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Tuesday 18 July 2017

A Conference Newbie!


For those who don’t know, The Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) hold an annual conference bringing together a number of romance writers both published and yet to be published together. Some authors are independently published while others are traditionally published. It was lovely to see some men there who write in this genre. Throw into the mix some people enrolled on the New Writers’ scheme due to submit manuscripts for critique and worrying themselves into a frenzy (me). Over all there’s a pretty mixed bag of writers. And, as if that wasn’t enough there’s also some industry professionals! Attendees even had the opportunity to book 1-1 sessions with agents and editors. I wasn’t brave enough this year but definitely next year!


I attended the conference, held at Harper Adams University in Newport, UK  from 14th – 16th July although there was an option to arrive on the Thursday too and leave on the Monday. Other commitments though didn’t allow me to do that but I was more than happy with the number of events I attended during the duration of my stay.



Harper Adams University

View from my room

Arriving at Harper Adams University on Friday I was a little nervous. This was the first conference I have attended as I’m a relatively new member of the RNA, only joining this year as part of the New Writers Scheme. After checking in and finding my accommodation on the university campus I was really thrilled to pretend to be a student again and staying in halls. The accommodation was more than adequate with lots of lovely friendly people in my block.

the lovely Laura James looking all sparkly!


After a stroll around the beautiful grounds and bumping into the lovely Laura James who I’d met previously at the Festival of Romance a few years ago, I made my way to collect my name lanyard and goody bag from The Weston Centre on campus where the talks and panels would be taking place during the conference. I was warmly greeted by lots of lovely people and I immediately felt right at home! One of the first people I did get to chat to was the lovely Lynda Stacey as I helped her deposit some promo materials into approximately 250 goody bags!
Lynda and I getting to know one another better!
Lynda and I had never met before, but have been online friends for a while now. We became firm friends during the conference and she just took me under her wing for which I will be eternally grateful. I know I can be a bit gobby online but I’m actually pretty shy!


can you tell I'm excited?


On Friday I attended a really interesting talk given by Felicity Trew on the role of an agent and how to write the prefect submission letter. Felicity, an agent herself really gave me food for thought and I hope to someday put her advice into practice. They do say first impressions last and from what Felicity was conveying, that submissions letter definitely needs to make a first good impression. After tea and coffee came the official welcome talk with a lovely welcome from Nicola Cornick, the RNA chair and Alison May Vice Chair. There then followed a very interesting panel discussion on the State Of The Industry which was chaired by Nicola and included Rosie de Courcy (Fiction Publisher at Head of Zeus), Isobel Dixon (Agent), Broo Doherty (Agent), Sam Missingham (founder of Lounge Books) and Emily Yau. (Commissioning Editor at Ebury). Although I’ve been involved in the bookish world for a number of years now, coming at it from an author’s perspective has really opened my eyes and I found this talk very interesting.


The wonderfully mad Annette Hannah!
So, after an informative afternoon it was time for drinks and dinner. Thanks to John Jackson for inviting me to sit down in the beautiful evening air and partake of a lovely drink with some equally lovely people. The evening was spent getting to know lots more people, particularly the other newbies in a nice little get together hosted by the wonderful Kate Thomson before heading back to the accommodation block for lots of laughs and standing outside chatting like a load of teenagers and cackling like witches! You know who you are Annette Hannah and Jenni Keer! Then, an early night before exhaustion totally floored me!
Cheers!

On Saturday after breakfast Imogen Howson hosted a lovely get together for those of us on the New Writers’ Scheme. It was lovely to hear my dear friend John Jackson, a recent graduate from the scheme and due to release his first book in October, chat about how much the scheme helped him. John has just secured Crooked Cat as his publisher and I’m very excited for him. He gave some great advice and Imogen’s talk really helped put my mind at ease about submitting my manuscript (I have until the 31st August to do this so eeeek!)


After tea and coffee Bella Osborne and Alison May gave a brilliant talk on Plotter Vs Pantser and the different approaches we all have to writing. It was such a fun session and extremely enjoyable. I’m in team Bella and I’m 100% a Plotter. Sorry Alison!


This was then followed by a talk by Joanna Maitland and Sophie Weston from Liberta on adding sparkle to your manuscript! I’m not altogether sure I got the exercises they gave us right! Even though I wrote almost something identical to Annette Hannah’s we didn’t copy off one another. Honest!


The RNA open discussion was really interesting as everyone was given the opportunity to take part in a chat about the future of the RNA and what changes might be coming in the future. It was great to find out a little bit more about the organisation and who is involved. I’m already in love with the RNA and love everything about it!


Tea and coffee again (yes there is a foody theme) and it was straight into a talk given by Fiction Editors Emily Ruston and Jenny Hutton from Ruston and Hutton on the theme of Deconstructing The Revisions Letter. I know as part of my critique I’ll be receiving suggestions for revisions in the next few months once I get my finger out and actually submit my manuscript to the New Writer’s Scheme but this talk actually did take some of the fear out of it all for me and helped me understand a little bit better what some of the jargon means.




