Monday, August 25, 2008

What a Weekend, What a Conference

I’m back after a fabulous weekend at the Langham in Melbourne.

The conference was fabulous. Workshops were educational, first sale celebrations were aplenty and catching up with old and new writer friends was fantastic.




In the left photo, Margaret Midwood and I are keeping company with the multi-published and lovely lady, Valerie Parv.

In the right photo, it's me, Margaret and another MRWG member, Rhonda Roberts.

And best of all – I did my pitch to Cindy Hwang of Berkley and she loved “An Angel’s Embrace.” She’s requested the FULL manuscript and asked for it to be emailed. So I’m doing the happy dance.

Now to finish the revisions and get “An Angel’s Embrace” to Cindy pronto.



On the Friday night, it was the cocktail party with an enchanted/magical theme. We were as fairy godmothers or good witches.

In the left photo is me, Serena Tatti, Josie Caporetto and Margaret Midwood. Our beautiful costumes were made by Josie's mum.




In the left photo is Josie, Margaret, Rhonda as Sheik Al Rhon complete with saber and flashing red rose, Lia Kamp and me.

In the right photo is the lovely Jane Beckenham from New Zealand enjoying the party with me and my tiara.



On Saturday night, we have the awards dinner and here we are all glammed up with some very talented multi-published authors. In the left photo, there is Maxine Sullivan (second from left) who writes for Silhouette Desire and in the right photo is Annie West (second from right) who writes for Harlequin Presents.




In the left photo, we have the MRWG gang with (from left): Margaret (back), Rhonda, Lia, Maxine Sullivan, Josie, Serena, me, Gail Robertson and Sara Hood.

Too soon, the weekend was over. The photo on right is us winding down and celebrating with dinner - as if we needed more food after the fabulous Langham spread.

It was a fabulous, fun conference weekend, we're already preparing for the 2009 RWA Conference in Brisbane.

Bye for now.
Elvina

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Almost Here

It’s been a busy few days with the MRWG meeting on Sunday (as always, a fabulous day) and preparing for the Romance Writers of Australia conference this weekend.

Only one more work day then four days off to enjoy time with friends before, during and after the conference.

Over the weekend, I have an editor meeting to pitch my paranormal single title “An Angel’s Embrace” to Cindy Hwang of Berkley.

The blurb for the book is “Can the Angel of Death find happiness in life and love with a mortal destined to die?”

I love this book – it’s totally different to the category romance books I’ve written.

I’m hoping Cindy likes my pitch and requests a partial. Wish me luck!

Elvina

Saturday, August 9, 2008

New Romance Website

On Thursday, several members of the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild attended a launch for a new romance website.











This is Kate Cuthbert, creator of the website cutting the ribbon to officially "open" the website.

It's a great website for both readers and writers alike.

Spend a few moments and visit The Romance Readers website –http://www.romancereaders.com.au/



This is (from left):
Margaret Midwood, Iris Leach and Kate Cuthbert.













Here we are (from left):
Serena Tatti, Margaret Midwood, Josie Caporetto and me!


And here we have the gorgeous Serena and her husband, Ed.


The photo on the right is Serena with Chris Weston and Josie.

And finally, here's me between the gorgeous Josie and Serena.





Wonderful ladies & great friends.

It was a good night, topped by a scrumptious dinner and some
great cocktails!

Who needs an excuse to party!

Elvina

Friday, August 8, 2008

It's Done

Hello All,

Just a quick note to say that YAY, the revisions on "The Tycoon's Toughest Adversary" are done. The book is printed and resting for a final read through and review in a few weeks.

While the waiting continues to hear back from my US editor, I’ll be busy working on my paranormal book “An Angel’s Embrace.”

I wrote this book two years ago and love it. It’s a totally different book from the ones I usually write, with a different voice and tone. And lots of death scenes – well, you would have that when Aletta is the Angel of Death.

I’ll be pitching this book to an editor at the upcoming Romance Writers of Australia conference, so I need to reacquaint myself with the story and characters.

In the meantime, I have lots of books to read and DVDs to watch.

Yes, there’s no rest for the wicked…so I must be VERY wicked.

Bye for now.
Elvina