Anne here, and today I’m going to tell you a bit about the Aussie romance writers’ annual conference, which took place last month. It’s in a different state capital city every year, and this time it was in Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia.
I usually arrive a few days early so I can catch up with people before the conference starts. But having caught a cold — for the first time since before CoVid! — I ended up spending the first few days in my room, blitzing my cold with various potions. And to my relief, by the time it started, I was fine. My biggest worry was whether my voice would hold out for the 90 minute workshop I was presenting. (Spoiler alert — it did.)
My room faced out over the sea, and it was beautifully calming — except for the night when there was a storm. I sat watching as dark clouds seethed and lightning forked down to the sea. It must have been on the usual flight path into Adelaide, as plane after plane appeared out of the storm. I heard later that some planes had landed quite late and that one plane had actually been struck by lightning — no crash landing though, and nobody was hurt.
Our conferences usually kick off with a Friday night cocktail party. It’s usually a costume affair, and this year the theme of the conference was “Trope Actually.” (If you don’t know what a trope is, I blogged about it here and Christina also blogged about it here.) The dress up theme is always fun and the cocktail party is a great ice-breaker.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to take as many photos as I wanted, as the venue was very crowded. But here are a few. There were quite a few “runaway brides” (see photo at the bottom of the page) and I loved Clare Connolly’s Pregnant Bride costume, with her holding her book “Pregnant Before the Proposal“. (I suspect I could have brought that baby on quite quickly and painlessly, but I refrained. *g*)
I usually make a costume for the cocktail party, but this year, partly because I ran out of time, and partly because of my cold, I didn’t make one. I’d planned to come as a Christmas Romance — or at least as a Christmas tree. The plan was to buy a few yards of glittery green fabric, cut a hole for my head, pin decorations on the ‘tree’, and make a star headdress. Pretty simple (and a bit slapdash, as are all my costumes) but alas it wasn’t to be. 
Instead I wore a western-style dress with my favorite red western boots that I bought in San Antonio many years ago at an American conference. I also added some western-themed brooches — wolves, cows, and cactuses. To add a touch of silliness (my costumes are always silly) I added a chain of chillis that circled my hat. They were left over from another conference where I dressed up as Chilli Miranda. The photo below was taken my a friend, as the chillis didn’t show up in the other photo.
The week before our conference, the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference had been held — we always schedule our conference on consecutive weekends to enable overseas speakers to attend both conferences — and sadly several of the attendees caught Covid, and had to stay in isolation instead of attending the conference. Two of them were presenters, one being Cathy Yardley who came all the way from the USA. She was very sick, poor thing, and was unable to present. Amy Andrews, who wasn’t too badly affected, did her presentation on Zoom. 
My workshop was about Writing a Series, and I was very pleased when they had to open the next room to cater for the number of people attending. I also enjoyed a workshop by Anna Hackett, who is a very successful indie author (publishing her own books). I’m a fan of her books and have recommended them on our What We’re Reading posts.
The highlight for me was the final keynote speech by the two young women who write as Christina Lauren. Their topic was Tropes, HEAs, and female joy: How to achieve longevity in your romance career. I’m a fan of their books — as are several of the wenches‚ but their workshop was on at the same time as mine so I hadn’t been able to see that. However their keynote was fantastic — informative, funny and inspiring. If you ever get the chance to see them talk, grab it.
And if you like listening to podcasts, there’s one here reporting on the conference in more detail.
I caught up with a lot of writing friends — the annual conference is often the only time I see most of them, as we’re scattered all over the country. And I came away inspired and refreshed.
Next year the conference will be in Tasmania for the first time. I’m already looking forward to it.
What about you? Do you like dressing up in costume, or do you hate it? If you’d come to our conference, what kind of a costume would you wear?
That sounds like a wonderful conference, Anne, and how neat that it migrates around the country. Have you previously been to Tasmania or will next year be a first?
I can’t recall the last time I wore a costume. I would likely take a low tech approach; perhaps I’d dress as someone with amnesia who has forgotten that a costume was required!
Thanks, Kareni. I have been to Tasmania many times. In fact it was my first “overseas” trip (without parents) when I was 18. A friend and I traveled all around Tasmania, staying in youth hostels and doing a bit of hitch-hiking along the way. We even teamed up with a couple of boys and split up, as the boys were having a lot of trouble getting lifts, while we two girls had no trouble at all. And once we were a boy and a girl, it was just as easy to get lifts. And the two guys were really nice boys.
Am chuckling at your amnesia costume excuse.
It was a fun Trope Themed Cocktail Party. I came as a Bride abandoned at the altar, by my gorgeous groom (The fabulous Tom Ellis from Lucifer fame), in the picture above. There were a lot of brides, hahaha.
It was lovely to see you Anne. I’m also looking forward to the conference in Tasmania next year.
Thanks, Savannah — it was great to catch up with you too. There were lots of fab costumes, but the venue for the cocktail party was so crowded it was hard to get photos. I was very grateful to get that one of Clare.
