Two Great Confernces & One Short Blog

I had a wonderful time at the Chicago North RWA's Spring Fling and Lori Foster's Reader & Author Get Together (RAGT). They were spaced two weeks apart. I had a busy, fun-filled spring.


At the Spring Fling I sampled many sessions to hone my craft, visited with old and new friends, attended a gala dinner, pitched the Double D and received third place in the Fire & Ice Contest for my romantic suspense Against the Laws.

I pitched the Double D, a contemporary western romance, to two agents and they both wanted to see more. One requested the whole manuscript. I'm excited. My goal is to spend a few months polishing the Double D until it shines like a jewel. It's complete at around 85k words and has a sequel.

The RAGT event was memorable. I met authors who took me under their wings and encouraged me.

I bumped into some friends that I only see each year at RAGT. Took a few classes, made a romance book cover and designed the perfect hero. I met an author from Kansas that lived fifteen minutes from the "blink and you miss it" town my grandparents grew up in. Who knows, we might be cousins. I had so much fun I didn't want to leave.

The most exciting thing I took away from this wonderful event is that I now have two beta readers. When I finish revising the Double D, these women will read it front to back and give me insight on how to make it better. Thanks ladies, you rock!

I'm anxious to apply what I learned at these two amazing conferences and get cracking on my edits. My characters won't know what hit them. Next year I hope to return to the RAGT with good news.

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