Saturday 24 July 2010

The Tourist Bits

Two weeks ago I was in Greenwich for the RNA conference. It was a fantastic weekend, the sun shone and we all had a great time indulging our passion for writing romance. Here we are at the Gala Dinner.
Whilst I was in London I also took a bit of time out to be a tourist. I had a lovely few hours on a river trip from Greenwich to Westminster.
This is Tower Bridge.

This is Big Ben.

Another visit I made, was to the Fan Museum. This lovely pair of town houses, dating from 1721 and lovingly restored, is now home to one of the finest collections of fans in Europe.


At the back of the museum is the Orangery, a lovely oasis of calm where you can enjoy afternoon tea on a Sunday. Unfortunately it wasn't Sunday when I was there, but here I am in the peace of the Orangery.


My final tourist trip was to The Royal Observatory, where there was a massive queue just to have a photo taken on the Meridian line. I cheated and stood behind, but still on the line,then went to have tea and cake!


Wednesday 14 July 2010

RNA Conference

Last weekend, as London basked in beautifully hot sunshine, I attended the Romantic Novelists' Association annual conference. Greenwich was the setting - and what a setting!



As usual the conference was full of brilliant talks and workshops, but this year the RNA was celebrating its 50th anniversary. A Gala Dinner was held on Friday night where we all dressed up. Once again shoes were a big focus and photos can be seen on the RNA blog.



For me, the most important event of the weekend were the editor appointments that were being offered. The chance of having an editor read my work and offer advice was by far the best part of the weekend for me. Everything else comes in a close second.



Also announced is a brand new competition from Mills & Boon called New Voices. For more information on this http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/



This final photo of the conference venue was taken from the Greenwich Observatory, where I spent a bit of time being a tourist.