Meeting Some Author Sheroes IRL at the Yale Pop Rom Fic Conference

 

Flashback Friday to 2 weeks ago when my fandom for romance authors was rewarded while sitting in a Yale University auditorium in a How to Write a Romance Novel workshop taught by publishing phenoms Adriana Herrera & Sarah MacLean! With my sitting in the front row seated next to brilliant Dr. Margo Henderson (Elysabeth Grace*) and Legendary Shirley Hailstock on one side; TWWBF2023 participating author Briana Ellis on the other, who recognized me even with my face half-hidden by my mask! I THINK Nalini Singh was in the audience along with Ms. Bev and so many other super talented, successful authors and book industry professionals. 5th annual The Write Women Book Fest featured panelist Leslye Penelope and I crossed paths in a hallway while searching for the ladies room. WordLink literary agent Macey Howell and I had a lovely chat after a different session. The sister to the documentarian for "Love Between the Covers" was quite engaging as she snapped pics per her sibling's instructions.  

Rev. Jeania Ree Moore and Dr. Katrina Jackson expanded our intellectual and historical horizons in providing context for the student-curated exhibit of "Black Historical Romance and the Archive" artifacts displayed. 

Practical information, thoughtful insights, a palpable sense of community, and fun and laughter and too much goodness to itemize. See some of the content here: 

https://romancefictionconference.yale.edu/program-september-8-9-2023 

https://romancefictionconference.yale.edu/resources 

https://www.newhavenarts.org/arts-paper/articles/lit-fest-brings-black-romance-to-dixwell 

Oh, and books by featured participants are still available for purchase from Possible Futures until 9/30: https://possiblefuturesbooks.com/events/lit-fest-2023 

*Her Cock & Oyster historical cozy mystery series along with her other works are available here: https://www.elysabethgrace.com/egs-bookshop  

Also, my binge reading inclinations prevent me from ordering the C & O series until AFTER TWWBF2023 is over - like as a reward for surviving the event and resisting that particular reading temptation when there's so much work still to do before 10/14.  

[Whenever I spoke to Dr. Margo or Ms. Bev or Ms. Hailstock or Adriana Herrera or Prof. Bly (Eloisa James), my inner dialogue went something like, "Breathe. Make eye contact, but not like a hyperventillating creepazoid freak! Like a sane person!" No one called security so...] 

Hope they do it again next year! 

Even my inner hermit is excited about it.;-)