Fantasy Romance and Professional PJs

Thursday at conference ended up being Fantasy day for me. Not sure how that worked out, but there it is.

First thing in the morning, I met up with the agents for breakfast. Actually – before that I ran on the fancee treadmills at the hotel, which let me gaze out on palm trees. You know how I am about palm trees! In fact, I’m creating a blog label for palm trees. So there. I ran on the treadmill on Wednesday, too, and went to Starbucks for my skinny latte after. On Wednesday I had both the fitness center and Starbucks to myself. On Thursday? Whoa! I barely wedged myself in.

So, I already mentioned that this agent contacted me before the conference, to set up a meet to talk. The night before, a senior agent with her agency stopped by my table at the literacy signing, introduced herself, and said she’d be coming along for breakfast. It was very fun to meet up and hear what they had to say. I was joking with people that I wasn’t pitching at this conference – I was taking pitches. For all of you who have been in the trenches with me, being nervous about those pitch appointments, pinning so much hope on them, I’m sure you know how delightful this felt.

We talked about my favorite subject – me and my work – for an hour. Senior agent was great and said she’d be mentoring younger agent. And I really liked the gal who eventually said she was officially offering to represent me. She really groks what I write, which is the most important thing to me. Senior agent said she really sees Fantasy Romance as a genre on the rise and they’d like to make me the Queen of Fantasy Romance.

Hell, where’s my tiara?

Obviously this was a great way to start the day! I attended the PAN retreat and learned a lot of interesting things about the market. At the Carina Press spotlight, Angela James mentioned Rogue’s Pawn – and how Fantasy Romance is getting more attention. She, and several other people, said Rogue’s Pawn had been discussed at breakfast and there was lots of good buzz swirling about it.

Whee!

That night was the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal (FFP). The hotel staff were just great helping us with this party – and seemed terribly amused by our costumes, as above. All the pics I’ve seen of that night so far are dark and blurry. Must have been all that magic in the air. We did a costume contest, the PRISM awards and had a fabulous time overall. Such a fun party, every year.

After, I switched into my pajamas for Harlequin’s PJ Party, which started at 9. I stayed to watch the Disney fireworks from our room, so I made it there a bit late. WHY I didn’t take pics, I don’t know! But everyone really wore pajamas and it was just a kick. They had candy – like M&Ms and cherry sours – and potato chips with warm blue cheese sauce to put on the side. I seriously felt like we should start making crank phone calls.

Tomorrow will be final wrap-up!

The Glamour, the Excitement – the Pools and Palm Trees!

When I posted this particular picture to Facebook, my mom commented, asking what was with me, pools and palm trees.

What can I say? I’m consistent!

(But not a foolish consistency – fie on you hobgoblins!)

So, the second day of conference was still pretty laid back. The Wednesday of RWA is largely for special interest events. There’s the leadership retreat for chapter presidents and some of the chapters have “mini-conferences” and so forth. A lot of people were arriving that day. The big event is the Literacy Signing, which starts at 5pm. If you’re signing, you might consider getting there the night before, just for the frazzle-factor. Yes, that’s a real thing. Especially if you’re flying!

But I didn’t have a lot of obligations that day, which was lovely. After a morning of day job phone calls (necessary ebil), I hung out and socialized with the incoming frazzleees in the lobby and dropped by the Carina Press Digital Day session.

I know I tend to wax on about Carina, but this is one of the things I love. As a digital publisher, they’re committed to giving us the tools to deal with the digital world. In the conference room set aside for this, they had tables set up for various stations – Facebook, Twitter, Websites, Pinterest, etc. You could go from table to table, ask questions of the lovely, vivacious and charming Carina staffers and get personal lessons and feedback. I went in thinking I pretty much knew All The Things already and came out having learned several very interesting tricks. Those gals spent the entire day on their feet, too, coaching all of us. Just one of the many things I love about Carina.

My website designers, Liz and Sienna from Bemis Promotions, attended the conference, so Sienna and I had a late lunch and talked about the website. Since I’m handing out praise, I really like that Liz and Sienna are at RWA and know the pool I swim in. Makes everything so much better!

The Carina authors met up early for the Literacy Signing, to meet each other and for solidarity, and we all got helium balloons to tie to our chairs. You’ve already seen the pic of me at the signing.Here’s one of CP and roomie Marcella Burnard at her table.

I had a wonderful time – much better than I expected. I figured with all the truly fabulous and famous authors in the room, no one would notice little ol’me. Several of you have asked how I signed books, being Digital Girl. Carina put our books on CD, with this lovely packaging. I signed the CD covers like, well, a Rock Star!


Vivian Arend, who is so wonderful in so many ways, had “Autographed by Author” stickers for all of us first time signers. (She’d asked us to rais hands on Twitter.) Here she is at the Harlequin Ball, later that same week.

