Last weekend I attended this year's RWNZ conference - the best conference yet, but also the most fraught. Sadly, M&B writer Sandra Hyatt passed away suddenly over the weekend. I didn't know her personally but have met her and heard her speak at Auckland chapter meetings. A warm, friendly and very astute and helpful writer. My thoughts are with her family and her close friends in RWNZ. She will be sadly missed.
Sandra was a good friend to most of the organisers of the conference, and despite it all and with the deepest of respect to their friend, they managed to ensure that the remainder of the conference ran smoothly and as successfully as the first two days. Extraordinary people.
The highlight of the conference for me was the workshop and talks from US thriller/SF writer, ex - green beret and writing tutor Bob Mayer. He put things in simple to understand terms and I learnt heaps. Tess Gerritsen was funny, very clever, and it's so hard to believe that such a nice lady writes truly scarifying thrillers. Haven't read any, but I'm certainly going to.
I had two pitches - with Kate Haworth of Penguin NZ and with Angela James of Carina Press, who had the bad luck to have caught a rotten cold. Both asked me to submit my manuscripts - so that's great.
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