Conference Hijinks And A Fabuloso Review

Normally on Fridays I do a post on some aspect of the Regency period, but today I’m a little busy.  I’m packing to head out to the First Coast Romance Writers Southern Lights Conference in Jacksonville, Florida.  The conference starts tomorrow, so it’s not too late to drop by for late registration.  We’ve got a great day, with workshops by acclaimed author CL Wilson, and editor Tessa Woodward of Avon Publishing and literary agent Emmanuelle Morgen.  The day also includes a wonderful lunch and a raffle with critiques by a really impressive slate of editors, agents, and authors.

I’d like to share a really nice bit of news:  the first official review of My Favorite Countess is now out. It’s from Just Janga, and you can read the five-star review right here. Janga is one of the smartest bloggers going, so I was thrilled to get such a fabulous review from her.

I’ll be back on Monday with a post about some research I did for my next book.  I think I may have found the inspiration for an old castle that will figure prominently in the story, so stay tuned.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Gift Baskets Galore!

I normally try to blog three days a week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Despite my best intentions I didn’t manage to do that yesterday, because I was too busy making up fabulous gift baskets for the First Coast Romance Writers mini-conference that’s happening this Saturday, March 12, in Jacksonville, Florida.

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I didn’t really make up those baskets; my uber-talented stepmother did.  I did buy all the candy and treats for the baskets, though, and made sure my stepmom was well supplied with high-test coffee while she worked.  As you can tell by the pictures, she does do great work.

Here’s the basket that contains a whole mess of books from Kensington Publishing.  My editor, John Scognamigio, very kindly contributed a box of books to the conference, and other generous Kensington authors like Kate Douglas, Susan Fox, Marilyn Brant, Diane Whiteside, and Elizabeth Amber all sent books.

It will be a lucky pup who wins that basket, I can tell you!

And here are the two baskets I’m contributing.

The basket on the left contains books donated by friends and some of my favorite authors, like Eloisa James and Courtney Milan.  The basket on the right contains my books, including Mastering The Marquess, Sex And The Single Earl, An Invitation To Sin, and also contains an Advanced Reader’s Copy of my upcoming May release, My Favorite Countess.

How do get your hands on one of these lovelies?  Easy!  Just go to the First Coast Romance Writers website and sign up for our mini-conference on Saturday.  Our featured speaker is the fabulous CL Wilson, and we’re also hosting pitches with Avon editor Tessa Woodward and literary agent Emmanuelle Morgen.  It’s going to be a great day!

And Now For This Public Service Announcement

Do you love to write as well as read romance?  Do you long to spend the day with a group of similarly introverted yet brilliant people who spend way too much time talking to imaginary people?  Then have I got the event for you!

I belong to the First Coast Romance Writers chapter of the Romance Writers of America, and we’re sponsoring a really terrific one-day writers conference on March 12.  If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Florida, you’ll want to know about the Annual Southern Lights Conference.

The conference theme this year is Light Up Your Career and, boy howdy, can we help you do that!  Check out our keynote speaker, the fabulous C.L. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of the fantasy books, the Novels of the Fading Lands. We’ll also be featuring local writers Renee Ryan, an award-winning author for Harlequin Romance, and Vic DiGenti, the acclaimed author of the Windrusher Adventurers.  Vic is also the regional director of the Florida Writers Association, so he’ll have lots to tell us about the business of publishing.

Hey, wait!  It gets better.  We’re also featuring Emmanuelle Morgen, an agent with the prestigious Judith Erlich Literary Management.  We’re also very happy to have Tessa Woodward, an editor with romance powerhouse, Avon Publishing.  Both Emmanuelle and Tessa will be taking pitches at the conference and speaking on an industry panel.

And did I mention that we’ll be holding the event at the lovely Marriott Hotel in Jacksonville, and also including lunch?  Then there are all the editor, author, and agent critiques up for raffle, as well as some really swell gift baskets to give away. Really, you don’t want to miss this!

For more info and to register, just click here.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming, and thank you for listening!