After a really exhausting but enjoyable day it was time to go get beautified for some drinks and the gala dinner! We all certainly scrubbed up well and had a wonderful meal followed by the announcement of the Elizabeth Goudge award runner up (Ruth Long) and winner (Imogen Howson). Lots of congrats and happy tears for these two lovely ladies. As with the conference up to this point, everything ran like clockwork and the meal was not only delicious and catering for us vegetarians but the waiting staff were simply lovely. Then, it was time for the famous kitchen parties in the accommodation blocks. Thanks to Milly Johnson, Chrissie Bradshaw and Lynda Stacey for hosting and ensuring that I laughed until I cried. Oh and on the stroke of midnight everyone sang happy birthday to me!

Me, Chrissie Bradshaw, Lynda Stacey, Ros Rendle & Milly Johnson on our way to dinner!




Dressing up time!
 
John Jackson and Jenni Keer lurking in the background!
 
Fun with Chrissie Bradshaw
Sunday saw me up bright and early with the wood pigeons (Not!), packed up my case and headed for breakfast. It was of course my birthday that day but there was no chance of keeping a low profile as lots of lovely birthday wishes were given. Then I hot footed it to a very informative talk on dialogue given by the lovely Liz Harris. Another extremely informative talk that left my head buzzing with ideas.  Tea and coffee (again) and then I attended a talk given by Fiona Harper about building characters from the inside out. Fiona was able to offer lots of top tips and provided us with really useful tool to help build and develop characters. I’ll definitely be using this!


And then, my big debut. I was part of an industry panel alongside Julia Silk (Agent ) and Julia Williams (Editor) and hosted by the ever lovely Alison May. I’m pretty sure those attending could see my knees shaking with nerves. But, Alison quickly put me at ease and I really rather enjoyed it. I did have one heart stopping moment when the floor was open to questions and Jill Mansell put her hand up for a question directed at me. THE wonderful Jill Mansell wanted to ask me a question! She did of course want to know where I’d bought my sandals! Thanks so much to Jill for totally helping me relax even further into the session. It was the best question of the day! By the end of it all I could have carried on chatting the rest of the day! I loved it! It was great to chat to authors about the best way to approach book bloggers and how to work with them better. I am going to write a separate post about this more in depth so keep an eye out for that. Hopefully people will find it useful. I’ve received some positive feedback about the panel and that has really boosted my confidence.

Me pretending to know what I'm talking about!
 
Alison May, Julia Silk, Me, Julia Williams

After lunch, I had one last talk to attend with the wonderful Mandy Baggot who decided to sing us through some technical difficulties while we waited for her presentation. That girl can sing! It was very interesting to hear about Mandy’s journey from self-publishing to traditional publishing. Lots of food for thought!


And so, with heavy heart my conference time had come to an end. I was totally gutted to be leaving all my friends behind. The RNA conference has been the highlight of my year and has been an invaluable experience to help me grow as a writer. I’m still not sure what path my career will take or how the journey will progress but I do know that chatting to other writers and attending the talks has left me feeling a lot more confident and so inspired. I cannot wait to get stuck into my manuscript again and send it off for the critique. I think I’m prepared for the notes that will come with it but I’m not as frightened as I was before the conference. 

goody bag and name lanyard!

The conference was one of the best organised things I’ve ever attended. Everyone was provided with an information pack a few weeks prior to the conference and this proved invaluable to me as it was loaded with information about the speakers, panelists and the schedule for each day. It even had a campus map! Each day of the conference ran with military precision and the atmosphere was one of support, friendship and lots and lots of laughs. Every single person there was warm, friendly and welcoming and so supportive of one another. I know I’ve made some lifelong friends and I can’t wait to share their successes!



21 comments:

  1. What a fab round up of the weekend. You'll soon be a published novelist. It was so good to meet you and the others on our floor who also welcomed me as a loner, this year. Thanks for this great article

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  2. A great overview of the conference. Thank you xx

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  3. Great round and great to see you xx

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    1. Thanks Liz. It was great to see you too. x

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  4. Great write-up - it reminded me of how hectic the conference can be - but how friendly and enjoyable, Belated Happy Birthday wishes to you - it was great to meet you. I hope it's the first time of many

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    1. Thank you Kate. Yes it is such a hectic but enjoyable weekend. Thank you for the birthday wishes. Great to meet you too. x

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  5. Great write up! Sorry I didn't get to meet you

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  6. Sorry I didn't get the chance to meet you 'proper' as we say in Lancashire. I did attend your workshop though which was super, I thought. Bra you did not look nervous 💕

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    1. That should say by the way! 😳

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    2. Hi Kim! Glad you enjoyed the panel. Hopefully we'll get to meet up 'proper' next time! xxxxx

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  7. Phew!! You've done a really good write-up, so I don't have to. ;)

    But seriously, an excellent summary of a cracking weekend, and, of course, it was really good to meet up again.

    Cheers!
    John

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    1. It was really lovely to see you again John. x

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  8. Fab write up Debbie it was good to relive all the memories again. So pleased I met you and the other bridesmaids as I have seriously never laughed so much and for such a prolonged length of time.
    Here's to donkeys, sausages, Paris and of course the RNA x x 😘

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    1. I'm already missing you Annette. My face still hurts from all the laughing. Best weekend EVER! X

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  9. Great write-up! Glad you enjoyed your first conference.

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  10. Great write up and it was lovely to meet you again! Can't believe it's only a week ago!

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    1. Thanks so much. It was great to see you again too. No I cannot believe it was only a week ago too. So want to do it all again! x

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