• authors,  conference,  RWA,  RWA nationals,  writers,  writing life

    When you wish… RWA17 National Conference Photo Recap!

    At RWA 17 When you wish…

    I had the joy of spending the majority of last week in sunny, sometimes stormy, always humid, Orlando, Florida at the 2017 Romance Writers Of America National Conference. What a time it was! So much so, that I’m still exhausted an at a loss for words.

    The conference was at the Disney Swan and Dolphin Hotels with workshop schedules jam packed with so many informative subjects it made making your hourly choices quite difficult. Thank goodness for recorded sessions. And the fact that the conference was held on Disney grounds also made, at least for me, a bit  difficult to stay focused on the business at hand since the call of the amusement parks were quite loud and the 10-year-old in me was just itching to go out and play. I found myself watching they clock at times like I was back in elementary school watching for the recess bell.

    That said, it was a great conference all in all. I got lots of writerly knowledge, while catching up with some of my very best friends, (thank you to all who supported diversity by wearing your #WeNeedDiverseRomanceTee shirts) and to top it all off I got to go out and play like a kid again.

    Not to mention I was in the room when Ms. Beverly Jenkins received her Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award!

    Now please check out my recap collages and see if you can spot some of your romance faves who were in Orlando at the conference too!

    RWA Collage 1

    Some of the fab folks in this set: Katana Collins, Falhuni Kothari, Robin Lovett, Kate McMurry and come on me with over 17K steps. that is insane!

    RWA Collage 2

    With our lovely Disney tour group! Thanks so much Deb! Marie Long, Dana Kaye,  Joy of Joyfully Reviewed!

    RWA Collage 3

    Shawntelle Madison, Creah Demps,  Laurel Cremant , Sage Spelling & Aliza Mann, Pintip Dunn, Priscilla, Oliveras, Alyssa Cole, Adrienne Mishel, Farrah Rochon

    RWA Collage 4

    Kate McMurry, Falguni Kothari, Sonali Dev, Alyssa day, Carolyn Jewel, Adrienne Mishel,  Callie Hutton, Beth Yarnall,  Faith Salle, Damon Suede, Alyssa Cole, Falguni Kothari, Synithia Williams, Kristan Higgins, Farrah Rochon & Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Beverly Jenkins!

    RWA Collage 5

    Cheryl Etchison, Megan Frampton, The incomparable Ms. Brenda Jackson, Yarrah St. John & Synithia Williams, Beth Yarnall, Sofia Tate, Shelly Bell, Holley Trent, Tracey Livesay

    RWA Collage 6

    Pricilla Oliveras, Sabrina Jefferies, Megan Frampton,

    The fab women of The Ripped bodice Bea and Leah Koch.

    Sally Kilpatrick, Heather McGovern, Sally Mackenzie, Dee Davis, Adrienne Mishelle and some of the rip roaring members of the RWA board,  Nancy Holland, Fran of Frannie’s Romance, Joyfully Reviewed

    RWA Collage 7

    Me, Jamie Wesley and Flaguni Kothari kicking up at Animal Kingdom. Adrienne Mishel,

    Farrah Rochon, Mari Mancusi, Karen Lynn

    RWA Collage 8

    Wishing you all… dreams coming true and may we all live like Farrah Rochon on a ride at Disney!

    Disney 2

    Best,

    KMJ

    And  P.S.

    In anticipation of Book 3: THE BETTING VOW coming out at the end of the month.

    Betting Vow Cover final

    Both Book 1: INSERT GROOM HERE:

    Insert Groom Here Cover revised FINAL

    And Book 2: TO ME I WED

    To Me I Wed Cover Final

    Are on Sale for a limited time! Now’s the time to check them out if you haven’t already!

    Thanks so much for your support!

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  authors,  Books,  RT17,  Uncategorized

    Reading, Romance & Ruckus at #RT17 Convention in Atlanta

    What a week I had last week at the RT Booklover’s Convention in Atlanta Georgia. I’m sure I can’t properly express what a joy it was to see so many of my old friends in the writer community and making so many new ones. Not to mention (but, totally to mention) I was over the moon about meeting, up close and in person so many readers. There are no readers like romance readers! They are the very best! And I’m proud to include myself in that mix. I’m such a fangirl that’s it’s hard to play it cool and not get all swoony when you’re in the presence of the likes of greats like Beverly Jenkins and Brenda Jackson.

    rt17 COLLAGE abc

    A few of the fab friends in these pics. If I fail to mention you I apologize in advance. Blame it on the after con brain fog I’m still under:

