The list is long, but here are 13 highlights of why you–aspiring author that you are–should come to the Emerald City Writers Conference this year:

EMERALD CITY WRITERS CONFERENCE

20th Anniversary
Sponsored by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers’ of America
October 9-11, 2009
Bellevue Hilton
Bellevue, Washington

1. Speeches by Lisa Jackson, Christine Warren and Claire Delacroix (aka Deborah Cooke)
2. KATIE MACALISTER: From Slush Pile to NYT List
   New York Times Bestselling Author
   A no-holds-barred discussion for authors with strategies on how to build a career rather than just sell books, deal with adversity, identify your brand, create a support team, and deal with publisher and reader expectations
3. BOB MAYER: The Military for Writers
   NY Times Bestselling Author
   An introduction to the military from conventional warfare, through Special Operations, the War on Terror, weapons of mass destruction and insight into the men and women who make up our armed forces-all tailored for the writer who might need research in this area.
4. ELIZABETH BOYLE: The Nuts and Bolts -Let’s Tear Apart Your Manuscript
   New York Times Bestselling Author & RITA Winner
   Everyone always says to never bring a manuscript to conference, well they were right until now. Please bring your completed draft or finished masterpiece and Elizabeth will walk you through how she tears apart her work and puts it back together again, ensuring that all the chapters, scenes and parts are working and polished and ready for publication. Be ready to cut, revise and evaluate your work like never before. This workshop is not for the squeamish or those who don’t like to get their hands dirty. You absolutely need your manuscript to get the most out of this workshop, so please bring to conference a printed copy of your pages and be ready to work.
5. MARY BUCKHAM: Pacing
   What keeps a book intriguing enough to have fans turn the pages and not set it down? How can one author’s books have you riveted and another’s leave you feeling ho-hum? Ever wondered if there are key craft tips and techniques to balance fast-paced conflict, tension, suspense or mystery, action and emotion? In PACING: HOW TO CREATE A PAGE-TURNING MANUSCRIPT you’ll learn: the ingredients of a page-turner, what hooks are and how to maximize them, the power of effective scenes and the most common pacing pitfalls to avoid! Participants will be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of BREAK INTO FICTION® and a one of Mary’s chock- full-of-info Lecture Packets.
6. YASMINE GALENORN: Urban Fantasy- A Walk on the Witchy Side
   USA Today Bestselling Author & 2009 RITA Finalist
   Where can kick-butt heroines take on the bad guys while making love to vampires, demons, and dragons? Urban fantasy, of course. The paranormal genre is hot, and the books even hotter. Eager fans line up in droves for their favorite Beyond-Buffy characters. But what’s the separation between urban fantasy and paranormal romance? A thin line. Join USA Today bestselling urban fantasy author Yasmine Galenorn for a look at the worlds where the men are hot and not always human, the women are dangerous, and your best friend may be a baby calico gargoyle. Learn techniques to make your magic make sense, your characters balanced, and how to leave your readers wanting to save the world with you again and again and again!
7. CHERRY ADAIR: Subtext
   NY Times Bestselling Author
   One of the hallmarks of a good writer is dialog rich in subtext. Subtext is the underlying drive and meaning behind your character’s words. Not what your character says, but what they mean. Meaning that might not be apparent to the character, but that should be evident to the reader. Cherry Adair shows you how to create subtext to add zing, depth, and texture to your story to make your characters three dimensional.
8. PAT WHITE & ALEXIS MORGAN: Writing the Series and Making It Sizzle
   Across the many sub-genres in romances, one of the hot trends in romance today is the series. Multi-published authors Alexis Morgan and Pat White will discuss the reasons series are so popular with both readers and writers, how to structure a series, and the various elements that make readers come back for more. Alexis and Pat will cover the different types of series, world building, keeping track of story elements, and how to make each story stand alone while continuing the story arc that drives the entire series.
9. ROBERT DUGONI: Power Editing
   New York Times Bestselling Author
   Now that you’ve typed, “The End” – you’re finished. Or are you? Review the common mistakes novelists make and how to fix them before submitting to an agent or editor. Learn five steps to editing your manuscript including: making judgments about your protagonist and antagonist, evaluating secondary characters, tightening the manuscript, reviewing word and sentence choice and polishing your work to eliminate typos and misspellings.
10. PETER SENFTLEBEN, GINA ROBINSON & SHELLI STEVENS: The Editor/Author Relationship: How to work with your editor from the call to published book and beyond
    Assistant Editor Peter Senftleben of Kensington Publishing and two of his authors, Shelli Stevens and Gina Robinson, discuss how the relationship between an editor and an author works and the process for taking a manuscript from the call to a book on the shelf.
11. Pitch sessions with editors Wanda Ottewell (Harlequin), Peter Senftleben (Kensington) and Megan McKeever (Pocket Books)
12. Pitch sessions with agents Steven Axelrod (The Axelrod Agency), Alexandra Machinist (Linda Chester Literary Agency) and Vivian Chum (Prospect Agency)
13. Make fabulous writing friends (like me!)

