TV Interview - Close Up

Close Up Current Affairs interview is here

Holy Cow - have you ever tried pitching to an editor - with TV cameras on you? The pitch goes out of your head - in fact, all words go out of your head. :-) Thank goodness for Alex Logan (Grand Central Publishing) - she understood!

The interview was conducted at the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference and features:

Me :0)
Toni Kenyon
Abby Gaines
Soraya Nicholas
Emily Gee

Maree Anderson

Alex Logan (Editor)
Laura Bradford (Agent)

RWNZ Annual Conference

The Romance Writers of New Zealand Annual Conference was on last weekend.

One word - Superb!

From the minute I arrived on Thursday night I was immersed in the romance genre and didn't surface again until three days after I returned home.

Workshops with Chris Vogler (Hollywood Script Guru), Stephanie Laurens (Historical Romance Queen), Natalie Anderson (Sexy Sensation), Nalini Singh (Paranormal Extra-ordinaries) , Dianne Moggy (HM&B), Laura Bradford (Agent), Alex Logan (Editor, GCP). Absolutely inspiring, approachable and generous with their time.

Successful pitch with Alex Logan for my urban fantasy and a successful cold read with Dianne Moggy (first chapter of medical ms has now been sent to HM&B - nervous wait - will they like my story arc???)

I'm on a high! Membership in such an incredible organisation is mandatory if you want to be a success in the romance genre. You can't beat 'face time' with the best of the best.

(Also spent the 'spare time' at conference brainstorming with my critique partner, Kamy Chetty. We have a big year ahead of us.)

Synopsis - Aaaargh

Writing a synopsis is an art form in itself. There are those who are brilliant at it - in fact they're better writing the synopsis than writing their manuscript...and then there are the majority who find the synopsis a chore that MUST be done - no matter how much procrastination is put in its way.

Gracie O'Neil's blog http://romanceshewrote.com/ has a fantastic craft piece about writing a synopsis. It turns the art form into an equation that, if followed correctly, renders any synopsis "do-able" and in a very good way.

It also breaks down 'High Concept' into an equation that can be mastered.

At the moment I'm working on my synopsis for the Paranotte Series. This has caused some headaches as I need to work out the right mix of synopsis for the series story arc and also the first book - which is a complete story arc in itself.

Thank goodness for Gracie O'Neil!

Golden Heart - Kylie Griffin

Woo hoo - celebrating today. Kylie won the GH - what an achievement!!!!!