    Me and the Dear DH at the Atl aquarium, Aliza Mann, Our big Romance Jeopardy Winner, Lovely family from Atl, me at the Kensington signing, a sea dragon!, Me with the incomparable Beverly Jenkins, sea turtle, players at Romance Jeopardy

    I also had a knee slapping good time in the workshop I had the honor or participating in called Romance Jeopardy. Thanks to the other workshop presenters: Shelly Bell, Isabelle Drake, Aliza Mann, M.K. Schiller, Sienna Snow and Sage Spelling all went well and we had the best time posing Jeopardy style romance questions to a room full of enthusiastic readers. Another fun part of this was my dear DH joined me in Atlanta and got to sit in the back during our game/workshop. He was impressed and amazed at the knowledge of readers when it came to the stories they loved. He left vowing to read more fiction which I can so get behind.

    I can’t let this post go without saying what a dream come true it was having my first signing with my publisher Kensington books. It was so much fun and the Kensington team showed themselves to be as gracious and wonderful as I has come to know them to be. An extra special thanks to Jane, Vida, Tara and Esi for making me feel like one of the family and to all the amazing readers and my crew, the Destin Divas who came to my table and for the hour had me feeling like the belle of the ball!

    rt17 COLLAGE b

    Robin Bradford, Alyssa Cole, Reese Ryan, Zuri Day and her new fiance!, Tiffany Warren, Latoya Smith, Iris Bolling, The amazing ladies of RT Book Reviews, Sheryl Lister, Janice Maynard, Ursula Renee, Leslie Penelope, Laquette, Brenda Jackson, Jacqueline aka @fangirl_musing, The super Midnight Ace and Kelly! 

    Also an extra thank you to all who showed up and showed out by wearing their #WeNeedDiverseRomance tee shirts. It gave me such a good feeling to see the call for more diversity in the industry represented at the convention.

    This RT was truly a hit. Even tornado warnings during a Scandal Tweet In with Sofia Tate could not dampen spirits.

    Thank you to the Romantic Times team for a super con that I won’t soon forget. Big hugs to Tere Michaels, who somehow was everyplace all at once. I’m thinking she has 2 clones somewhere, but maybe I watch too much Orphan Black. I dunno.

    Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of my collage of pics and see if you can spot some of your favorite folks!

    rt17 COLLAGE cb

    Alisha Rai, Readers Kay and Lynn, Beverly Jenkins, Unicorn Slippers!, Megan Frampton, Ursula Renee, Tara Gavin, Pintip Dunn, Cynthia, Iris Bowling and Midnight Ace,  me and the fab Lorel, Carolyn Hector, Pintip Dunn, Sofia Tate, Jane Nutter

    rt17 COLLAGE d

    Aliza Mann and Sage Spelling, Lena Hart, Lasheera, Leslie Frohberg Kaia Danielle, Carla Fredd, Alisha Rai, Sage Spelling, Aliza Manna, M.K. Schiller, Shelly Bell, Sienna Snow, Kelly, Felishia, Dina, Alyssa

    rt17 COLLAGE eb

    Me & the DH, M.K. Schiller, Ursula Renee, Joyfully Reviewed, Sherelle Green, Kate McMurry, Frannie’s Romance, Sarah Wendell, Blue Saffire

    Till next year. Happy reading!

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • authors,  book launch,  Books,  Bounce Back,  conference,  my view,  writers,  writing life

    Viva Las Vegas! My Time At #RT16

     

    Back from Las Vegas and the RT Book Lovers Convention and though I’m exhausted as all get out and think it will be quite a while before I volunteeringly get on a Starbucks line to order coffee, I’m already looking forward to next year’s convention in Atlanta. I had such a good time seeing old friends and making new ones as I launched

    BOUNCE BACK out into the world.

    bounce back 1000

    That said, here is my recap in a totally non-writerly way… pics.

    Can you spot anyone you know?

    RT Collage 1

    RT Collage 2

    RT Collage 3

    RT Collage 4

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  authors,  conference,  RWA,  RWA nationals

    RW… hey, hey, hey! My time at #RWA15 in pics

    This post is late in coming and I apologize for that, but here it is.  Last week most, well many in the romance community, convened at the Marriot in Times Square for the annual Romance Writers of America National Conference. A fun and enlightening time was had by all, ok I’ll say most because what do I know? What I do know and can say is that I had a good time, though it was quite the whirlwind.