On Saturday local romance readers and authors gathered at the King County Library in the middle of nowhere Covington for a Romance Extravaganza!!

Jacquie Rodgers and Ann Charles: Pre-Published Promotion

Sadly, getting lost, roadwork on the freeway, and Seattle’s gnarly traffic conspired against my attendance at the morning meeting. I caught the last half hour or so… These are my notes, not theirs.

Jacquie and Ann spoke about developing a platform to expand your readership. These tools must include a website (buy your domain name now!), and can include workshops and speeches, mailing lists, and social networking sites like facebook, twitter, goodreads or group blogs.

Three questions to identify when creating your platform:

1. Who are you known as NOW?
2. How do others see you?
3. Where do you want to be a Year from now?

Agents and Editors want to see authors have current websites with interactive elements (such as blogs or newsletters). It needs to be updated frequently so that readers return to the site. A newslist is only meaningful if it has more than 2000 names. They want to see that you’re putting yourself out there. Headshots, which you will put on your website and in the back of your books, should be indicative of your subgenre and writing. Write paranormal? Your picture should be dark and mysterious. Write contemporary romantic comedy? Your picture should be bright, sunny and colorful.

Jacquie encouraged us to find author mentors who is a success in some aspect of promotion that you want to include in your business model. Hers are Stella Cameron for having some of the first book trailers (which are now common), Gerri Russell for networking and establishing a broad reader base, and Rowena Cherry for podcasting greatness. She recommended copromoting on your website by giving away friends’ books. Ann looks up to Jane Porter for always being gracious and kind, Yasmine Galenorn for her disciplen, JA Conrad who has a great publishing for newbies resource on his website, and Jacquie Rodgers for being a social networking whore. She stressed the importance of ALWAYS being gracious, courteous and kind.

The two writers have launched a new website for author and aspiring author promotion: www.1stturningpoint.com

Jayne Ann Krentz defends Pop Fiction

Author Jayne Ann Krentz, who writes Regency romance as Amanda Quick and futuristic romance as Jayne Castle, made an eloquent and uplifting defense of popular fiction. I wanted to stand up and shout “Yes! YES! THAT is why I love the romance genre!” If only I could bottle her speech to replay when needed. A former librarian herself, Jayne applauded librarians for getting romance into the libraries. Culturally, Americans think “if a book is in the library it is somehow a ‘real’ book.” She said that romance authors are not alone – no popular fiction authors feel they get respect.

The prejudice against romance is just a sharp part of the bias against pop fiction in general. The convention and standards held up in literary fiction is a masculine style of writing that abhors sentiment and strong emotion, but his is NOT the style of our historic heroic tradition. It is a relatively recent convention based on psychoanalysis and modern angst. Anything with wide appeal is highly suspect in our culture; it is taken for granted and treated with little respect. But popular fiction has it’s own place in our culture and society. It is NOT watered-down literary fiction. It stands on it’s own and draws its power from the historic heroic tradition – not modern angst. It is wrong to use the standards of literary fiction to judge popular fiction.

Popular Fiction “teaches us we need not be victims, but with courage and honor we can vanquish our fears and triumph over adversary.” – Jayne Ann Krentz

In literary fiction, the protagonists are victims. The genre focuses on their alienation and disfunction: the destructive aspects of the human condition. Popular fiction, on the other hand, pits good against evil on a broad scale. Its protagonists may be victims, but honor, courage, determination and love they triumph despite the hurdles in their path. Pop fiction holds up optimism over despair. It has an enormous survival value. Lit fiction does not hold these values important. It illuminates and examines human neuroses, but does not solve them.

Jayne’s Arcane Society is an effort to tie together her many personas and encourage readers of one subgenre to try the others.

Historical and Paranormal Romance Panels

You can tell we were having a great time!

Amanda Quick, Gerri Russell, and Library Goddess Deborah Schneider (RWA bookseller of year 09)

Stella Cameron, Alexis Morgan and Cherry Adair, (Yasmine Galenorn not pictured)

After the Romance Extravaganza, Cherry Adair invited everyone to a very delicious High Tea, while she regaled us with sage advice on writing, plotting and publishing. While some authors urge us to write the “book of our heart,” Cherry Adair urged us to write in a subgenre that we will want to stick with and continue writing in for many books to come. The food was amazing, the company divine. Looking forward to next year!