August Releases

Ruth Frances Long THE TREACHERY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Dial 
Hardback, print
16th August 2012
$17.99

A darkly compelling mix of romance, fairy tale, and suspense from a new voice in teen fiction

The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she’s lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack’s help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she’s faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice–and not just her own.

www.RFLong.com

Jenny Barden MISTRESS OF THE SEA
Ebury Press
Hardcover
30 August 2012
£14.99 (RRP)
An epic, romantic, swashbuckling adventure set at a time when Drake roamed the seas in the name of the Virgin Queen.

'Beautifully written and researched, this tale of desire, revenge, piracy and valour is so evocative we can taste salt on our skin and hear the swoop of sails overhead as we're swept up into a high-stakes adventure unlike any we've read before.' - C.W. Gortner, author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici 
www.jennybarden.com

Hazel Osmond  THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOUR FACE

Quercus

Paperback

16th August 2012

£6.99

Sexy, dishevelled and just a little clumsy, Mack starts to make Jennifer believe she can embrace life all over again. But he has a secret he'd do anything to protect and he'll have to betray her to keep it...

www.hazelosmond.co.uk

Carol Townend BETROTHED TO THE BARBARIAN

Mills & Boon

£4.99

3rd AUGUST 2012

A-LESS-THAN-PERFECT PRINCESS...

Princess Theodora of Constantinople is to marry Duke Nikolaos, the general-in-chief of the army, a man chosen for her by the Emperor.  An imperial princess must always do her duty - be beautiful, obedient and pure.

But Theodora spent ten years in exile in a barbarian land.  There, once, she might have forgotten protocol.  Forgotten enough to have given birth to a baby in secret.   As her wedding night approaches, Theodora finds she wants to share her bed with the Duke, except she knows she's on the verge of revealing her biggest sin...

http://www.caroltownend.co.uk

Mary Nichols THE GIRL ON THE BEACH

 Allison and Busby

August 27 2012

Paperback

£7.99

Caught out in an air raid in wartime London, Julie Walker is pulled out alive from an air raid shelter, but has lost her memory. Given a new identity, she must make a life for herself as Eve Seaton. When her memory suddenly returns, four years later, she is left with a dilemma. Is she Julie Walker, married to Harry, or is she Eve Seaton, a sergeant in the WAAF, engaged to Alec Kilby? And who is buried in the grave alongside her son?

www.marynichols.co.uk

Jane Lovering VAMPIRE STATE OF MIND

Choc Lit Publishing

Paperback

07th August 2012

£7.99

Jessica Grant knows vampires only too well.  She runs the York Council tracker programme making sure that Otherworlders are all where they should be, keeps the filing in order and drinks far too much coffee.  To Jess, vampires are annoying and arrogant and far too sexy for their own good, particularly her ex-colleague Sil, who’s now in charge of Otherworld York. 

But when a demon turns up and threatens not just Jess but the whole world order, she and Sil are forced to work together, and when Jess turns out to be the key to saving the world it puts a very different slant on their relationship.  The stakes are high.  They are also very, very pointy and Jess isn’t afraid to use them, even on the vampire that she’s rather afraid she’s falling in love with ...

www.janelovering.co.uk

Katherine Garbera A CASE OF KISS AND TELL

HARLEQUIN DESIRE

PRINT AND E-BOOK

August 7

$4.99

"Be my mistress for a month."

Billionaire bachelor Conner Macafee knows just what he’s worth, and he’s ready to make a deal. Nosy reporter Nichole Reynolds wants him--owner of New York's high-end matchmaking service--to spill his guts for her story? He’ll tell all--when she’s in his bed.

Nichole needs this scoop. But Conner is so arrogant, so cocky...and oh-so-sexy. Surely she can handle a month in the hot bachelor's arms in a cool penthouse suite--for her career.  But one kiss from Conner and Nichole knows she's made a huge mistake. Now she wants both the story and the man.

http://www.katherinegarbera.com

Lynne Connolly STRIPPED BARE

Loose-Id Publishing

 ebook

21st August 2012

 Corporate espionage leads to hot and kinky sex!

Joining the Mile High Club seemed like a fun thing to do, but Yolanda Latimer has more than a scandal to face when she falls to earth. The only person who can help her is the man who witnessed her tryst, and somehow turned her on without touching her.

