Summer is anything but lazy…by Kristin Wallace

Although we tend to think of summer a time to relax – lazy days of summer anyone – it’s often very busy. July was one of those months for me. There was the 4th of July with family on the west coast of Florida, followed by two author events.

Orlando Book Festival

The first event was the Orlando Book Festival, a reader event held at the Orange County Public Library downtown. I was invited to be on a panel with three other romance authors. It was especially exciting because I was invited to speak by the organizer, one of the first times this has happened. It was a really great day celebrating authors and readers of all genres.

Romance Panel, Orlando Book Festival

RWA Conference

The second event was the Romance Writers ofAmerica (RWA) national conference, which also happened to be in Orlando. The location of the conference is in a different city each year, and this time it was on the east coast. RWA sees over 2,000 romance authors descend for four days of networking, workshops, special speakers, the Golden Heart & Rita Award Ceremonies, parties, and more. I had a fan-girl moment in the elevator with Susan Elizabeth Phillips. So, here I am in this elevator with SEP and I decide to blurt out that she is my favorite author. She laughed and said I must say that to everyone. “No, no, I say…it’s true.” My roommates were there and they’re all nodding and backing me up. Then she gets off the elevator and says that made her night.

Since we were in Orlando, RWA organized trips to Disney World. I went with a group of nine, which included my roommates and authors from almost every corner of the world, including South Africa, Sweden, Canada and the good old USA. It was super fun, but HOT. Orlando is nothing but HOT in July.

Romance authors take Disney World

I had the honor of presenting a workshop on blurb writing. Basically, it’s the description that you read on the back cover of a book or the sales page on places like Amazon or iTunes. A lot of authors dread writing blurbs. It’s difficult to take a 300-pg book and whittle it down to a couple of paragraphs. However, for me, it’s second nature. It’s basically what I do everyday in my job as an advertising copywriter. I actually like doing them. I find it fun to create that blurb and make it sing.

With some of my workshop attendees

The conference ended with a huge literacy signing, which is open to the public. The signing features more than 70 authors and all the money raised goes to a literacy charity in the host city where the conference is held. This annual event has raised more than $1 million over the years. In fact, RWA was the 2017 recipient of the President’s Award from ProLiteracy Worldwide for its work. One of the most thrilling moments for me was getting to hold a Rita Award. The Rita is like the Academy Award for published romance authors. One of the winners had her trophy there and she graciously let me pose with it. It is actually heavy, no doubt to hold the weight of authors’ dreams.

This is me with a Rita Award

So, that’s been my busy July. What’s your summer been like? Done anything exciting or new? Taken a great vacation? Maybe one of those “bucket list” items? Chime in and let me know.

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and sweet contemporary romance filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. She is the author of two best selling series, Shellwater Key Tales (sweet contemporary romance) and Covington Falls Chronicles (inspirational romance). Her next book will wrap up the Shellwater Key Tales with a holiday novella, LOVING YOU AT CHRISTMAS, part of the Sweet Christmas Kisses 4 Box Set, which will be up for preorder starting Thursday, August 24^th. Join the authors for the SCK4 Pre-Order Party on Facebook and kick off the holiday season with fun games, giveaways & prizes.