Weekly Update: September 4 to 11 (Photos of Can-Con)

Weekly update: 3500 words

Other major achievements: 
- sold almost all of my entire stock of books at Can-Con
- met one of my inspiration authors, Tanya Huff, and she bought Revelations!!!

Can-Con was a lot of fun this year.  I was with my tablemates from last year, the Ottawa Browncoats and Mythhawker Books.  The Browncoats were promoting their charity screening of Serenity on September 25th and Mythhawker has expanded from a dozen titles last year to almost a hundred this year.  

Shiny!  Linda and the Ottawa Browncoats

Lisa and Pat of Mythhawkers

And we were joined by a new friend, Heart Tea Heart, a gourmet tea vendor, hopefully coming soon to Bayshore.

On Friday, I met my con-buddy and Blue Penciler, Jennifer, and we spent an hour going over her manuscript and talking about the publishing industry and how to balance real life and writing time.

Two Jennifers

And I also ran into Any, my first and favourite fan.  She is so sweet and fun to talk to.

And then, on Saturday, came my huge thrill where I got to meet Tanya Huff and she autographed my book (even though I missed her signing) and then, when I was already feeling a fangirl high, she joined us for dinner. 

Madonna, Lynne and Leslie

Me, Linda and Tanya

The cherry on the weekend was when Tanya bought a copy of Revelations and then when I sold my final copy of Revelations (and all but 3 copies of Metamorphosis).  This kind gentleman picked up one copy of each.

The final copy of Revelations, sold!

I made some wonderful connections and there may be some interesting opportunities coming up.  I have to talk and get some details and make some decisions.  There were a couple of rough moments, but overall, a great weekend and a great experience.  Can't wait for next year.

Weekly Update: July 10 to 16: My Week At RWA Nationals

(I know this post is late, but I hope you all will forgive me because it has been an incredible week.)

Weekly word count: 2100 words

Not a great writing week but, boy, what a whirlwind of writer achievement!  Last week was the National Conference for the Romance Writers of America in San Diego.  It was my first conference and I was determined to make the most of every minute of it.  I flew out with my friends, S.M. McEachern, Alexa Bloom and Lucy Farago.  Lucy and I shared a room with two other lovely authors, Cyndi and Amy.  (I should have taken a picture of their badges to get their last names, but they were both funny and considerate and as soon as I can post a link to their work, I will.)

We started off slow on Wednesday.  We got our registration done and visited the Goody Room, where we found joke ribbons to add to our official ones.  I got my official PAN (Published Author Network) pin, too.  After that, Lucy, S.M. and I headed out to the San Diego Zoo.  After a couple of bottomless mimosas from the hotel breakfast, we were in a mood to be silly and had fun with the photo op displays. 


On Thursday, the serious business began.  Workshops, book signings and special presentations.  Luckily, we still had some fun with the daily scavenger hunt.  Lucy and I ambushed Pamela Kopler in the elevator to get our entry for a RITA nominee (the equivalent of an Oscar nominee for film).  She kindly went along with our request for a selfie.

Thursday also had the keynote lecture and luncheon with Beverly Jenkins, a USA Today Bestselling Author.  She writes historical romances set in 19th century America, focusing on African-Americans.  (I'm always on the lookout for unique historical series.)  She was very entertaining and educational.  She offered some great tips, such as reminding us to consider writing to be our work.  It's not a hobby and the time we spend writing should be respected by ourselves and those around us.  And she had the best comeback for the inevitable questions that boil down to: Do you really do all the things described in your books?  

Her advice: Look them in the eye, straighten your back and emphatically declare: Hell yeah!   

I found the "Maximize Your Discoverability on Amazon" with Daniel Slater to be very useful with good and practical suggestions.  He suggested putting a link to your next book immediately after the official "The End" to capture reader attention and talked about their new program Amazon Giveaways (it sounded like it will be similar to Goodreads but handled through Amazon).  That evening, Alexa, S.M. and I went out to dinner at a new San Diego restaurant, Carne Prima, and were treated like royalty.

Friday had a breakfast with Dr. Valerie Young, who talked about Impostor Syndrome, which is where people (mostly women) who are quite accomplished tend to dismiss and downgrade their talents and achievements, believing in their hearts that they aren't truly worthy of them.  She gave examples of how people sabotage themselves to avoid being "exposed" as the frauds they believe themselves to be, such as refusing to try, dismissing their accomplishments as luck and putting forward lower effort so they don't have to feel bad about failing.  I found myself wondering if some women do this so that they don't seem egotistical or because they are afraid to seem overconfident.

Friday was also the day for the PAN-only workshops, so I spent the day cramming as much as I could into my head.  There was some great data from Author Earnings about romance sales and reader demographics, a hilarious lecture on how to use Hollywood screenwriting tips to kick up our writings by Michael Hauge and Kristan Higgins and a great bunch of suggestions from Barbara Vey about how reach our readers.

Saturday was a difficult one to start for me, since I had my Beyond The Furrowed Brow workshop.  I was worried that no one would show up since it was first thing in the morning but I ended up having a full house (I'm guessing about 300 people).  

Lots of people came up after to tell me how much they enjoyed it and how informative it was.  One of my ad-libs became a crowd favourite and instant tweet.  Arousal decreases our ability to make rational decisions and predict the consequences of our actions, so "Friends don't let friends drive horny."

I was very interested in Sherry Thomas' speech about her experiences and determination.  She came to the United States from China and admits that she learned English so that she could read romance novels.  She was relatively certain they weren't actual pornography since they were right there in the supermarket, but she still hoped.  When dealing with post-partum depression, she read a very unsatisfying romance and decided that she was going to write a better one, which she eventually did, becoming a two time RITA winner.