Introducing Yolanda to the wilder side of sex is sheer delight for mentor Lawrence Cavendish, but his gorgeous pupil gets far deeper under his skin than he planned for, and soon he's involved in her real life dilemma. His sex life is all he allows to remain from his previous existence in a dark and dangerous world, where every day could have been his last. Yolanda unwittingly pulls him back in, threatening a life he loves and devastating public exposure as a fraud. Even she won't want him when she finds out his true nature.

Unless they find the man who is blackmailing Yolanda, she's washed up, her precious job and her reputation gone forever. Only Lawrence has the contacts that can flush her blackmailer from the seamy undergrowth of the criminal

underworld, and to do it he has to risk everything he's won over the years.Even her love.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lynneconnolly/StrippedBare.html

W. Soliman   TOPSPIN

Musa Publishing

E-Book

17th August 2012

$1.99

More than just dodgy line calls when tempers flare at a local tennis club

www.wsoliman.com

Vanessa Devereaux WORTH WAITING FOR

Evernight Publishing

E Book-Novel

August 21st

Brock thought he had it all until one day he's sent away from the family business with the challenge of making it on his own. Kate also thought she had it all until her husband walked out and she's left with a faltering restaurant and a huge loan. Together Brock and Kate discover that there's more to life than money and business, and until you find your true love, your life isn't complete.

Vanessa Devereaux THE RAKE-(Book Three of the Just For Your Pleasure Trilogy)

Cobblestone Press

E-Book-Novella

August 15th

Gillian is in for one final surprise when she meets with the last man William has selected for her.

Freda Lightfoot THE PROMISE

Magna large Print

1 July 2012

£20.99

'San Francisco 1904: Georgia Briscoe is in love with British sailor Ellis Cowper but unwillingly betrothed to businessman Drew Kemp. He has the charm to dazzle everyone around him but once married his charm is only skin-deep when his penchant for gambling and other women comes to light. Georgia plans to escape to be with the man she loves but Drew has other ideas. And then comes the earthquake... London, 1948 when Chrissie Kemp travels to the Lake District to visit her grandmother Georgia, she is unprepared for the shocking revelation that is about to throw her family into turmoil. '

http://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9780750535342

Freda Lightfoot RELUCTANT QUEEN

Magna Large Print

1 August 2012

£20.99

'The story of Gabrielle d'Estrees is one of love, betrayal, intrigue and tragedy. All she wanted was to marry for love, and enjoy the respectability of a happy marriage. But in the court of sixteenth century France this was almost impossible to achieve. She was sold by her own mother to three different lovers before catching the eye of a king. Is the love of a king enough to secure Gabrielle the happiness and respectability she craves, and a crown for her son as the next dauphin of France? '

http://www.ulverscroft.com/title.php?sqlCmd=isbn%3D9780750535083

Lindsay Townsend THE AMOROUS CHATELAINE

Ellora's Cave Blush Mainstream

Ebook

 August 30th

A widow of a medieval lord teaches knights the arts of courtly love and finesse. Young, raw knights flock to her and emerge from her castle with polish and panache. An older knight wonders if the widow will teach him a thing or two - or will they teach each other?

http://www.lindsaytownsend.net/

Sophie Pembroke  AN A TO Z OF LOVE

Lyrical Press

Ebook - $5.99 / £3.97

Everyone’s talking about Mia Page. Again.

Mia Page has been the subject of gossip in Aberarian for half her life, ever since her father ran off with his secretary–and the contents of the local museum safe–when she was fourteen.

Still, Mia loves her hometown, loves working at the A to Z shop, eating seafood with her best friend Charlie at his restaurant, catching the classic midnight movie at the crumbling Coliseum cinema. And if she ever wonders if things might be even better if Charlie were more than just a friend, well, it’s only an idle thought in a lonely moment. After all, friendship always trumps romance, doesn’t it? And she’s never been one to rock the boat.

But everything she loves is suddenly under threat from Charlie’s ex-girlfriend, Becky, and her plans to turn Mia’s beloved Coliseum into a casino, transforming the sleepy seaside town forever. As Mia tries to pull the people of Aberarian together to save the town they adore, her father reappears, and people start asking what he wants to take from them this time…

http://sophiepembroke.com/

DJ Kirkby MY DREAM OF YOU

PUNKED Books

 ebook

£1.53

Crime of passion or cruel twist of fate?