    I’d love to know how is it a day could speed by so fast?

    I want to thank so many for their amazing support of #WeNeedDiverseRomance by wearing their Tee Shirts on conference Thursday. Seeing so many Diverse Romance tees around the conference was just amazing and I do think made quite a bold statement that those in the gate keeper positions could not ignore (I do believe I heard some keys rattling).

    Also I’d like to give thanks to all who came to the multicultural workshop I participated in on Thursday with Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart and Falguni Kothari. Your support was priceless and so appreciated.

    I was also so happy to attend the other workshops held on diversity this year. As a longtime member of RWA I feel there was a much more open and truthful vibe to the conference dialogue this year all around when it came to diversity, self -publishing and the state of the industry. The dialogue, for the most part, was well received and for the parts that were not, let’s just say, they needed to be said.  I’m so happy to hear that RWA will now be forming a special committee on diversity so this will not just be a one year buzz hashtag type of thing.

    Thank you all so much once again for helping make this happen. Please keep up your support by continuing to voice your opinions and get the word out about the need for more diversity in romance and all genres of publishing. #WeNeedDiverseRomance

    Now onto the pics…

    So many beautiful faces! Can you spot some of your faves?

    RWA Collage 3

     

    Lauren Dane, Members or RWA/NYC, Flappers at Passionate Ink party,  Me & the fab Nora Roberts, Holley Trent, Vanessa Peters, Falguni Kothari, Trent Hart, Elizabeth Mahon, Jenn Le Blanc, Trent Hart, Falguni  Kothari, Carolyn Jewel & Carolyn Crane,  Vanessa Riley, Jamie Wesley, Farrah Rochon, Synithia Williams, Tracey Livesay,  Alyssa Cole, Laura K. Curtis, Megan Frampton

     

    RWA Collage 2

     

    Sugar Jamison, Kianna Alexander, Ginger Merante, Falguni Kothari, Kianna Alexander, Farrah Rochon, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Adrienne Trent, Jeannie Lin, Me and Farrah again 🙂 , Me and the Carolyns (again LOL) ! Carolyn Jewel & Carolyn Crane, Seressia Glass, Jamie Wesley, The panel of Diversity in Romance: Why it Matters : Corrina Lawson, Sugar Jamison, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Farrah Rochon, Alisha Rai, My panel Multicultural Romance: When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong and How To Make It Right: Alyssa Cole, Me, Falguni Kothari, Lena Hart, Me and Laura Von Holt and finally the lovely: Synithia Williams, Lena Hart, Mia Sosa and Karen Manns.

    Wowza! Looking back at all of these pics I see how great the conference was and how incredibly lucky I am to know so many amazing, talented and lovely people. Thanks for making this an unforgettable RWA.

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • #WeNeedDiverseRomance,  conference,  jack,  jack pics,  writing life

    Just here… looking pretty

    Jack says, hey people! He wants you all to admire him and his lovely haircut and his bandanna that says ‘I am handsome’ while Kwana runs around over on the sidelines doing all the things a writer does a week before the biggest conference of the year (no, she’s not grumpy or stressed at all).

    Jack hansome (3)

    For those coming to RWA National next week she can’t want to see you and remember Thursday the 23rd is #WeNeedDiverseRomance tee day.  Later!

     

    All the best,

    Jack & KMJ

  • authors,  conference,  my view

    Slammin’ and Jammin’ at Romance Slam Jam!

    So this post is long overdue, but in my own defense I just finally got my bags unpacked last night so there was that. Excuses, excuses. This past week I had the honor of going to Dallas to attend the 20th Annual Romance Slam Jam Conference.

    romance slam jam 2

    Romance Slam Jam is a fantastic Black Romance reader meet writer conference where you can get really up close and personal. Everyone who goes considers it a bookish family reunion and it really is. I even got to see  some members of my private  fan group, TEAM KMJ  in the flesh. Hey, Sharon, Midnight Ace and Jackie!

    The readers get to attend sessions with the writers. Hearing about what that have upcoming, having their questions answered and even playing fun games. And the writes can attend reader sessions learning about what they really look for in the books they love, covers and what keeps them coming back for more!

    RSJ Collage 1b

    I was so thrilled when at the annual Emma Awards, two of my good friends were honored with wins. First, Piper Huguley with debut author of the year and then the fabulous, Farrah Rochon with Author of the Year. There were big cheers all around our table!

     I had so much fun and can’t wait for next year’s conference in Detroit where the amazing Beverly Jenkins will be the Keynote speaker.

