Hi–
The first day of my GRL experience in Atlanta is drawing to a close. Last evening, i got to have dinner and spend lots of time chatting with my agent, Saritza Hernandez. In tis world of digital, we had never met face-to-face, so this was a fun occasion. I picked her brain on the whole world of publishing and what she sees coming. Sary sees MM romance becoming more and more mainstream with demand for the trope increasing at publishers of all sizes and styles. Good news for all of us at GRL.
Today was the Writer’s Workshop, a special event sponsored by the Rainbow Romance Writers Chapter of RWA and what a great event it was. About 100 people attended this one day intensive with workshops by amazing authors, publishers and agents. The panels were so great i had a tough time choosing. Did i want to learn about Romantic Comedy with ZA Maxfield and Ethan Day or attend a panel with editors from MLR, Riptide, Dreamspinner and Samhain? Should i find out about the five dimensions of characters from Amy Lane or laugh my ay through Dirty Questions with Andrew Grey and Geoff Knight? I also presented a panel with Ariel Tachna on Author Branding and people really seemed to enjoy it.
The fabulous K.A. Mitchell spoke at a lunch sponsored by Samhain. Her talk about how we are helping to change the world one sexy story at a time left me inspired and with tears in my eyes.
I shared a wild dinners with Jessica Freely and Anna Szabo at a restaurant that serves a fusion of southern and Thai cooking! It sounded awful but was delicious with dishes like lobster mac & cheese as well as pad thai.
Tomorrow, the actual retreat begins. Tonight i set up my swag on the table and tomorrow i might even sleep in! I better sleep while i can, because that’s one thing not on the agenda at GRL! I’ll report back soon. Wish you were here. : )