This weekend, I attended the Romantic Novelists' Association's mini virtual conference. It was a late evening, but I was able to enjoy a whole range of writing webinars from the comfort of my own home. It was such a fantastic night! I was especially keen to attend the Creating Conflict presentation from the Mills and Boon editors.

​There was a lot of information, but these are just three take home messages from each of the sessions.

This weekend I attended GenreCon 2019 with writing buddy Deeanna West. This was the perfect conference for both of us, where I could indulge in all things romance and crime while Dee could follow her passion for magic and fantasy. We had a great time attending a writing workshop with Kate Forsyth, buying books at the Night Market, and attending all the crime and fantasy panels that we could. This was also my first conference as a presenter, where I chatted about writing competitions with a panel of other award-winning authors. We got a lot out of the weekend, as well as cute bags and a free book.

This is just a little snippet about my experience at GenreCon, thanks to the Queensland Writers Centre.

2018 has been my most successful year of my writing career so far. As a board member of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre, facilitator of the Popular Fiction Writers Group, and entering many competitions, I have been very busy while also working on my three manuscripts. It has been a very overwhelming year with plenty of ups and downs, but I have learned plenty from competition feedback and writing workshops. Again, I feel like I've grown as an author this year and cannot wait to see what 2019 will bring me.

This blog post will share some of my writing achievements and memorable moments of 2018.

In August I attended my second Romance Writers of Australia Conference, which I approached with much anticipation. Conference is an amazing opportunity for aspiring writers to attend craft workshops, learn about the business of publishing, network, and pitch directly to publishers and agents. With the cocktail party on Friday night and awards dinner on Saturday, I love dressing the part for conference and had a great time spending the weekend with fellow romance writers.

I am thrilled and honoured that my romantic suspense manuscript, Almost a Princess, is the recipient of Romance Writers of Australia's Emerald Award for Best Unpublished Romance Manuscript.