyanna and Katy (What Katy Did) books. Sad thing is, that now Auntie D has macular degeneration and is legally blind, but I'm very grateful to the Hear A Book Service in Tasmania, which has put almost all my books onto tape for her and for anyone else who is visually impaired. They're available through libraries.

So if I'm quiet for the next week, you know where I am. I promise to come back with pics and gossip.