Just got back from GRW’s Moonlight & Magnolias conference.  And as usual, it was excellent.  The workshops covered a variety of topics, and the hands on workshops on critiquing–which I had the pleasure of co-moderating– and pitching went very well.  The conference was in Decatur, GA this year and was my first time visiting.   I must say, the area we were in was very charming, had excellent restuarants, bars, and shopping all withing walking distance.

Now, on to the conference highlights:  First up, I really enjoyed the pitch workshop.  The attendees were divided up and paired with a published author for hands on pitch work.  I was lucky enough to get author Mark All, and just let me tell you, he really helped me get my urban fantasy pitch together.  Trust me when I say I needed it.  I’ve been writing, living and breathing Contemporary Romance the last 3 years and had no clue how to best pitch my UF.  Mark stepped in and shed light on it for me.  A big help as I went on to successfully pitch that day and received a submission request.  YAY!! for me and THANKS!!!! to Mark for his help.

Leigh Michaels’ workshop, Things that Stump the Best of Us was super awesome.  One of my weaknesses as a writer is that I tend to focus a lot on back story and character history, as opposed to present story action as I start off my stories.  Leigh reviewed quite a few quick tools to help eliminate this, improve pace, and fix up transitions.  Really good stuff, I can’t wait to implement in my revisions.

Of course, meeting up with friends, making new connections and the Maggie Awards are the crown jewels of M&M for me each year.  Here are a couple a memories from the weekend:  Some of the authors I met:

D. Renee was up for a Maggie for Eris this year in the Paranormal category

Leigh delivered two excellent workshops this year.

Got the chance to meet Shiloh at the book signing.  She was being coy 🙂

Gabi gave a great workshop on themes and how they can be used to strengthen your story.

Now, on to the Maggies, we had a ball:

Me & 3 of my critique partners.  Lovely ladies in blue, black and white

Pam and & I posing with author Jax Cassidy

Chudney mid groove- LOL

No clue what Jodi and I call ourselves doing right here.  None at all 🙂

J is feeling the music I tell ya.

Nicki, Trish, and DJ Silver Knight.  He kept us on the dance floor all night long, whether we wanted to be or not!  Good times all around!

Again, another great conference put on by the members of GRW.  I’d be remiss if I left out the highlight of the conference…. I pitched to 2 editors and 1 agent and received submission requests from all 3!!!  WOOT! I’m super excited, even more so because my the editor I pitched my contemp romance to seemed just as excited about my story as I am.  This is important because my contemp happens to fall into a subcategory that makes it a bit hard to place.  But I love the story, so I’m sticking with it.

If you’re an author, published or not, and looking for a conference to attend in 2012, I’d highly recommend Moonlight and Magnolias.  It will be back in Norcross next year which means one thing… The Norcross Train Station for dinner and desert.  Personally, I can’t wait 🙂