Conference, Announcements, & More...

Happy Wednesday, Thursday, or whenever you read this, darling readers!

IMMORTAL DREAMS basket (bag of goodies)
I donated for the conference raffle

Things have been super busy in the Averie Household (although, when are they not?) And also busy in my writing life, too.

This past weekend, I attended the Northwest Houston chapter of Romance Writers of America (NWHRWA--which I am a member of this chapter) Lone Star Writer's Conference.

The conference consisted of being broken up into 2 parts, a morning speaker and an afternoon speaker.

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE & LION
basket I donated for the raffle

Kerrelyn Sparks speaking at
the 2016 Lone Star Writer's Conference

In the morning we had the incredibly talented, NY Times Bestseller, Kerrelyn Sparks (of the Love At Stake series fame). Kerrelyn is someone I know personally and haven't seen in more than a year, so it was great to see her again, catch up, and hear what she had to say. She talked about different hooks, and about the different parts of writing and how to work within each part. She likened writing to the 4 quarters of a football game (the football part goes over my head, I'm not a football fan, but she broke it down nicely, so I wasn't lost). She also said "You're not JUST a writer. You're never JUST anything." she said that instead of comparing yourself to another writer and their successes or whatever they've done, to compete with yourself. To be the best writer, plotter, or whatever part of writing is your strength.

She gave away some copies of her novels, as well as copies of the ARC of her March 2017 release, How To Tame A Beast In Seven Days.

Me & Kerrelyn
at the 2016 Lone Star Writer's Conference

I really enjoy Kerrelyn's writing and speaking. She's so sweet, funny, and generous. She's a great friend, talented author, and very supportive of other authors. So, yeah, I recommend her for speaking or checking out her work. 

I missed the announcement of the Lone Star Writer's Contest finalists, but they should be listed on the website soon if they aren't already (link is near the beginning of this post).

Sandra Beckwith speaking
at the 2016 Lone Star Writer's Conference

In the afternoon, the extremely helpful Sandra Beckwith from Buildbookbuzz.com spoke, and she had a lot of helpful hints and tips for marketing and promoting. Some ideas I've heard, and some of them I hadn't. There are a few I intend to try and see what happens. She says she has a lot of information on her website, so that's good for those who have or haven't heard her speak. If you get a chance to attend any of her workshops, I recommend it.

If you haven't been following me on Facebook, you probably missed my news!

I recently signed a contract with my publisher for a new Immortal Dreams novel. This novel, entitled Perfect Love is Laney's best friend, Hailey's story. (That's right Immortal Dreams fans, I've finally written Hailey's story!) I don't have a release date, yet, but I'll update when I have more information.

C.C. Hunter will have a brand new release THIS MONTH. Miranda's story, which has been highly anticipated, arrives Oct. 25th. This is the last book in the Shadow Falls series It should be quite an exciting finish to an incredibly imaginative and fun series.

Also, those of you who pre-order Midnight Hour will be able to get a brand-new Kylie-Lucas story entitled, Fighting Back, so get those pre-orders in BEFORE the release date! Click here to Pre-Order from Amazon. Click here to Pre-Order from Barnes & Noble. I'll have to do a more in-depth post about this, but right now, go pre-order Midnight Hour. :-)

Anyway, as you can see, there is a lot going on. I'll update more at another time, and give more of a look at C.C. Hunter's Midnight Hour in a different post, but for now, darling readers, (and for my Immortal Dreams fans, Immortals) I wish you the best of the rest of the week and hoping you're having a great start to October!

Have A Wonderfully Whimsical Wednesday!