Hey Guys! I’m back.

What a wonderful week I had in San Antonio, TX. It’s great to be home again charged and re-charged to write and create. This was my second conference and judging from the experience, it gets better and better every year.

Next year the conference will be held in Times Square, New York City. Wow! Just saying New York City evokes so much creativity and inspiration.

Inspiration was the word that emanated throughout the conference. From workshops, panel discussions, editor/agent appointments or just chilling out with the girls (Here Comes Trouble!), the conference was full of industry leaders and authors both published and unpublished giving advice, teaching lessons, and sharing their experiences in the writing/publishing field.

Romance Fiction is one those genres that people generally love or hate for various reasons. I write romance primarily because I’m inspired by love. Everybody wants to be loved, whether they admit it or not. Who really doesn’t want a happy ending?

And don’t get me wrong, I understand why people may turn their noses up at romance, the cliché’s: the sometimes unrealistic, unattainable hero swooping in to save the damsel in distress. What I do want readers to understand is that it’s not just the boy meets girl and then happily ever after, it’s the journey. The road that the hero and heroine take to get to the end. The promise of what could be. And that is something everyone can relate to and aspire to.

I think it was best said by author Karen Rose who gave such a phenomenal speech at the conference it made me want to get up and go my computer and write until my fingers bled. She said of different book genres,

A Mystery novel gets solved, a Horror novel is scary, and a Romance novel has a happy ending.

So, when people say that romance novels have the same ending, well, it does and so do other books. (smile) It’s an expectation, it’s a requirement.

The conference inspired me to keep going, to be the best writer I can be, to live in my best writer space and if romance is my thing, then Rock On!!!!

And to my girls, Amanda, Natalie, Rebecca, and Mai-Ling, you are inspirational to me because of your fire, your commitment to the craft, the different aspects of writing you bring to the table, your wit, your humor, your bad-assness (God, is that a word-Ha!) and for being the best group of girls a Vice President of Shenanigans (don’t ask) could ever ask for!

To RWA, thank you for being the best organization a writer could ever be a part of. You are all invaluable.

To my fellow writers and readers: Be inspired, be encouraged, and find the good in everything. Happy Writing!

P.S. Oh my Gosh, it’s hot in Texas!!  🙂