The Conference season has started and at the end of this month, authors, editors and publishers will be heading for Orlando where the RWA will be holding their annual National Conference. But last weekend I spent five days in London, in Greenwich to be precise, at the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Conference. The weather was hot
- unexpectedly so for England, the setting in the architecturally beautiful Old Naval College on the edge of the River Thames was spectacular, and the whole event was extra special because it was to mark the RNA’s 5oth anniversary of their founding in 1960.
There was a fascinating array of courses and events on offer, with workshops on Conflict, Creating Characters, Managing Your Writing Career, and Using Colour in Your Writing. The list of delegates attending read like a who’s who of English romantic novelists with Katie Fforde, Kate Harrison, Julie Cohen, Judy Astley, Susanna Kearsley and the keynote speaker Joanna Trollope. Category romance authors who were there were Nicola Cornick, Sarah Morgan, Abby Green, Kate Hardy, Natalie River – and,of course, me! Every talk or workshop was fully attended – and everyone was deeply grateful for the efficient air conditioning that made the conference rooms so much more comfortable than the heat outside of the accommodation blocks.
The RNA’s 50th birthday was marked at a celebration dinner at the old Trafalgar Tavern where Charles Dickens once dined. On a hot summer night, the huge windows opening on to the balconies overlooking the river were hugely appreciated , and the sound of the water drifting past was a soft background to the buzz of conversation.
Harlequin Mills & Boon were strongly represented by many editors including Executive Editor Tessa Shapcott and many of the Richmond team. At their presentation on Saturday afternoon, the audience were given a sneak preview of the new covers that will be coming up for all the Mills & Boon lines from the Autumn. They will also be reorganising the way that some of the lines are distributed with Modern Heat becoming the newly-title Riva, and some of the Romance line being included with that. The rest of the Romance line will be published under the new name of Cherish.
Along with the new covers there will be some brand new style titles, specially for the Modern/Presents line with the Billionaires and Mistresses and Virgins titles disappearing (thank goodness!) to be replaced by titles such as my own new book, The Good Greek Wife, or others such as The Bride Thief, Reckless in Paradise, The Man Behind The Mask etc. You can see some of the new covers on Amazon.com and they will be appearing on the Mills & Boon web site very soon.
Another important announcement is the latest writing contest that Mills & Boon will be running. I will be able to give you more details of this in my next Kate’s Corner blog when all the details have been finalised, but basically the new competition – New Voices – will be a sort of X Factor contest for writers. Entrants will upload a first chapter to the special contest web site (www.romanceisnotdead.com) and the public will be able to read them and comment on them. The editorial team will select a Top Ten who’ll be then asked to write a second chapter. Full details can be found on the Romance Is Not Dead web site soon and the contest will open fully on September 6th. A I said, I’ll bring you all the latest details on this in my next blog.
The RNA has started Conference Season off with a bang. Sadly, I won’t be able to attend RWA as I shall be teaching in Wales that week. But I shall be keeping in touch with what’s going on in Orlando, and I’ll definitely be glued to the internet when the RITA winners are announced to find out who’s won. I hope that everyone who is going to any conference has a wonderful time, and comes home as I did, tired out (there wasn’t much sleeping going on) talked out, but fired up with enthusiasm for writing and reading the wonderful romantic fiction that is being published these days.
Kate’s latest Presents EXTRA The Konstantos Marriage Demand is still available and in the UK she has The Good Greek Wife coming soon. Look 0ut for this book in Presents EXTRA in October 2010.
You can find out more details on her web site or on her blog
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
RNA sounds wonderful. And it’s interesting to hear how Harlequin Mills and Boon is changing things, particularly the new style in titles. They sound fantastic.
Thanks for sharing the RNA experience, Kate.
Kate,
Thanks for sharing, as always! I loved The Greek Wife. You can find my review on WWR (http://www.wewriteromance.com/reviews/review/katewalker-thegoodgreekwife). It was AWESOME! Not that I ever expect less than that from one of your books!
Heather R.
Thanks for sharing the info with us. I will check it out.