One summer’s day Betty let love carry her a step too far. That exquisite sun dappled afternoon became one of her best memories but also the catalyst for the worst experience of her life. Now elderly, Betty has been running from her past since she was a teenager, and it’s about to catch up with her. Will the experience be as awful as she fears or wonderful beyond imagining?

http://djkirkby.co.uk

Kitti Bernetti and Toni Sands  (co-authors in) PAST PLEASURES

Xcite Books

Paperback         

ebook

26 July 2012                

12 July 2012

£7.99                       

£2.99

Short Story:    The Duchess and the Highwayman by Kitti Bernetti

Lady Henrietta gets an extraordinary surpise when her coach is held up by a highwayman

Short Story: The Day the Sun Stands Still by Toni Sands         

Persian slave-girl Zuleika makes her way to market. Who will bid for her?

 http://www.xcitebooks.co.uk/Book/1217/6804/Past-Pleasures.html

Interview with Jenny Haddon/Sophie Weston

I’m delighted to welcome long established writer and RNA member Jenny Haddon to the blog today. Jenny says she comes from a long line of agricultural labourers and con men. She’s not sure where the con men came from, but that's the trouble with con men. She was encouraged to love books by her parents. Her mother introduced her to Jane Austen and 'Gone With the Wind'. Her father to Dickens. She found Shakespeare for herself. The local library was just five minutes walk away and by the time she was ten, she was a twelve book a week girl. Given a following wind and the electricity bills paid, she still is.

What was the first thing you ever got published and did it help to launch your career? 

The first thing I got published and paid for was my first Mills & Boon, To Marry the Huntsman.

As Sophie Weston you have been published in 26 languages with Harlequin. What would you say is the magic ingredient of your books which makes them so successful?

I don't know about magic. I think I've been very lucky. The readers who write to me say they like the characters and the sense of a real world, often one they don't otherwise know about. And usually there's a funny bit in there somewhere.

I believe you have recently published under a new name. Why the change, and what inspired you to write this book? 

Last year Random House asked me whether I fancied writing a book set round the wedding of an imaginary British royal prince and imaginary ordinary girl. As soon as I started to create an alternate reality royal family (descended from the Prince Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte) I was hooked. TO MARRY A PRINCE by Sophie Page was the result.

 

Which author has most influenced your work, and why? 

Shakespeare, Jane Austen, P G Wodehouse – I think because they write this gorgeous limpid prose, where you can hear the voices, not just read the ideas.


You seem to be very versatile in your writing, moving from romance to short stories, and also a guide on punctuation. How did the latter come about?

It was really my collaborator Elizabeth Hawksley's idea. She taught adults, all of whom struggled with punctuation. One young woman told her she thought you scattered commas around a piece of prose for decoration, like pepper on pizza. Then I had a young friend who asked me to explain all the different sorts of pause indicators. His passion was cars. So the Learner Driver's Guide to punctuation was born and the Haddon Hawksley collaboration was up and running.

It can’t all be kisses, so how important is it for a writer to understand how people tick in order to be a good writer?

I don't think you need a degree in psychology but I do think a writer needs to relish the fact that people can think and feel mutually exclusive things at the same time and yet still tend to be pretty consistent in their behaviour.

You have been a long-standing member of the RNA, serving on the committee for a number of years. What would you say is its continuing appeal in this digital age as the publishing industry goes through a revolutionary change?

Actually, I think I have only kept up as well as I have with the digital age because of the RNA. First of all we had applications for membership from people published by e-publishers, and we had to work out a reasonable way to differentiate real publishers from the scammers and lunatics. I did a lot of research into that. Then, there was your own talk, Freda, at Caerleon about bringing your own books to e-book publication. It's entirely because of you that I hope, very soon, to be bringing out e-book versions of novels which have previously only had very small circulation in the past. I think the RNA's appeal is all that shared knowledge across a huge spectrum of interests, not just literary ones. And the support of people who have gone through the same writing ghastlies as you have. And the parties.

Happy to help as we're all in this game together. What’s the worst mistake you ever made as a newbie writer, and so wish you hadn’t?

Sold the copyright of a novella to a publisher. I wasn't even that much of a newbie, either. I still jump and swear if the memory sneaks up on me unawares.

If you could have the best seats to any event for free, which would you choose?

