Sunday 14 September 2014

Festival of Romantic Fiction round up

There was only one thing wrong with my trip to the Festival of Romantic Fiction this year and that was that it only lasted one day! Never one to waste time however, I made sure I crammed in as much as possible and had a thoroughly fabulous day.

Carmel Harrington
I managed to squeeze in two of the official events as well as perusing the wonderful Book Fair which was located in the High Street. It was an absolute joy to catch up with authors I already knew and make the acquaintance of others I had only chatted to on social media. Liz Fenwick, Carmel Harrington, Natalie Evans, Sue Moorcroft, Talli Roland, Mandy Baggot, Bella Osborne and Jill Steeples, it was wonderful to see you all. Thank you all for such a warm welcome! I'm amazed some of you spotted me - the social media photo must be better than I thought.

Mandy Baggot

The first event of the day was the meet the publishers and pitch your novel live session held in the threatre. Literary agent Kate Nash hosted the event and was supported by Sara-Jade Virtue from Simon and Schuster and two of the editorial ladies from Carina. The session was lively as well as informative and even though I was not pitching, I learnt an awful lot and made some great contacts.

Liz Fenwick
After lunch I had the pleasure of listening to the wonderful Katie Fforde, Liz Fenwick, Carmel Harrinton, Tracy Bloom and Fiona Harper read exerts from their latest books and then share their publication stories, sources of inspiration and a variety of entertaining anecdotes. I never would have known that daytime television could be such a blessing but thanks to Katie I now have an endless stream of inspiration.

Needless to say, the whole day flew by and it was soon time to head back to the wild depths of Norfolk. I hadn't thought it possible that the Festival could be any better than it was last year but I was wrong. This time last year I hadn't even written The Cherry Tree Cafe and now I'm poised to publish it. I have the first draft of The Skylark Serenade almost completed and I have another novel in mind. I've come a long way in a year but it isn't over yet! Next year I've promised myself an overnight stay so watch this space. I've heard those parties can get pretty wild...





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