Okay, still not a good title. Will keep working on it.
Day started here at home – got up early and worked on the novel instead of going straight into the con. I think this is the first time I have voluntarily missed the morning of a convention (as opposed to the involuntary missing imposed on me by a wretched body, although I suppose no one forced the alcohol down my throat the night before, so not so involuntary…) Wrote a new chapter yesterday and now know how much work is involved in finishing, and that in doing so the word count will be okay, so that’s a relief. Good timing too, cause one of today’s events is a chat with the editor about the manuscript for Love in Control.
When I did make it in, it was in time to catch the GoH speech by Emily Rodda. It was extremely interesting – she’s a very passionate person, with clear views of what she’s wanted to achieve with her stories. She was quite open about things, and gave a very good insight into life as Australia’s premier children’s author.
Then it was time to buy lunch, and this time I got a proper one – very tasty chicken pieces, but considering the cost of the food versus the size of the serve, I think I’ll stick with the wedges from now on. Off to Dave Luckett’s book launch, where I purchased my first book of the con – I couldn’t help it, it was that good. Then some chatting, particularly with the fabulous Jenny Blackford, before I took my turn on the CSFG table.
Not a lot happening in the dealers room, unfortunately. Had a good chat with Bill Congreve. Val Toh came in, offering to sit for a while, so I took advantage to go off to the Editors and Authors relationship panel, which was good. Great to have two novel editors (Jim Minz of Baen US and Stephanie Smith of HarperVoyager Aus), to get an idea of the individual differences. It’s not all cookie-cutter stuff – that’s why you have to keep sending manuscripts on, cause you don’t know who’s gonna bite.
I wasn’t really involved in the mass book signing, although I did buy and get signed the books by Tracey O’Hara and Deborah Biancotti. More chatting, more advice, more “Nicole, next time, get an agent!” stuff. That was followed by the launch of Richard Harland’s writing website, www.writingtips.com.au, which had a good crowd because of the marketing ploy “there’s free booze and nothing to buy”. Richard knows his audience well.
Most of the convention was then at the banquet. I instead headed off for dinner with my fellow HarperVoyager authors, which was a very, very pleasant way to spend the evening. We had Japanese – teppanyaki, which I love – and there was much chatting and laughing and again, more advice. I sat next to another newbie to the novel writing ranks – Duncan Lay, whose novel just came out a couple of months ago. Duncan’s a journo, so we talked that shop, and writing shop, and there was an extended discussion on green tea…
Back to the hotel, and sitting in the bar talking with Jenny and Jo and Karen Herkes (who is doing a fantastic job of running the con) and her daughter Tara, who entertained us as only young adolescents can. Then it was home, turn the clocks forward, and into bed.
Today’s a big day – meeting with editor, three panels (one involving dress-ups), the masquerade and a performance by Ninjaz with Attitude and then Nick Stathopolous’ birthday. Expect to be exhausted tomorrow.