Jonas Kauffman singing Don Giovanni anywhere in the world.

And finally, do you still have an unfulfilled ambition?

I want to publish the sequel to TO MARRY A PRINCE, which I should be able to do. And GODS OF LOVE AND WAR, the book of my heart, which I just might. And sing properly, which I never will.

Thank you for finding time to talk to us today. We wish you every success with your books. 

Perhaps helped by your personal assistant presumably writing Kitten on the Keys.

Kind regards,

Freda

You can find out more about Jenny here: 

http://www.sophieweston.net/ 

Interviews on the RNA Blog are for RNA members, although we do occasionally take guests. If you are interested in an interview, please contact me: freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk

Interview with Kate Harrison

A warm welcome today to, Brighton based author, Kate Harrison, who writes for both adults and teens. Before becoming an author, Kate worked as a TV reporter and director on various programmes including Panorama. She is the author of the brilliant Secret Shopper series - which was shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Comedy Romance Award - and the Soul Beach thriller trilogy.

Tell us about your journey as a writer. How long was it before you were published?

I always wrote as a child but I didn’t know anyone who did it for a living, so I did the next best thing and became a journalist, working for the BBC as an education correspondent and on programmes like Newsround and Panorama. It was a really exciting career, but I still dreamed of writing fiction, so did a few writing courses over the years but my work was all-consuming so all I managed was a few short stories. In 2001, Friends Reunited was all the rage – and had an idea about a girl who organises a reunion because she thinks she was the most popular girl in the school. What she doesn’t realise is that most of her ‘mates’ don’t remember her that fondly and are out for revenge.

I finished the book incredibly fast – three months – and had a few rejections, saying that ‘chick lit’ was dead. Which surprised me because I didn’t think a story about a downtrodden thirtysomething mum counted as chick lit. But when I won a competition and that netted me an agent and a publishing deal for my first novel, Old School Ties, which came out in September 2003. The Boot Camp, out in August, is my tenth novel – I write women’s fiction and now a thriller trilogy called Soul Beach.



Doing the plank at boot camp



Talk us through your typical writing day.

I am incredibly easily distracted so I set myself strict goals in terms of word count, plus I use all sorts of apps and tricks to keep myself focused. I start the day catching up with emails and social media stuff, then get down to writing over my second Nespresso of the day (I’m addicted: I keep hoping George Clooney will pop round to deliver a box as recognition of my coffee habit, but it hasn’t happened yet). If I’m writing a first draft, I tend to do between 1,000-2,000 words a day and I don’t edit as I go along – I write lots of virtual sticky notes to myself in the margin saying things like ‘this is BORING’ or ‘research sports cars later.’ I believe that most of writing is in the re-writing – and that a first draft should be written as fast as I can, while the excitement is still there. Then I get very vicious in the second draft and kill as many of my darlings as I can. Once I’ve got my words done for the day, I might think about new projects, or work on promotion.

I also do lots of research – so I became an undercover mystery shopper for the Secret Shopper series, and for The Boot Camp, I went on a week long fitness camp – in November! We exercised for ten hours a day and I lost half a stone – but put double back on again afterwards. I have a very rebellious streak.

What inspires your ideas for your novels?

Conversations with friends, TV programmes, articles (I have piles of cuttings that I go through, with stuff about trends or just a picture of a beautiful room or an even more beautiful man). I do tend to write about ‘zeitgeisty’ topics i.e. stuff that’s happening around us right now, from school reunions, to the brownie guide revival or the horrors of military-style boot camps. I tend to write about all aspects of women’s lives – not just the love story, but also work, family, friends. It’s about the things that matter to me, too: so there’s lots about body image and confidence in Boot Camp.

I had a complete change writing my teen thrillers – the trilogy is all about how social networking can take over your life, with a dash of reality TV, impossible love and the afterlife thrown in. My women’s fiction is all about which characters will fall in or out of love – in Soul Beach, it’s about who will fall to his or her death…

Do you plot your novels in advance or do they unfold before you as you write?

I’ve become much more of a plotter over the years…I think that an author’s job is to be in control of the story and to let the reader know they’re on a journey that will take them to new places. That doesn’t mean I don’t have loads of new ideas along the way, but I tend to work with a grid system which highlights what happens when – especially important when there are returning stories and characters, as in my three Secret Shopper’s Revenge novels, and Soul Beach.

