What I learnt this week: Thursday 19th November

It’s important to get out and party

I find it hard going out on a winter’s evening. It’s dark, usually raining, and the thought of making a cup of tea and getting on with a bit more writing seems infinitely more appealing than trudging into London to this stick in the mud. But last night I donned my sparkly scarf and bright pink Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) lanyard (yes, I had clothes on as well) and set off to the RNA Winter Party at the Royal Over-Seas League in London.

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It’s a fabulous venue, and of course I should have taken more photos but I was too busy talking and drinking. Sorry.

An assortment of Choc Lit authors: Evonne Wareham, Jane Eastgate (editor), Sarah Waights, Kate Johnson, Berni Stevens, Clare Chase
An assortment of Choc Lit authors: Evonne Wareham, Jane Eastgate (editor), Sarah Waights, Kate Johnson, Berni Stevens, Clare Chase

It can be daunting, walking into a room of around 200 people, the vast majority of whom you don’t know, but RNA members are a special group. They’re happy to talk to anybody and of course we all have one very important thing in common; a love of romantic fiction.

It’s only at events like this, mixing with other writers, that I actually feel like a writer myself. And what a great opportunity to meet the people you interact with on social media, to gain advice from authors you admire and simply to chat about something your friends are bored to death with you going on about – your writing. These people understand your passion, your gripes, your insecurities. They want to listen (umm, sorry to those I spoke to who might not have wanted to listen quite that much…).

So was it worth the trudge into London? Well, I spent the evening talking romantic fiction to interested parties whilst being served canapes and downing a glass of bubbly, so YES!

 

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