First, my apologies.  There was no blog up on April 27.

The Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization (NETWO) had its 26^th annual Spring Writers Roundup – a writers conference that has grown into an excellent conference.  This year, NETWO had an outstanding faculty, headed by Jodi Thomas, one of the premier romance writers in the USA today.  I won’t go into all her awards; there is neither time nor space to cover them all.   But she has won four (4) RITA awards (the Romance Writers of America’s Oscar), is a New York Times bestseller, and a three-time winner of the National Readers Award.

But, more important for the conference, she gave a top-notch workshop on Friday and a very interesting presentation on Saturday.  All of that, and what a nice person she is.  We had a chance to visit and it was a delight.

Then there were New York agents Mary Sue Seymour, head of her own agency for the past twenty years, and called one of the top deal makers by Publishers Marketplace.  She opened the presentations on Saturday, and it was a great opening.  She was followed by Weronika Janczuk, an agent with Lynn Franklin Associates.  She packed more information into a forty-five minute presentation that most people can in two hours.  And she went far beyond expectations to see that everybody who wanted an interview, got one.  What a delight.

Corey Mitchell was quite a hit with the attendees.  After the Friday reception officially ended, he still had a flock of writers gathered around.  Again, I had the opportunity to visit with him for a while, and it was a  very pleasant time.

4RV Publishing sent both the publisher and acquisition editor and both had plenty of one-on-one interviews.  In addition, each gave an informative presentation on Saturday. 

Jaye Wells, who writes urban fantasy, also held a two-hour workshop on Friday and the reviews was very positive.   She also made a presentation on Saturday. 

Sylvia Dickey Smith gave a talk on Saturday which was well received.  TAG publishing also sent its two founders down and they held a number of interviews throughout the day on Saturday.  It went well enough that they may come back in the fall and present a workshop for writers in this area.

Not to be too trivial, but this year’s caterer was the best we’ve had in some time.  In fact, my wife wanted to get the recipe for one of the dishes.  (I don’t know whether she did or not, but I hope so.)

The facilities at the Mount Pleasant Civic Center were superior.  I personally had a number of people tell me how great they were.  And there was ample time for networking.  Each member of the faculty was more than willing to visit with attendees, and no one seemed in a hurry.

All in all, it was a great conference, continuing the tradition of excellence that NETWO has established for its spring conference.  If you ever have a chance, spend the last weekend in April at the NETWO conference.  You will be glad you did.