How do you edit your work? What advice would you give other writers about editing?

I go back to all the little notes I’ve left myself during the first draft and separate the minor stuff – making sure a character isn’t pregnant for twelve months, or doesn’t change eye colour – from the major, like pace or character issues. I email myself a first draft on the Kindle to deal with the major stuff. It makes it feel so much more like reading a book and helps me focus on structural stuff. There’s no point writing the perfect paragraph and then realising you’re dumping the entire chapter in the third draft. Then I do a third version where I add in more description or humour or whatever colour I need, before sending to my editor and biting my nails to the quick while I wait for the verdict.

My main advice is that you do what works for you as a writer – the process I use I’ve arrived at by lots of trial and error. Some books are a dream to write and edit, others are harder. And there’s no way of knowing which it might be when you type Chapter One in a brand new Word document.

Do you use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogging to promote your work? Have you found it useful or time consuming?

I am on Twitter as @KateWritesBooks and Face book too – I also blog my latest news via my website, www.kate-harrison.com though I find I blog less now on my own site and more on other people’s sites, to have a dialogue about the themes and ideas and the writing process. I have noticed my attention span has really diminished over the years (!) so I use things like Pomodairo (http://code.google.com/p/pomodairo), which divides the day into short bursts of different activity to help you get more done… but I love social media, too, because it means a writer or anyone working from home no longer feels quite so isolated.

Where do you write? Can you work anywhere?

I write in our spare room which is my office pretty much all the time, except when people come to stay. My desk overlooks rooftops where seagulls nest – I live in lovely Brighton – and where the local cats chase the gulls and vice versa. In fact, it’s so distracting that I’m considering moving my desk to face the wall…

I do sometimes write in cafes or planes – I rather like a bit of background noise after years of working in a newsroom! But I try to save holidays for reading only. It’s one of the issues with being a writer, you can let it take over and never actually take a proper break. 

What genre do you read for your own pleasure?

I don’t tend to stick to one genre – in fact, I love to read a mixture. Now that I have my Kindle, my to be read list includes non-fiction, romantic comedy, thrillers and teen novels. It’s all about the story and the ideas behind it.

How do you relax when you’re not writing?

I love cooking, especially baking, and crafty stuff. I’ve recently learned to use a sewing machine – at school I was useless, but now I’m learning to make my own clothes which is so satisfying. Though I take so long that my latest project, a summer dress, probably won’t be ready much before November… I also love eating out and travelling. 

What one piece of advice would you give to new writers?

Make life as hard as you possibly can for your main characters – the more you throw at them, the more their true character will be revealed and the more we’re likely to identify with them as we read.

The Boot Camp

SIX...days of dawn runs, blistered feet and non-stop sit-ups...
FIVE...meals a day - if half an apple or an oatcake counts as a meal...
FOUR... poster beds not included - but sleep won't be a problem after a ten hour workout...
THREE... women with a battalion's worth of baggage between them...
TWO... hardcore ex-forces trainers with testosterone to spare...
ONE GOAL: To feel like a million dollars, for the first time in your life.
Leave your Mars Bars and Marlboros at the door... this is Boot Camp!

Thank you for talking to us, Kate. We wish you every success with The Boot Camp.

Best wishes, Kate.

To find out more about Kate’s work visit her website at www.kate-harrison.com

Follow her on Twitter @KateWritesBooks

Behind the Scenes at Penrith - From a Speaker's Point of View

Today we take a peek behind the scenes at the 2012 RNA conference at Penrith and see it from four speakers’ points of view. A warm welcome to Kate Walker, Jenny Hutton - from Harlequin, Julie Cohen and Maggie Seed - from D.C. Thomson. You made us think about how we write or should write, laugh and even cry in a good way.

Kate Walker



Talk us through the run up to your talk at the RNA conference, how did you prepare for it?

