News & Conferences

Gabe and Jess's story now has an official title: Bound By Marriage, and a moved up release date. It will be coming out in February 2007 from Silhouette Desire.

I'm also going to send out an excerpt of Slave to Sensation to newsletter subscribers next week, probably Monday or Tuesday, so if you'd like to be one of the cool in-the-know people *g*, you should join.

Other news - I'll be attending the RWNZ Conference in August. If you're there, come up and say hi. I think conferences are a great way to recharge your batteries, meet up with friends, and learn new stuff. But I must say I have a preference for the smaller RWNZ conference as compared to the gianormous RWA one.

I went to RWA New York and my head almost exploded. So many people, so many writers, so much happening! It's all very exciting and yet at the same time, exhausting. Don't get me wrong - I liked it, and I'd like to go to RWA again (because obviously I'm a masochist), but I don't know what effect it would have had on me had I gone as an unpublished author and seen all those bazillion others out to reach the same goal.

I guess in the end it comes down to balancing what you can get out of it, with what it might take from you. Here's a few things I'd put in the plus and minus columns. Feel free to add your own positives and negatives.

Positive

1. Networking.
2. Meeting and making friends who 'get' you. (I can't tell you how wonderful that feels)
3. Getting to hear some great speakers.

Negative

1. It costs money, sometimes lots of it.
2. It costs time, which might be better spent writing.
3. If you're not ready for the atmosphere, it could leave you stunned and wondering where to go.

The balance tipped in the positive for me this year, and I definitely would have booked RWA had it not conflicted with my move back to NZ. Speaking of which, does anybody have any good tips about packing? When did I accumulate all this 'stuff'?!