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.