Kate - Your question made me laugh - the run up to my talk was such total chaos and a lot of panicky rushing about doing so many things, while scribbling notes to myself on things I must remember for the Emotion talk in Penrith. We have had major renovations on the house, and are only just  getting back to normal and organisation and that plus an already late deadline on my latest book haven't left me with much time to spare. I did a talk on Emotional Punch  some years ago and I still had the notes from that, so I pulled them out, and of course I checked through the relevant sections in my 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance, but most of all I wanted this to be slightly different.  To quote a Senior Editor at  Harlequin Mills & Boon, "Three things sell most in romantic fiction and they are- emotion emotion, emotion" so I wanted to get people to see how to express that emotion in their writing.  There have been a lot of books - the 'misery memoires'  that detail lots of miserable things happening to people and some of these have become confused with real emotions, the sort that need to be put into writing romantic fiction. I wanted people to look at themselves, to think about how they react to different emotions, the effects these would have on them personally, so they could then use those reactions when creating their characters. Because when creating the emotional punch for a book, it all needs to come from the characters. The note for that bit I actually wrote on my phone when I was out doing my usual morning walk before I started work. It was one rare day when it wasn't pouring down!

Jenny - We had a number of brainstorming meetings where we looked back at what we had spoken about for the last couple of years and then forward at the submissions we’d like to receive and how we see the publishing world changing.

We nailed down the concept when we thought about it from the audience’s POV. If I was an aspiring author what would I like to know? Then it seemed obvious, we felt that we could give an insider’s view on what we were seeing in terms of submissions, the trade, digital, genre patterns and in contrast we could try and dispel some myths about editors and the submission process!

Julie - This was one of those times when the workshop topic actually arose from my everyday life, so I had a lot of the tools to give the workshop already in my head when I pitched it. 

First off, I watched lots and lots of Pixar films, with a notebook and a stopwatch. This was hugely enjoyable, as you can imagine. I had a very fun evening drawing a three-act story structure diagram and putting the story of CARS on it. And I also had fun selecting film clips to show: I wanted them to be short, yet pack a big emotional punch. 

The day before my talk, in the kitchen in our accommodation in Penrith, I showed my film clips to the other writers who were staying in my block. When they cried, I knew I'd made the right choice.

Maggie - What excitement being invited to give a talk – then total panic while I thought about what I would say. My main aim was to not have an Eric Morecambe moment (All the right words, but not necessarily in the right order).

I debated about whether to enact my favourite scene - FYI, it was in a novel by Sally Quilford, where, after discovering that her deceased aunt had been in a relationship That Dare Not Speak Its Name, and our feisty heroine had inherited her Wild West ranch, she was saved from the baddies by our half-Indian hero, (swoon)…

So, back on track, I decided to keep it simple, focus on the benefits to my audience of a clear message, that I am really keen and enthusiastic about reading their work. I was also grateful to organiser Tom for his advice, when I did a quick run-through beforehand, of not crossing my legs when I talked, as it made me look like I had an urgent appointment in the ladies.



Jenny Hutton



What aspects of appearing as a speaker do you find enjoyable?

Kate - I love sharing talking about writing with an enthusiastic audience, people who want to find out as much as they can and learn how to put what they have learned into their writing. I'm always very nervous before I start  - even though I've done lots of  talks  and courses and l know I've prepared well. Then once I get going  I  relax and enjoy myself. I love it when people laugh because they've got the jokes or, as happened this time at Penrith, when I hear someone mutter 'Oh of course - that's so true . . .  ' Then I know that they've 'got it' - whatever I'm trying to teach. I can almost see the 'light bulb' go on over people's heads. I love questions and answers at the end because then I feel that I can really try to give people the information they most want, or to clarify what I've been talking about if they haven't quite understood it fully.  While I am talking one to one, I can hope to make things clear for everyone else.  I also like  teaching writing because it makes me feel as if I'm giving something back. I've been lucky enough to have a long and successful career (nearly  28 years and 60 romance novels) and it's great  to be able to help people who are just starting out on their journey to publication or are at their beginning of their careers.

Jenny - All of it is enjoyable – meeting new authors and authors meeting us – putting faces to names, sharing information that may help to further someone’s career, when you see a particular point sparking someone’s imagination, and the laughter (at the bits that were meant to be funny)!

Julie - I was a teacher for ten years, and I gave it up to be a full-time writer. I really miss teaching, though, and I get my teaching 'fix' through giving workshops to writers. As an analytical person, I love breaking down topics and figuring out the best way to present them. And to be honest, I'm a bit of a diva and I really like having the attention of everyone in the room.