     

    RSJ Collage 3b

     

     

    I hope to see you all there next year!

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

     

    Sidebar:

    Just 1 more day to get BOUNCE for only 0.99 cents! Grab it while you can!

  • authors,  conference,  my view

    NOLA… a pictorial

    So instead of getting all wordy about my time in New Orleans last week at the fantastic Romance Slam Jam Conference and then the incredible RT Book Lovers Convention I decided to let pictures do the talking for me with a few collages.

    First up a collage from Romance Slam Jam. I’ll say it here once again… I can’t thank the amazing Farrah Rochon enough for inviting me. I feel like I made so many new friends and I got to speak on my 1st ever panel with the super talented Yvette Hines and Sienna Mynx. Talk about a great moment and one that I’ll always cherish.  Not to mention signing next to our keynote speaker Angie Daniels. Holla! I’m already looking forward to next year in Dallas!

    RSJ collage 1

     

    Next up was the RT Book Lovers Convention at the Marriott. Wowza! Talk about a grand time. Over 2000 attendees and 700 authors. There are still friends I’m connecting with online that I didn’t get to see in the crowd. But I’m sure grateful for those that I did. Can you spot some of your favorite authors in this group?

    RT Collage 1

     

    I was so happy to have my 1st ever RT signing here and to sit next to the wonderful USA Today Bestselling Callie Hutton. There were so many amazing authors in both rooms and I was proud to be among them.  I’ll  also be forever be grateful to my friends who came by to see me at my spot and put on their best fan faces for pics. You all are the very best and we had a fantastic time. Thank you all so much. I can’t wait to whoop it up again.

    Now where are my shrimp and gravy? I’m starting to feel a little put out after not having them for over a day. Hmph. seems a girl’s gotten a tad spoiled.

    Rt signing collage 4

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • Books,  conference,  my view,  videos

    The Sweetest Hangover…

    Hello all! It’s been so long. I’m home from my back to back conferencing and have a huge conference hangover complete with laryngitis from all the talking at high volumes. But I had a fabulous time and now I’m happy to be back home and ready to focus once again on family and my writing. This week I plan on sharing lots of conference pics as soon as I’m coherent enough to put them into some order. But first I’m going to work on waking up and then it’s off to restock the fridge with my (Yay! She’s back home) DD. It’s so nice to have my family of 4 back to together again. I’m amazed at how French my daughter has become. She really did so well and I’ll forever be grateful to her wonderful host family in France who are now a part of our family too.

    Ok I’m off for now… Leaving you with a pic of me my at my 1st RT Booklovers convention signing….

    Kwana RT signing

    And a general recap from Bubba Gump on all I ate while in NOLA (winks to my friend who will totally get this joke). Seems I never met a po’ boy I didn’t like.

     

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • Bounce,  conference

    NOLA Darling…

    What a week this has been so far. I promise a longer post with lost of pics to come soon but I just wanted to mention that BOUNCE is on Kindle Books and Tips today so Yay to that! You can check it out here. Have you picked it up yet at the $0.99 limited sale price? If so thanks and please tell a friend.

    I had the best time at Romance Slam Jam last week and so far RT is a big hit. I’ll leave you with a pic of how my day started off…

    shrimp grits

     

    Yeah, there’s no crying for me and I  know it.

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

  • Bounce,  conference,  my view

    Bouncing in the Big Easy …

    So I woke up this morning in New York and now this afternoon I’m chilling in the Big Easy!

    NOLA b

    For the next few days I’ll be soaking up the romance—along with plenty of good cheer—with many of the top writers and the most delightful and avid readers. We’re  all here at the Romance Slam Jam  fired up and excited to celebrate the genre we love.

    romance slam jam 1

    And then the following week I’ll still be in the Big Easy celebrating romance with RT Book Reviews at the RT Book Lovers Convention.

    RT-banner-CROP

    This is all pretty exciting as this is my first time coming to either of these events as a published author myself. I’ll try and play it cool, but I’m not making any promises. This should be a wild time. I can’t help but wonder though, how the menfolk will fare at home with so many ladies whooping it up in NOLA. Didn’t they try a reality show with that concept a while back? Trust me there won’t be any women in tears to run home here though. LOL.

    As a way of celebrating I’m putting the e-book of BOUNCE on a $0.99 Limited Time conference special! If you haven’t yet, now’s the perfect time to BOUNCE.

    Bounce sale b

     

    All the best,

    KMJ

     

    image from Pinterest