Thursday, July 27, 2006

RWA

I'm leaving today for RWA—the Romance Writers of America national conference—being held this year in Atlanta. This is one of the most exhausting and energizing events of the year. Exhausting because I'll be "on" 12 to 16 hours a day—schmoozing with editors, agents and writers, talking business, and just charming the heck out of everyone. Energizing because there's nothing more exciting to me than being around literally thousands of people who share my love, my dreams, and my goals. We're all there to learn more about the romance genre and the publishing industry, to network and to connect.

My schedule at RWA is pretty booked. I have two hours of pitch appointments, at least an hour scheduled for one-on-one time with all of my attending clients, lunches, dinners, cocktail parties (I know, it sounds horrible), but despite all of that, I'm hoping to find the time each day to post and tell you what I'm seeing and hearing at the conference.

For those not writing (or reading) in romance, you're probably thinking that you have no interest in the next few days' worth of posts. But hold on: if you're a writer of women's fiction (not necessarily romance) and find that your target market is women (even if you're writing mysteries, SF, fantasy, thrillers, etc.), you should definitely consider joining RWA. I find it one of the strongest publishing professional groups out there. Not only can you learn a lot about publishing as an industry through RWA, but it's a fabulous place to network.

See you from Atlanta!

—Jessica

5 comments:

Lexi said...

As one of those people stuck at home, I look forward to your updates from Atlanta!

Gina Robinson said...

Me, too!

Anonymous said...

Wow - a blog! Sorry, I just discovered this from an email Jessica sent me yesterday (which, by the way, was a mighty fast and impressive response time for an inquiry on a proposal submission - greatly appreciated!) and I've spent the morning buried in the posts. I am again impressed at the amount of information provided and insight into the agency. Thanks so much for taking the time. Can't wait to read more! Have fun schmoozing today!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to hear more about the trip too! I really liked your comments about not necessarily only romance writers, but also writers who just target women in general, benefitting from joining the organization. I've heard that before, but it was more convincing coming from you. As a writer I appreciate your blog.

Anonymous said...

I'm living for the updates, too. It's so quiet with everyone at conference :-)