Nine years ago just about this time of year I sat in a Washington D.C. hotel ballroom listening to our luncheon speaker with awe and envy. It was my first RWA Nationals, and multi-published romance author Susan Wiggs was our keynote speaker. I hung on her every word. Her feelings were my feelings and she was giving voice to my hopes and dreams.
RWA Nationals opens today, once again in Washington D.C. Though I can’t be there in person this year, my publishers will be, and that’s a statement that was only a far-off dream that day in the summer of 2000.
I had arrived with a single manuscript completed. I polished and pitched and submitted and survived rejections and listened to feedback (and yes, I incorporated some of it) and finally, in the fall of 2005, I was offered my first contract, at Awe-Struck for Willow Smoke. Three books later, I too am a multi-published author, writing to great reviews and available at Amazon.com, All Romance E-books, and FictionWise as well as publishers’ websites.
I wish everyone well at this year’s Con, and I hope there’s a wanna-be like me sitting in the audience at the keynote luncheon who will be inspired to keep on writing and polishing and never give up.
See you next month!
Amanda
1 comment:
I would love to go to conference! Someone pack me in their suitcase next year.
Post a Comment