Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Good News


I'm going to start off the conference posts with good news. There was plenty to be had.

I believe I mentioned here that I had an agent appointment at conference. I met with the lovely Emmanuelle Morgen (formerly Alspaugh). I was excited and nervous in turn, but in the end, Ms. Morgen was very good at putting me at ease at the beginning of our meeting.

It was my first time pitching and I had no idea what to expect. I had a whole spiel memorized and turned out, I didn't need it. She asked about me. Seemed interested that I wrote erotic romance. Asked about my novel. Said it sounded interesting and like something she represented but wouldn't know for sure until she'd read some of it. Asked me to send the first three chapters.

That's right, my friends. A partial request.

I'm sure that's par for the course, but it's exciting for me anyway. So, I'm running it through one more spit and polish, one more round through my fabulous critique partners and then I'm going to send it off with REQUESTED MATERIAL big and bold.

That's my personal good news.

I've mentioned on here that 4 of my chapter mates from the Austin chapter were up for Golden Heart/Rita awards. I'm proud to say that 2 of them won!

Sherry Thomas won the RITA for Best Historical Romance with Not Quite a Husband and Laura Griffin won the RITA for Best Romantic Suspense!

Another chapter mate, Jane Sevier, won the Scriptscene contest.

Very exciting.

And my last piece of good news for the day. I'm going to be a full-time author again. At least for a little while. I turned in my resignation letter and my last day will be 2 weeks from today. I've enjoyed the craft shop and it's definitely helped keep my creative juices flowing but with everything on my plate, it was too much.

Do you have any good news to share? I'd love to hear it.

8 comments:

LaVerne Clark said...

All the very best with your agent requested partial! That is VERY exciting!!

I love your new-look blog and website - the colours and images are perfect! And - I see you now have a date for Blood Diamond! Woohoo! Can't wait to get my copy! : )

Gale Stanley said...

Riley, I didn't get a chance to stop by earlier but I wanted to tell you that the site looks great!! Also good luck with the agent request. My latest and greatest is a new contract with Silver Publishing for my novella SILENT KNIGHTS. Other than that I'm still cranking away. As you'll soon find out, it's great to be a full time writer. All the best!

TeresaNoelleRoberts said...

Sounds like you had a great conference. Congrats on the partial request and how very cool two of your chapter mates are award-winners. Huge kudos for taking the big step of quitting the DDJ.

My big news is finally typing THE END on the final book of a series. It's a very rough draft, but it's still exciting. Soon I can say a sad goodbye to those characters and focus on all the OTHER voices in my head. :-)

Suzanne Johnson said...

Wow, loads of great news! Fingers crossed on the partial...since you're going to be a full-time author it would be a great time for a new publishing contract, yes?

Susan Macatee said...

Awesome news, Riley! Keeping my fingers crossed for you on that partial.

My latest news is a first place win in the historical category of the First Coast Romance Writers Beacon Contest for my Civil War romance Confederate Rose.

Riley Quinn said...

Thanks everyone, for the good wishes on the partial. I'll take every one of them! LOL

Teresa, congrats on typing THE END. It is exciting, and a big achievement, even if there is still work to do.

Susan, congrats on the win! That is awesome. You're now an AWARD WINNING AUTHOR. Great job!

Margaret Tanner said...

Wow,
You did do well with your pitch. Good news indeed. There is nothing like it when your writing pals win an award, well except I guess winning youself.

Regards

Margaret

Autumn Jordon said...

Congrats on your request. That is totally awesome. I bet you were walking on cloud nine around Orlando. Good luck, lady!

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