Maggie - I loved the opportunity to meet writers, and to answer their questions. I was going to say the most enjoyable part of a delivery is when it is all over, and you can lie back and receive gifts of flowers and baby-grows, but at least at the RNA you don’t get your stitches done. There is also more audience participation, whereas delivering a baby is very much a one-woman show.

Julie Cohen

 In your opinion what makes a good audience?

Kate - My talk at Penrith was almost the last thing on the timetable, at 3pm on the Sunday afternoon in the extra part of the conference, so I was lucky to have a good attendance and to have people there who were keen and interested. By that stage of the weekend - and after the Gala Dinner the night before, people can sometimes be wilting and tired and finding it hard to
concentrate. So  it's always good to look out into the audience and see people obviously listening, perhaps nodding agreement, or smiling at the jokes  or making comments as above- and then when I gave them  a brief writing exercise to do to  'dig deep' into the emotions we were  looking at and they ways they could be shown, everyone was scribbling away frantically,
obviously seeing what I was trying to get across and finding ways to express it in words - which is what we were all there for, to write. One of the best things about an audience like that is that the writing prompts I give sparks off their imaginations and creativity so that they write almost without thinking and not worrying about getting it 'right'.

Jenny - I once had a lecturer who said that the best audiences were the ones who showed their feelings and their interest as he spoke – that he wasn’t just talking to a sea of blank faces. I felt really guilty because I tended to just sit and listen and write notes without really looking up at him or nodding at the bits that I found useful. Ever since then I’ve nodded away as an audience member and as a speaker I now know exactly how he felt. It’s so important to feel that your audience is engaging with you, and it’s our job to make the talk as unique and compelling as possible and when you see that connection on the faces of people in the audience it’s brilliant.

Julie - They should be interested in the topic, willing to engage and to learn, and they should laugh at my jokes. In this case, the Pixar clips had nearly everyone in the room in tears. Now that's a good audience.

Maggie -The interest, friendliness and enthusiasm of an RNA audience was wonderful, I was really pleased the members were so keen and had so many questions. We had fun.

Maggie Seed

How does speaking at an RNA conference compare with other places you've spoken at?

Kate - The best thing about speaking at RNA is that you have a 'captive audience' really - people who care  about writing . Who want to write, and want to learn how to improve what they rewrite. They are already committed to the subject. And then of course they are all writers who value romantic fiction - you aren't going to get the  carpers who want to know  why you
want to write' that sort of thing' or  will tell you that  romantic fiction is just 'pink and fluffy' and not worth reading - or writing.   You are also talking to an audience who usually have a basic amount of knowledge so you don't have to explain the most basic things, and the people who come to the conference have put in that extra effort, in travel, in paying to be there
and joining in on the whole event. So they are already enthusiastic and involved  as in question 3 above. Looking at it as both a speaker and as a member of the audience as I've been for other sessions, the great thing about the RNA Conference is the variety of different topics and approaches that each speaker  brings to the same broad topic. I may have been in this business  for nearly 30 years but I always go home from each conference having learned something new or been made to think differently or put a new slant on a topic in the same broad field of writing. The enthusiasm of the speakers for their topics and the audiences for what they're learning always spark new ideas and new excitement.

Jenny - All conferences are different but wherever we go - the RNA, RWA, RWAus, literary festivals, library talks etc - the author community is always really welcoming. We love coming to speak at the RNA!

Julie - Speaking at RNA conferences is both easier and more terrifying than speaking at other venues. It's easier because in the RNA, we're all in it together. It's a supportive atmosphere, populated by my friends and colleagues. At the same time, it's frightening because there's bound to be several people in the room who have much, much more experience and knowledge than I do. Thankfully, because this is the RNA, the people who know better than I do are generous with their time and attention and expertise.

Maggie - Although I have never spoken at a conference, I have run slimming classes, where I had to give a talk – and then weigh everyone! So an RNA conference is fabulous in that I only had good news to give out! It was also well organised, but nicely informal too. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Thank you to Kate, Jenny, Julie and Maggie for sharing how your talks came about with us and for being such great speakers at Penrith.

With best wishes, Kate.

To find out more about our Speakers visit their websites:

Kate - http://www.kate-walker.com/

Julie - http://www.julie-cohen.com/

Detailed guidelines of Maggie's My Weekly Pocket Novels can be obtained from My Weekly at myweekly@dcthomson.co.uk

For more information about Harlequin visit - http://www.eharlequinuk.co.uk/