As I was leaving the signing, the lovely and so-smart Courtney Milan said she liked my jacket. (Told you she’s smart!) We chatted on the walk back to the hotel. Vivian and I sat at the lobby bar after that, having wine and snacks, and talking to the 50 bajillion people who walked by.

So, I’ve heard some of you making high-pitched noises about wanting one of those Rogue’s Pawn buttons. If you want one, leave me a comment here and I’ll email you for your address. Buttons for everyone!!

Whales, Dolphins and Why I Love My Twitter Friends

I arrived at the RWA conference early Tuesday morning, expressly to spend the day with my Twitter friend, Branli Caidryn.

Not that Twitter is good for anything but talking about what we had for breakfast. (Blueberry pancakes, thank you – with pineapple on the side.)

At any rate, Branli, whose sci fi book, Project Horizon, will be coming out ANY MINUTE NOW, picked me up at the hotel for a day of yakking about writing and to see whales. Now, I’ve been on a few whale-watching tours in my day. (You can imagine me saying this in a wheezy voice while you pretend you didn’t see me pour whiskey into my coffee mug.) I’ve been on tours out of San Francisco, Oregon and Alaska. I’ve glimpsed some whales. I’ve seen dolphins, too.

Nothing like this.

The morning fog burned off leaving us out on the water on a gloriously sunny day. And we saw blue whales feeding. Now, it’s kind of hard to see whales because, you know, they’re under water, duh. But you get pieces of them. That I tried to capture on my iPhone 4s, without dropping it in the water. Quite the feat, I’ll have you know. 

The video doesn’t capture how fabulous this was. We watched the whales feed for what felt like hours, their backs and flukes churning into sight.

On the way back to port, dolphins escorted the boat in.

Magic!

Afterwards, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch overlooking the ocean. Just the kind of thing I love.

Thank you, Branli, for a perfect day!

RWA and Agents on Twitter

I’m back from sunny, palm-tree-y California! I’m considering buying this bench and living on it. Likely the only real estate in California I can afford…

I’ll be posting pics and doing conference gossip catch-up over the next few days. It was a great conference this year. Like the hotel in Orlando, the bar areas were beautifully situated so people could sit, socialize and catch people walking through, as well. I wonder if it’s a Disney design thing? I felt like I got to see and talk to so many people over the few days of the conference – just ideal.

And, for those of you who’ve gone in the last couple of years? That atmosphere of dread and despair has dispersed, replaced by excitement and optimism. Legacy industry “experts” were finally giving the talks they should have started giving two years ago. They’re all finally catching up to the concept that the publishing industry is not dying, it’s changing. And that these changes can be good, happy and lucrative!

Something else I learned at RWA? You folks are out there reading this blog! Who knew???

I was amazed how many of you came to the signing because you read this blog and/or Word Whores. All week people were telling me they read faithfully, but never comment. I think that’s just wonderful. Thank you for reading – and for coming by to say hi! So very fun for me.

At lunch one day, a “social media guru” told me that Twitter isn’t good for authors and you can’t sell books there because all the readers are on Facebook. I may have laughed in her face, but at least I didn’t spit out my salad. When someone tells me something like that, I immediately know they don’t understand how Twitter works. Are “BUYMYBOOK BUYMYBOOK BUYMYBOOK” tweets effective? Hells to the no. Have I met all kinds of people on Twitter who I consider friends and part of my support network, who talk about my books and recommend my reads? Oh yes, yes, yes.

In fact, not to bury the lead or anything, but I have news along those lines: I have an agent offer! And it started on Twitter.

About a week before RWA, someone I’ve been following for a long time on Twitter, DM’d me (direct message, which is private, for those not in the know) and asked if I was represented yet. She’d been reading some of the book blogger reviews and conversations about Rogue’s Pawn. Plus, another of her clients suggested me (thank you, dear!). We set up a time to talk at RWA, along with one of her senior agents, and she made the offer.

I know this should be the SQUEEE moment, but it’s funny – though I’m excited about the future, this feels very much like a business decision at this point. This was my 5th RWA conference. Amazing for me to consider, but five years ago, I flew to the RWA conference in San Francisco, where I knew not one person, pitched to an agent and an editor, and flew home again. I’ve learned and grown so much in that time. The agents I talked to this year asked if I thought I could keep up, if they got me a contract for a new trilogy, along with the other series I have going. I was able to say, with confidence, yes. Yes, I can.

Something I would not have known – and likely could not have done – five years ago.

