by Jennifer St George
The last two weeks
have been huge for me. I was part
of the team (the Communication Manager) that put on the Byron Bay Writers
Festival, 1-3 August. It was the most successful Festival in the event’s 18-year
history. Ticket sales were up 20%
on last year as were sales from the onsite bookshop. I’d spent the preceding six months talking to journalists
from all forms of media about the event and the resulting coverage has been
fantastic.
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| Jennifer St George and Amy Andrews signing books at the Byron Bay Writes Festival |
The Festival was also
my first foray into being a Festival participant. Fellow LoveCat Amy Andrews and I featured on the panel, Be Still My Beating Heart: Writing Romance
chaired by the hilarious Mandy Nolan. As we were scheduled at the same time as Jeanette Winterson OBE, I was
worried about audience numbers, but by the end of the session our marquee was
almost full.
The panel was
fantastic fun and we tackled a number of the myths about romance writing and
generally had a fabulous time.
So I wrapped up that
Festival and spent the next two days preparing for the Romance Writers of
Australia conference, Romance Rocks
being held in Sydney. I ran two
workshops with Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and romantic
suspense author, Helene Young; participated in a debate at the Literacy High
Tea; was an interviewee on a panel about début authors and had fun with my fellow
LoveCats in a session on writing category romance.
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| Michelle Douglas, Rachel Bailey, Jennifer St George and Annie West at RWA conference |
The debate was
brilliant. The topic was Alpha Heroes
are Better than Beta Heroes. I
was on the affirmative team with Cherry Adair and Christina Brooke. The
opposing team consisted of Amy Andrews, Sarah Wendell and Anne Gracie. Yes,
quite formidable opponents. Our
team sang, knitted, role played and argued with passion. But sadly, we lost.
The Australian Romance
Readers Association held an amazing book signing event. It was lovely to meet readers
and sign a few books.
Amidst the mayhem of
the leather and lace cocktail party, the Gala Dinner and catching up with
friends, I attended lots of highly informative workshops and will focus on
bringing those lessons learned to my current manuscript.
I arrived home last
night inspired and invigorated and exhausted. It's such an incredible privilege to
have been immersed in literature and books for the past two weeks. Books! How could you live without them?
I’d love to hear about
an event you’ve attended recently that inspired you.
Jennifer St George's sexy stories feature
courageous, career-minded heroines, strong heroes in glamorous international
settings. The Billionaire’s Pursuit of Love is available now at Amazon, iTunes,
Destiny Romance and Google.
Hi Jennifer
ReplyDeleteIt was great catching up with everyone at RWA I had a blast very busy with the book signing but I couldn't stop smiling and having so many of The LoveCats together was great some I have already met but I got to meet Helen Lacey Sue MacKay Louisa George and Barbara DeLeo. I love chatting and hearing about new books and of course the TBR pile has grown again LOL and next is the ARRA Convention in Canberra in March woohoo. I am sorry I missed your debate I heard lots about it on the weekend :)
Have Fun
Helen
It was so lovely to see you, Helen. Can't wait for ARRA.
ReplyDeleteThe debate was fun. I was going for cheap laughs as I didn't think we had much chance against such formidable opponents. I hope people enjoyed it!
What a great weekend it was! Your media bootcamp workshop was fabulous, so was your debate!! Lovely to meet our wonderful supporters like Helen!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Louisa. You were great in the bootcamp and you have such a lovely voice!!!
DeleteOh, I'll second how fabulous the conference was! And, Jen, you absolutely *shone* during the debate -- what a clever fabulous LoveCat you are. :-) Was so much fun to schmooze with the Cats who could make it this year. And, Helen, it was splendid to catch up with you and the ARRA ladies at the book signing. Can't wait till the ARRA conference in March!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Michelle. So hard to judge how you go in something like the debate! Loved spending time with you. Must catch up again soon. Bring on ARRA!
DeleteSounds like a great conference. Looks like Rachel was trying to hide in that photo.
ReplyDeleteAs for the last event that inspired me, I would have to say it was attending RWNZ's conference cocktail party as a reader last year. That said, because I was running late I did miss out on the eyecandy of a few of the All Blacks who were staying in the same hotel since they were playing a Bledisloe Cup game against Aussie that weekend. It lit a desire in me to start writing myself. It's still on the backburner as my focus is on recovering a work-life balance now after finishing my degree last November and graduating in the May just gone.
Congrats on finishing your degree, Lyn. What did you study? Good luck with your writing.
DeleteThanks Jennifer. The degree is Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. There was a lot of study in things that interested me, but not so sure how helpful the degree is in life.
DeleteI agree, you were a total star in the debate, Jen (even if we did win ;-)
ReplyDeleteLoved the conference, loved the Festival. Now, are you having a long lie down, woman???
Thanks, Amy. The debate was certainly fun! You guys rocked!
DeleteNo lying down for me, wouldn't know what to do with myself. But I have rented a few movies (but am watching them to analyse based on what I learned at the Friday workshop - sad really).
Me, too, Jennifer. Your debating skills are awesome. what a fantastic conference. I loved catching with people I knew and meeting new people, including Helen, who is a supporter.
ReplyDeleteSo now it's back to the mundane of washing, revising my latest book, and packing again for the NZ conference next weekend. As you said, Jennifer, where would we be without books - and their authors and readers.
I wish I could come to the NZ conference too, Sue. So lovely to see you, although we didn't really get a chance to chat. You'll have to come over again.
DeleteI enjoyed the RWAus conference vicariously through all the Facebook posts and Tweets. It's the first one I've missed for a long time and I always return home inspired.
ReplyDeleteDisappointed that I missed your star turn in the debate, Jennifer, and the Lovecats panel. Ah, well, there's always next year...
We missed you, Claire! It was an amazing conference but over sooooo fast. Seems like a wonderful dream now. Hope to see you soon.
ReplyDeleteJen, it sounds like you've had an amazing and inspiring writerly few weeks! I love your pics with the LoveCats you've been rubbing shoulders with at the events! I'm looking forward to rubbing shoulders with LoveCats at next year's conference!
ReplyDeleteMmm, trying to think of an inspiring event I've been to lately - the thing that's really springing to mind is not an event, though, it's a book called Life Is So Good by George Dawson. What an inspiring man!