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23-29 Jul 2012 - RWA Conference:
I am happy to report that I will be on a panel, along with fellow RomVets AJ Brower, Geri Krotow, Rogenna Brewer, Heather Nickodem and Taylor Reynolds, for an RWA workshop called “Not Every Man in Uniform Is a Navy SEAL! Developing Military Characters to Steal Readers' Hearts”, which will be held Saturday morning at 0830. I am not writing military romances, but I can surely talk military. And, while SEALs are certainly eye-candy, I would take a fighter pilot or any Marine over a SEAL any time….
27 Apr 2012 – Guest Blog Post on Aloha On My Mind, regarding the Doolittle Raiders.
8-15 Apr 2012 - Romantic Times Convention:
I attended the Romantic Times (RT) convention in Chicago this year, to include the beginner’s pre-convention workshop. What a fantastic experience! I went to RT last year in Los Angeles, and had a good time/learned a lot, but I was kind of lost and fumbling my way through it. This year, my experience was much more focused – I knew what it was about and what I wanted out of it.
Last year, I knew that I wanted to write, but just was not ready. I was de-compressing from an insane deployment operations tempo during active duty – 4 deployments and an overseas move during the last 5 years of my active duty time. I just needed a break. So, while I learned a lot and took away much from Los Angeles last year, I wasn’t ready to put it into practice.
This year in Chicago, the pre-con beginner’s workshop was a great impetus to start truly thinking about and DOING my writing. We had five pages critiqued by a published author. Lynne Connolly commented on my pages, and she had some great insight on how I can improve my work. I was able to chat with some authors I met last year, including Sally MacKenzie, Delilah Marvelle, Cathy Maxwell and Katharine Ashe. And I was able to meet some other fabulous writers and get to know them a bit – Marilyn Brant, Cole Gibsen, Kasey MacKenzie, Linnea Sinclair, Maureen O. Betita and Mia Marlowe. And, I was able to connect with some other aspiring writers – Sheryl Babin, Anna Silvernail Sweat and C. Morgan Kennedy…who are all going through the same growing pains that I am.
Overall – I love RT, and if I can get to the conference in Kansas City again next year, I will. Now, I have a GOAL to have a completed manuscript that I can pitch at RWA in July…. Wish me luck!
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