What I learnt at the RWA conference: part 2

So, what happened next?

Saturday night was the BIG DINNER to announce the winners of all the BIG awards. This is the second awards dinner I've attended - last year's was in Brisbane - and they are great fun.

This year was better because I met some unreal women - generous, optimistic, warm and funny chicky babes who are passionate about writing.

But I digress. Here are my personal highlights from the two SUPER Sunday sessions.

Sunday AM: Writing from the Inside - Deep Point of View with Denise Rossetti

This was my favourite workshop because Rossetti, a tiny, elegant powerhouse of a woman, made us write stuff. We had to "hitch a ride in the character's head" and see the scene through the character's eyes. She projected six images onto a screen and everyone had 10 minutes to write about one of them, using deep point of view. Initially, I was keen to read mine aloud. But then I heard some of the others. The competition is tough out there.

Lightbulb moment: You have to see, hear and feel what the character feels.

Sunday PM: Make that Synopsis Sell with Erica Hayes

Next favourite after Denise Rossetti. Hayes is another dynamic and entertaining speaker who explained the art of synopsis writing in simple terms - a synopsis is a showcase of "everything that is cool and awesome" about your book! But she gave us much more than that. The session was a blow-by-blow description of how to structure the synopsis that will keep an agent or editor engaged. Hayes used Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as an example and wrote a synopsis around that story.

Lighbulb moment: A book is a series of turning points

And isn't that just life?