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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 24th. Join the authors
for the SCK4 Pre-Order Party on Facebook and kick off the holiday season with fun games,
giveaways & prizes.
