L to R: Robin, Rachel Hauck, Denise Hunter, and Kristin Billerbeck in Reno
First, let me just say that, of all the blessings my writing career has given me, the best of all have been the many friendships that came with it and through it. Writer friends. Publishing professional friends. Reader friends.
RT Convention
On Tuesday of last week, I flew from Boise to Reno to attend the 2018 RT Convention. The most surprising thing to come out of the convention happened on Wednesday morning: the announcement by Kathryn Falk, the founder of RT, that she was retiring immediately (after 38 years) and RT Book Reviews was closing down at once (site to remain open a year but no new reviews posted). No more RT conventions either. It’s hard to imagine the romance publishing landscape without RT in it.
View from my room
I certainly wish Kathryn, as well as all of the various staff members who have worked beside her for years, the very best.
On Thursday, I spoke on a panel of inspirational fiction authors, addressing how to appeal to the senses without slipping into the sexual. It was called Sweetly Spicy, and we got a lot of great questions.
On Friday, I was one of the HCCP (HarperCollins Christian Publishing) authors who participated in the annual HCCP Sweet Coffee Break. Along with coffee and pastries, we met readers and signed books for them. As soon as that was over, we rushed down a flight and to the opposite side of the hotel for a book signing.
L to R: Denise Hunter, Lindsay Harrel, Kathleen Fisher, Rachel Hauck, Patti Callahan, Katherine Reay, and Robin
Then it was back to my room to change into comfy flying clothes before checking out. After that, I got to hang out with friends, just relaxing and visiting until it was time to go to the airport.
L to R: Kristin Billerbeck, Robin, and Rachel Hauck
Sadly, my schedule was such that I had to miss the awards ceremony where I was honored as the recipient of the RT Pioneer Award for my contributions to the romance genre since 1984. (If you care to watch the presentation video, you can see it on my public Facebook author page.)The award became all the more special, knowing that it is the last RT Pioneer Award that will ever be given.
I would share a photo of the award, but it hasn’t been shipped to me yet. However, my publisher sent me a bouquet of gorgeous flowers that arrived Tuesday. I was so touched by the special words on the card.
Line Edits Done!
Five days before I left for Reno, I received the line edits of Who I Am with You from my editor. We had a bit of a glitch in the Word doc that slowed down my part of the process, but I still managed to have most of it done before I got on the plane. The rest of the edits I managed to complete by the next day.
Whew! Feels so good to have another step behind me. I will see the book one more time (I think in August) when I’ll go through the page proofs.
Back to Writing
After being gone for several days, there always seems to be many more days of catching up. Laundry. Sleep. Mail. Plus I had a lot of website work to do, adding privacy policies to my website and the websites of my clients. It’s good to have that done, especially since Google penalizes sites in the rankings when they don’t have those policies in place.
Now it is back to work on Book #2 in the Legacy of Faith series.
Until next time,
Robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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Congratulations, Robin for this well-deserved award!
Thanks Lynn.
Robin, I’m so proud of you. I’m sad for RT. I remember seeing my first review in RT. I almost swooned. I’ve had fun with all of you at the RT convention and now I’ll cherish those memories even more. I’ll never forget New Orleans and how it turned chilly and we all froze while waiting to go in to the Mardi Gras Museum and have dinner! And the book-signing. Always some interesting happenings there but such fun to talk to and sign books for readers.
You rock, as always. Glad you had a good trip. New book looks wonderful.
Thanks, Lenora. Yes, it was shocking to hear about RT. There is already a Book Lovers Con convention stepping in to fill the reader conference gap. Not sure about reviews, but all of those reviewers are still out there. I’m hopeful.