So, right now I’m in the process of contacting the four agents who’ve had the full of the new novel for a while now. If any of you don’t know this, mark this well: if you receive an agent offer, you must attempt to contact any other agent who’s requested materials from you. This is a basic business courtesy. I know writers who have not done this and people were angry about it. They won’t forget, either. A lot of writers change agents along the road. Never burn your bridges. PSA over.

One agent “revisited” the book that night. One is so swamped she gracefully “bowed out of the race” with good wishes. Two more haven’t replied and I suspect they’re reading. It confirms what I often suspected: they request the manuscript from you, but often sit on it, in favor of more urgent tasks, until a request like this moves it up the list for them.

But, I really like the agent who offered already – and I really like the agency and the agency agreement. I also love that she’s an active blogger, available on Twitter and understands the digital world in the same way I do.

Stay tuned!

Signing at RWA and Thoughts on the Aurora Deaths

Sorry – it’s not a pretty picture. And I suspect I don’t really have “fans” out there who will be looking for me in the wild chaos that is the RWA Literacy Signing. BUT, if you are out there and and want to plan ahead – you can find me at table 105, right by the cashiers. See? I put a little red smiley on it.

I leave on an early, early flight tomorrow morning and will be at #RWA12 all week. I’ll try to post pics, but you regular readers know how well I do at that. Best bet is to look for posts on Twitter.com (@jeffekennedy) or Facebook – Author.Jeffe.Kennedy lets you see stuff without being my friend. To see posts on Jeffe.Kennedy, I’m pretty sure you have to be a friend. But who understands how Facebook works anymore?

On to less frivolous topics…

I debated all weekend whether to say anything about the theater shootings in Aurora last Friday morning. I’m not sure I have anything substantive to add and it annoys me when people turn a tragedy like that into being about them. I don’t want to be all “look at me.”

But I feel like I want to say something.

I grew up in Aurora. My mom bought a house there in 1972, just before my sixth birthday, and she owns it still. When we moved in, the address was Denver, but the City of Denver ceded a section to the City of Aurora, as part of the redistribution of taxes in the rapidly growing metro area. These days you can’t really discern that you’ve driven from Denver to Aurora. Like many big cities, the metropolitan area of Denver incorporates many smaller cities and towns.

Which is why I always just say I’m from Denver. My mom was born and raised in Denver proper, and that feels no different to me than my own growing up. But my high school boyfriend and first love, Kev, who comments on here from time to time, often gives me grief for saying “Denver” instead of “Aurora.” For him I suspect it’s a loyalty thing. For me, it’s a “no one has ever heard of Aurora” thing.

Until now.

Once we saw the news Friday morning, the internet network fired up. I figured Kev wouldn’t have been at that showing, because he’s not big on midnight showings, since he works early in the morning. And what were the odds, really? Finally, I texted him and, to my relief, he was fine. Then he said that he, his wife and son had gone to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises – but at a different theater.

So close.

We all sent Facebook messages among my old gang of geeky friends who love things like Batman premiers and, amazingly enough, it seemed no one we were connected to had been there. Of course, our little burb has grown considerably over the years.

Yesterday, I looked at the list of the dead that the police finally released and found myself weeping over it. I didn’t recognize a single name. And I was grateful for that. It’s a strange place to be – thankful that the people you love aren’t the ones who died.

When I see those videos of the lionesses carving out a hapless gazelle from the herd while the others dash away, I wonder if they have a sense of gratitude, those luckier gazelles, that they can go back to grazing in the sun, because their number wasn’t up that day.

I don’t know what the take-home message is. All the conversations now are about controlling this – banning guns, carrying guns, anti-terrorist training, more security, more psychiatry. But, really, these things are the attacks of the monsters in the dark. It seems there will always be monsters lurking, taking a cut from the crowd. A choice as simple as preferring one theater over another can determine fate. There’s no controlling that.

Maybe all we can really do is enjoy the sunshine and the sweet green grass.

Interviews, Reviews and Awards – Oh My!

Cute kitten pic of the day!

Today I’m over at Reading Reality, answering questions. They also did a lovely review of Rogue’s Pawn, if you’re not sick of reading about it yet!

Also, I’ll take a little break from the non-stop Rogue’s Pawn mentions to say that Sapphire won first place in the short erotica category of the International Digital Awards! Petals and Thorns also finaled, which is just lovely. And funny to me, because I’d had the impression that readers liked Petals and Thorns better than Sapphire. Shows you what I know! And that it always just depends on the reader at the moment.

Rogue’s Pawn – How An Ugly Duckling Became a Swan

Jackson loves to be under and inside things. Even uncomfortable things.

But he’s beautiful and he knows it. I wasn’t always sure with Rogue’s Pawn. You can read that story over at the Carina Press blog today.

Also, I’m just over the moon about this joint review at Bookpushers.com. They called the book “cerebral!” ~does the cerebral happy dance~