Just came back by train last night from the wonderful RNA weekend
conference in London and fell into bed exhausted from the heat and late nights!
It was definitely worth attending, and crawling through London in a taxi on the
day of the tube strike to get there on the Thursday, as it meant we could go to
the Agents’ Panel on the Friday morning.
It was held in the Queen Mary University campus on Mile End
Road and although in the east end of the city, it was also partly beside a
canal. The heat was a bit unbearable at times, especially in my student bedroom
and, unfortunately, mine was on the noisy side of the accommodation building:
lots of students (not RNA) making too much noise at all hours of the night (or
morning) on two occasions.
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| Ready for the gala dinner with Joan Fleming and Cathy Mansell |
However, it was a great conference, with lots of inspiring
talks, non-stop chatting with old and new friends and a fabulous Gala Dinner on
the Saturday evening which was held in the beautiful octagonal library. All the meals
were self-service apart from this one and it was a really lovely dinner and venue,
befitting our dressier outfits! One of the best things about the conference is
the information all the authors share when we get talking to one another. I was
delighted as always to meet up with some of my lovely social media and blogging
friends, such as Helena Fairfax who I met last year, Jean Bull, and Wendy Clarke who I was
delighted to meet in person at last.
I was glad to see the chocolate heart in my little promo
pack inside the 250 RNA goody bags survived the heat. My friend Joan Fleming
and I shared a kitchen with the very sociable Hazel Cushion from Accent Press (amongst others) who invited us to their Pimms Party. Having never tasted it before, I was
delighted to go along and it was a lovely event, held down beside the canal.
The Pimms, which was filled up with freshly chopped fruit, was delicious. Roll on next year at Lancaster University!
For one week only, my publisher, Crooked Cat, is featuring
The Highland Lass in a special promotion at just 99p on Amazon UK and 99c on
Amazon US. A bargain!
I’ll resume our Italian adventure later in the week with the
final stop of Verona.
Rosemary
13 comments:
The style of your is very unique but easy to understand what you want to say in this discussion. Thanks a lot for sharing
Sounds like you had a brilliant time - despite the heat and lack of sleep! How could you never have tasted Pimms before???? I love it - it means summer to me.
Thanks for commenting.
It was great, Mary, and I'd heard of Pimms of course, but was glad to see what it was all about at last!
Sounds fabulous, Rosemary. So pleased you had a wonderful time. I must try to get there next year. I'll start saving :) I've yet to find Pimms in the supermarkets over here but I'm off to England at the end of the month so a bottle of that will go on my shopping list :) Best of luck with your book sales.
What lovely pictures, Rosemary - you look fantastic. I'm so glad you enjoyed the event. It sounds so interesting as well as being a wonderful chance to meet other writers. xxx
Lovely photos, and you clearly had a great time. Glad you enjoyed it all.:-)
Thanks, Nicola - that would be great to meet you at next year's if you manage!
Thank you, Joanna - meeting up with others is always one of the highlights!
Thanks, Carol - you should join the RNA if you can (or maybe you're in the New Writers' Scheme?).
How fun you all got to meet up there. Makes me wish I was across the pond too. ;)
Don't you all look lovely dressed up! At least Lancaster is not so far for you to travel.
It was lovely to see you at the conference, Rosemary! Wish we had longer to speak when we meet as there's always so much to chat about. My son loved your bookmark and choc, thank you!x
Thanks for commenting, Rose! It's a great conference and I'm sure you'd love it - probably a scaled down version of the RWA conferences.
Thanks, Joanne! Yes, I'm really looking forward to Lancaster next year as it's a shorter journey.
Lovely to see you too, Anita, and I'm glad your son got something out of it!
I keep meaning to go but each year something crops up. I suppose I should set the dates aside and not let anything creep into that space and prevent me from going. I imagine spending the weekend with the writing community is fascinating and enlightening - as well as a lot of fun. x
Thanks, Rosemary, it was great to catch up. I wished I'd planned to stay the whole weekend. Never mind, see you in Lancaster next year. These conferences are really expanding my horizons; I'd never been to Penrith, or Sheffield (only Meadow Hall shopping centre!),or Lancaster!
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