Jan Baynham

The RNA Summer Fling

There was no RNA weekend conference this year, but on Saturday, I attended their Summer Fling, a one-day event, held at The Grand Hotel, Birmingham. Because of the 9.00 am start, I travelled with other members of the Cariad Chapter by train on Friday afternoon and stayed overnight at a Premier Inn close to the conference venue. The Chapter was well represented and here we are at Bella Italia enjoying a meal on Friday evening:

Everything about the event the next day was superb. The venue was beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off the stunning ceiling.

It was so good to catch up with old friends, make new ones and be in the wonderful company of supportive RNA members again. There was a buzz about the whole day. After a warm welcome and inspirational address by the Chair, Seána Tinley, we were straight into the presentations. The first speaker was Fiona Lucas who gave us a wonderful, thought-provoking talk on Character Mottos. The session was interactive and we built characters using mottos that reflected their core beliefs. I found this session extremely useful. By brainstorming with my partner, Catherine, I ended up with a much clearer picture of my main character in novel seven. My motto for her was The truth will out.

The second session was by another superb speaker, Virginia Heath, who gave us a fabulous presentation on Saggy Middle Busting. I'm sure it's something we as writers can all relate to. Her talk was inspiring, motivating and full of humour. I shall definitely have the images on her screen in my head as I try to 'MAKE THE MIDDLE MATTER' in novel seven.

After the coffee break with more lovely cakes, there was a video presentation from Boldwood Books with tips on how to match your books to the correct readers and marketing in general. Choosing the correct social platforms for your reader demographic was stressed and how it's so important to get to know who your readers are.

This was followed by a talk by million-selling author, CarrieElks, Writing Is Only the Beginning: Building a Career as an Authorpreneur. She gave us nine rules to follow, talking about how to master marketing and build a long-term brand. She gave us tools to grow our readership and hopefully gain success in our writing story. Although I was in awe of her success and the huge numbers of books she's sold, there was plenty of advice to take on board even at my modest stage. One of the things I took away was when acknowledging how writing can be a lonely business, Carrie recommended 'building your village'. The support of the Cariad Chapter has been exceptional on my own writing journey.

Next was a delicious lunch. It was generally agreed that the quality of the meal and refreshments was excellent. It also gave time to chat with friends and network with other writers.

The afternoon sessions began with Charlotte Ledger of One More Chapter talking about The Secrets of a Bestseller. She spoke about the Sunday Times bestseller, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe - how it was acquired, given its title and how steps were taken for it to shoot up the charts. Charlotte again reinforced the importance of understanding your readers, connecting and engaging with your reading community.

Two editors, Annie Warren and Helena Bacon, then gave a presentation called Rev Up the Tension with Mills & Boon. They talked about the Three Cs - Chemistry, Conflict and Construction. As with the other presentations, I found plenty to apply to my own writing, especially when at the editing stage.

There was another tea and coffee break before the last session. This was Time Management and Procrastination - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, was presented by a panel of very successful, busy writers - Seána Tinley, Ruby Basu, Lisa Firth and Liam Livings. They talked about how they arranged their lives to best make time for writing. Each one had different ways of doing this, each had different times of the day when they were most productive.

©Katie Ginger

After a celebratory glass of fizz on the way out and saying our good-byes, we left for home. My head was buzzing with everything I'd learned, conversations I'd had with writers I previously admired from afar, inspired and motivated to get back to my writing. A huge thank you to the RNA organisers and presenters for such a fantastic event. You are 'simply the best'!

Thank you for reading.

My Book News

Thank you, too, if you have already read The Silent Sister. I've been delighted with the response from readers and humbled by the fantastic reviews.

Structural edits have arrived for book six, The Stolen Sister, partially set in Crete and due out in early 2026. Watch this space!

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