Romance Writers of America National Conference kicks off today!

Romance Writers of America's 29th Annual National Conference will kick off tomorrow in Washington, D.C. and continue through Saturday.

This year's mega-conference will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. The big event on Wednesday is the 500-plus author "Readers for Life" charity book signing. And there are TONS of workshops to attend.

Best-selling author Linda Howard is the Keynote Luncheon (Thursday) speaker this year, and Eloisa James will speak at the Friday Awards Luncheon.

Anne Stuart will emcee the 2009 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony.

Here is a story the Today Show did on last year's national conference in San Francisco:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

POST BY CHERIL VERNON

Brainstorming if anybody is out there

If anybody besides Cheril reads this I have a question. I've been kind of stuck. IF the hero asks the heroine to marry him and she turns him down. My question is would she because she wasn't sure she wanted to get married a good enough reason to turn him down. AND [always an and in there ;-)] she's not quite sure he's sincere. I have her tell him she can't marry him but I never have her give a real reason why she turns him down. Minor accident of a couple of the bad guys decide to shoot her.

-- Kathy

Harlequin Presents Writing Competition

If you think you could write the perfect Harlequin Presents, here's your chance. Harlequin has opened up a special writing competition.

The competition entry must consist of either the first chapter and synopsis of a Harlequin Presents or Modern Heat novel.

This is your chance to get your work read by a Harlequin editor. In fact, the winner will get the opportunity to work for an editor for a year. Two runners-up will be given critiques of their first chapter entries and editorial consultation.

Deadline for entries is Nov. 2, 2009.

All the details about the competition can be found here.

A few notes:

1. Know your market. Read a few Harlequin Presents and Modern Heat books (if you haven't already) so you know what the editors are looking for.

2. Pay attention to how their first chapter begins because your first chapter is what you will submit to this competition.

3. Don't enter your current WIP if it doesn't fit this contest. There are plenty of other contests out there your current WIP may fit into. But you could write something new for this competition.

4. Consider entering the East Texas RWA Chapter's Southern Heat Writing Contest.

Southern Heat Writing Contest open for entries!

Yes! Our chapter's annual writing contest — the Southern Heat Contest — is open for entries!

We have some amazing final round judges this year, which I think should make for a great competition (listed with the categories):

• Young Adult (including all YA sub-genres like paranormal/fantasy -- not strictly "romance") (Sarah Shumway, Senior Ed. HarperCollins and Jennifer Schober, Spencerhill Associates)


• Paranormal (Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester and Laurie McLean, Larsen-Pomada Agency)



• Historical (Amanda Bergeron, Avon/HarperCollins and Susannah Taylor, Richard Henshaw Group)



• Contemporary Single Title (Margo Lipschultz, HQN and Tina Wexler, ICM)



• Contemporary Series (Wanda Ottewell, Senior Ed. Harlequin SuperRomance and Melissa Jeglinski, The Knight Agency)



• Romantic Suspense (Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks and Firebrand Literary Agency)



• Inspirational (Melissa Endlich, Harlequin Steeple Hill and Agent TBA)

What are we looking for? Each entry should include:
- First ten (10) pages of your manuscript, including a prologue, if applicable
- Double-spaced, judged synopsis of five (5) pages max

More details for the ALL ELECTRONIC CONTEST can be found at the Southern Heat Contest page.

Deadline for entries is September 1, 2009.

Trying out a new meeting place

Here are some photos of the banquet/meeting room at Spring Creek Barbecue, 5810 S. Broadway Ave.

We will hold our July critique meeting there on Saturday, July 18.


This is in on restaurant row on Broadway in the same shopping center where Ryan's was, just a little further down.

Click on each photo and it will show you a larger photo.

This last photo shows the main dining area and a peek inside the banquet room (behind the windows). The room does have windows that the main dining area people can see. I think that is good in a way because we are more visible, meaning people will ask who we are and what we are doing, and that might end up with getting us new members in the long run.

Follow us on Twitter!

The East Texas Chapter of the Romance Writers of America is now on Twitter!

Follow us by clicking on this link: www.twitter.com/easttexasrwa

Currently, we are following almost 200 people and organizations including several published authors, writers and agents. We also are following people and organizations from East Texas.

The key is networking and you never know how making a connection may help later on. We want to get the word out about our organizations, especially locally, so that our membership can grow.