Wow! I am still riding on a high from a weekend chock full of learning, networking, and all things bookish!

The weekend actually started on Friday with a day packed full of new information and reminders about things I really should already know. From World Building to Strategies in Self-Editing, I took so many notes, my hand cramped up! The afternoon was full of marketing and branding information and I picked up some great information, both for traditional publishing and Indie or self-publishing.

After the scheduled sessions, I had a break-out session with Kelley Doutre from Sweet Honey Marketing (also one of the presenters) and we discussed what was working and what wasn’t in my marketing. I found her and all of the presenters to be very open and helpful in their advice.

Saturday, I spent a wonderful day amongst the books with my niece, Victoria. She knew she was in trouble within the first couple of vendors when she’d already bought three books! Can’t blame her…the authors were just so engaging and enthusiastic when talking about their favourite subject! Namely, their books and their journey!

As we made our way around the huge auditorium, I was able to connect with several authors who I had met at the Ignite your Soul Book Event last year as well as get to know several new (or new to me) authors and their work. Here are a few that stood out for me:

Kate Smoak was the organizer of the event and I have to tell you that for a debut event, it was so well thought out and organized and attended, it’s like she’s been doing this her whole life! From the engaging workshops to the Rose Thorns and Stars Ball on Saturday night, everything seemed to run like clockwork. Sadly, I didn’t attend the ball, but I heard it was an absolute blast! I picked up her series, The Seasons, billionaire romance with a self-reliant heroine set in Canada, and I can’t wait to read it!

Luce Sutherland, who was featured on the front of The Relatable Voice magazine for her premiere novel Delicious Surrender, a spicy, suspense-filled, erotic romance. She, and many other authors at this event showed me that us older ladies can still write and enjoy spicy romance!

Jill Marie Denton blew me away as a presenter on Friday, then again when I spoke to her on Saturday. Her presentation on Friday was entitled From Concept to Creation and not only was her content amazing, her enthusiasm was contagious! I couldn’t wait to catch up with her on Saturday. She, more than any other person I’ve met on my author journey, has instilled in me the idea of community among authors. After the Ignited event last year, there were several times that I should have reached out for help from the community that I’d met, but I was reluctant to do so. Now, I will not be reluctant.

Kristi McManus was another of our presenters on Friday who I had a great time talking to! I thought that her first topic, Writing Crash Course, would be a little too rudimentary, but even though it was the basics, I still got a lot out of it. But her second topic, Publishing Crash Course, held me mesmerized. As her background is in traditional publishing, she was able to give us lots of great information on query letters: not only how to write them, but how to take the feedback from them to make your next submission, hopefully, more successful. I did pick up her YA book, Our Vengeful Souls, mainly because it’s a retelling of The Little Mermaid from the sea witch’s perspective…and Ursula is one of my favourite characters!

Pebbles Lacasse, who I had met at the Ignited Book Event last year, gave me some great ideas about book covers. All of her cover models are either friends and family or people she approached on the street with the offer to immortalize them on her covers! She also spoke to me a bit about Beta and ARC readers and how she uses them.

I spent some time chatting with Lorelie and Maggie from The Wet Spot Pod. They do book reviews and interviews with authors and once I gave them the summary of Jumping in Puddles, they seemed to be excited to possibly review it! I’ll keep everyone in the loop on that!

On Sunday, the crowds were a little sparser as my sister-in-law, Debbie, and I made our way around the room. The quieter atmosphere gave me a chance to have a nice long chat with Renee Gendron who is involved with the Canadian Romance Writers Community (which I have now joined) as well as the Ottawa Romance Writers Group. Again, she was all about community and I’ve already had a chance to touch base with her again since the event.

Had to finish the weekend with a picture in front of the RCR flower background!

AND here is my haul of books! Over all, it was an amazing weekend. I met so many empowered, successful authors who are making a success of their writing careers and I know that I am one of them. I also know that I have found my community and I can’t wait to work with all of them over the next year!