I agree Anne, It was not an appropriate space for the number of people who attended the cocktail party. It was hard to move around, hard to get the chance to see all the costumes, or talk to many people
Thanks, Savannah — yes I usually take a lot more photos of the costumes, but it really wasn’t easy in that place. Still, it was a fun event, and it did break the ice for a lot of the newbies. And you looked great as a bride!
I hate wearing costume but for romance writers I would make an exception. My hero Albert Einstein also disliked dressing up so in his honour I would wear a loose fitting sweater with the equation E = mc2 emblazoned across the chest. My trope would be SciFi time travel through black holes.
Do you set out to write a series when you first take up your pen or does the series evolve from loose ends, a bit like us emerging from the primordial soup?
Quantum, I’m sure you’d look quite dashing and intelligent and would fit in nicely. There were a few SciFi costumes, as several excellent authors of that genre were there.
I find it easier to dress up in a silly costume than to wear something deliberately glamorous. Somehow I feel I can achieve ridiculous much more easily than glamorous. *g*
As for your second question, I’ll reserve that for another blog. It’s not really a short answer.
I LOVE dressing up and so wish I could come to one of your conferences! I would dress up in my Viking costume (unless the conference is in a very hot location – it’s mainly made of thick wool!) or possibly in one of my Japanese kimonos. So glad you recovered from your cold just in time to participate and do your talk/workshop! It all sounds wonderful.
Oh Christina, you’d be most welcome. The Viking costume would be perfect for next year’s conference cocktail party, as the theme is “Winter Wonderland”. Tasmania is in the south of Australia, which means it’s the coldest part, and the conference is always in August, which is winter here. Mind you we’ll be in a hotel, so it won’t be freezing inside.
When I first went to a US conferences, which was in July, I initially packed for summer — but then luckily the wenches warned me that the air conditioning would be on full blast inside the hotel, and I should also bring something warm. And they were right — inside the hotel it was freezing, and I was very glad I’d brought a couple of shawls and some long-sleeved tops. I remember doing a couple of quite long walks in San Antonio, outside in 100F weather, and then coming inside and shivering. it was dry heat outside, which doesn’t bother me at all. I wilt in high humidity.
Thanks for sharing today. The conference sounds wonderful and you look like a true westerner-
Heh heh — not quite a “true westerner” Annette, but an easy dress-up. And I did see a LOT of young women in Texas, heading out for the night in gorgeous floaty dresses, and wearing cowboy boots, so I took them as my inspiration. And my boots are really comfortable
Too bad we can’t see your red boots in the photo, Anne! I’m very glad you recovered from your cold in time to enjoy the conference – and at least you had a gorgeous view while recovering!
I detest being in costume, always have, but I love making them for other people. In high school drama club, I gathered costumes for several productions, and ended up making a few, too. The one I most remember was a dress for Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest – although I cannot remember why a high school drama club in the Southern US ever thought that play was a good idea for us! These days, I make Halloween costumes for grand nieces and nephews – it’s always fun to find out what they want “to be”.
How lovely to be making hallowe’en costumes for your grandies, Constance. A friend of mine’s grandchildren live in Spain, and they seem to have many dress-up days at their school, it’s such fun. Their Spanish grandma gets to make the costumes and my friend is a little bit envious, I think. Little kids in costumes are so cute.
And just for you — and a couple of other people — I’ve posted a photo of my red boots on my personal blog. https://www.annegracie.com/a-few-more-pics/
Thanks, Anne – heading to the blog now!
What a wonderful blog, Anne! I’ve been lucky enough to attend to RWAustralia conferences and both were wonderful: one in Brisbane and one in Melbourne. I’d love to see Tasmania, but I don’t see that happening so I’ll wait for your post on that conference!
Thanks, Mary Jo. I well remember you in your eastern costume with a veil. Tasmania is a beautiful state, with some really spectacular wilderness areas, as well as a lot of lush farmland, and historic buildings, but winter isn’t the best time to visit. They even sometimes have snow!(gasp) there!
Thanks for your description of the conference sounds like it was fun a d i teresting!
Dressing up is fun! When I go to fhe JASNA AGM’s i always wear my regency dress complete with fan and reticule! I also have an eighteenth century gown that i made for the Bicentennial in 1976 which i also wear sometimes. We even try to use some lf the slang of the period…such fun!
Jane that sounds delightful. As I said to Teresa above, we also have an annual Jane Austen festival in Australia and people dress up there. I think going into costume often frees some people from being themselves, and they can happily act the part. I love the idea os using the slang of the time, though I’m guessing most of that will have come from Georgette Heyer. Austen wasn’t a big one for slang in her books.
Sounds like you had a lot of fun Anne! I’m not mad keen on dressing up but I did don a regency costume with my daughters when we went to The Jane Austen Festival in Bath some years ago. I enjoyed that and it was great seeing the effort everyone made.
The Jane Austen festivals sound great, Teresa — we have one in Australia, too, and people dress up in Regency fashions as well — even (gasp!) quite a few men! I’m wishing my mum had kept the dress I wore as a bridesmaid for my sister’s wedding. It was Regency style — caught under the bust, with an a-line skirt, and was white with pink hail spots. But somewhere along the line it disappeared. Mind you I probably wouldn’t have been able to fit into it — I was 13 at the time. *g*