Saturday finished with the RITA and Golden Heart award ceremony.  The RITA is for published books and the Golden Heart is for unpublished manuscripts from authors who have not yet been published.  The winners included a diverse group of women united only by their talent.  I was pleased to see a number of self-published authors taking home the golden statuette.  One Golden Heart winner was so certain she wasn't going to win that she didn't even have her shoes on when her name was called.

On Sunday, we flew home, tired, happy and with our bags crammed with as much swag and giveaways as we could fit.  I didn't go crazy with picking up free books, but I still came home with a good selection.  (Of course, I couldn't resist putting my own books into the picture for this one.)

Would I go back?  Absolutely!  Although I don't think I'll be able to go to next year's conference in Orlando, I'm already mentally planning and budgeting to go to 2018 in Denver, Colorado.  Maybe by that time, I'll be able to add "Award-Winning" or "Best-Selling" as an adjective to "Author" for myself.  

Weekly Update: September 20 to 26 (Disney Photos)

Weekly word count: none, but I was at Disney, so I don't care.  :)

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is my equivalent of a 6000 word week.  

 

The view outside our hotel room.  It may have been swampy but I will take it over the descent into Canadian winter.

 

First day at EPCOT.  The kids were super excited and dragged us all over the park.

 

Second day, Animal Kingdom.  My own Jurassic Park moment, though with less running and screaming.

What can I say?  I'm a Goofy girl.  Something about the mix of awkward enthusiasm and klutziness is... familiar.

Enjoying merging my inner and outer Star Wars geekiness.  I could have taken home an entire planeful of souvenirs... but then my husband would have had to move out to make room for them.  Possibly the children as well.

 

Relaxing by the pool and enjoying the heat.  (And taking the opportunity to rest my very sore feet.  According to the pedometer, we walked over 16 kilometres during the week.)

 

It was a great vacation and one we'd been looking forward to for quite some time.  Now I can get back to concentrating on the edits for Metamorphosis and my cover reveal, as well as prepare for my appearance at Can-Con!

Weekly Update: May 3 to 10 (ComicCon Pictures)

Weekly word count: 3500

Not my best week but hopefully I can do better next week.

This weekend was one of the highlights of my year: Ottawa's annual ComicCon.  According to the news, over 40 000 people were in attendance.

I got to see Malcolm McDowell, who was very funny and crusty.  He's been in an amazing number of films and TV shows, as well as lending his voice to various video games and other animations.  He said his major regret was a musical project developed by the songwriter for AC/DC in which he would have gotten to play Zeus.  It never ended up getting off the ground.  He also talked about Clockwork Orange and how he had a lot of fun working with Stanley Kubrick.

 

 

I stayed late the first night to see Mira Furlan, who played Delenn on Babylon 5 (one of my favourite shows).  I hadn't appreciated that English was her third language (Croatian and Russian being the first two).  She talked about her frustration at being given some of the longest and most complex speeches of any character when she was working on the show.

 

Wil Wheaton was hilarious but also touching.  He talked frankly about the difficulties on his days on Star Trek: The Next Generation, when he would go to cons and be attacked by "adults who should have known better."  He said he believes he hasn't had the trouble of most childhood stars because he avoided the parties and instead stayed home with his non-entertainment friends, playing board games.

 

 

Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes (also Star Trek: The Next Generation)  were highly entertaining and obviously in a good mood.  It was great to see their genuine friendship, one which has lasted over 30 years.

 

 

I could have listened to Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings) all day, and not just because of his delightful Scottish accent.  He sang the farewell song from Lord of the Rings for us and it was beautiful. 

 

 

It was a great privilege and honour to have a chance to see both Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca - Star Wars) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura - original Star Trek).  While I hope they both have many enjoyable years ahead of them, I am always aware that this could be our last opportunity to see them.

As always, there were many wonderful costumes to see and enjoy.  Maybe it is the writer in me but the idea of slipping into someone else's skin and personality for a little while holds a lot of appeal.  Maybe I just never entirely grew up from playing make-believe.

These fine gentlemen were raising money for breast cancer by taking pictures with the fans.  And as a die-hard Wolverine girl, this was definitely one of my highlights for the weekend.

I came home on Sunday, exhausted and foot-sore, but exhilarated and creatively-recharged.  All weekend, I had particularly vivid and memorable dreams, which is usually a good sign that my imagination has hit overdrive.  I'm looking forward to funnelling that into Metamorphosis this week.

Weekly Update: April 12 to 18: Romancing the Capital Photos!

Weekly word count: 0, nada, zilch.  I concentrated on promotion and got my Goodreads Giveaway set up as well as my $ 20 Amazon Gift Card giveaway.  A little disappointed since I hoped I would still be able to find time to write but it was not to be.

Romancing the Capital was everything I hoped it would be.  The buzz from the various authors was that it was a great conference with lots of opportunity to mingle with readers.

 

Lots of people were at the event but it never felt crowded or hurried.

 

Friends and fellow ORWA Members, S.M. McEachern, Lucy Farago and Anne Lange.

 

Another friend, Reece Butler and her Kilts and Cowboy series.

 

Another friend and ORWA Member, Mandy Rosko.

 

And the highlight of my weekend!  Best-selling author Deborah Cooke/Claire Delacroix asked for a copy of Revelations to read!  I'll keep you posted on what she thinks!

 

And to top it all off, I won a gift basket with some books and chocolate (and a few other things I won't mention on a PG rated site).  ;)

 

It was great and I am very much looking forward to next year.