{"id":3466,"date":"2022-07-19T17:26:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3466"},"modified":"2022-07-19T20:18:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T18:18:50","slug":"love-laughter-and-the-suitcase-of-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/?p=3466","title":{"rendered":"Love, Laughter and the Suitcase of Doom: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was the Romantic Novelists\u2019 Association conference and the room was full of love. It really was!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lynn Forth giving forth and making us cry with laughter.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It was that time of year again. Time for the annual conference. Except excitement was mounting even more feverishly because it was going to be the first time we were able to meet in person for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News of possible rail strikes and heatwaves put an edge of worry onto proceedings but, in the end, all was well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the usual mix of workshops and lectures. No matter where you are in your writing career, you always learn a useful nugget or tip. Plus, it always<\/em> fires up the writing mojo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anita Chapman\u2019s session on Instagram (which is why phones are out).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For a few of us who have been round the block for a while, the motive was socialising. It was such a treat to talk to people face to face after so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Morton Gray, yours truly, Suzanne Snow, Janice Preston, Vicki Beeby, Helena Dixon.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It can be an odd experience and overwhelming. You often spend time with the same people but completely miss others. Some are glimpsed across a crowded room but there\u2019s not time to get chatting before the next session. And there\u2019s always someone you really want to talk to and miss completely. Yes, I\u2019m looking at you, Jenni Keer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This year it was again held at Harper Adams University which is an agricultural college in Shropshire. A favourite venue because of its compact campus and good food. There was also a plastic cow. A star attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ahem. No comment.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The lovely, green campus at Harper Adams.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also my chance to catch up with an old friend made at a previous conference who always gives me a present. You know who you are, naughty lady! I don\u2019t know what I\u2019ve done to deserve\u00a0them,\u00a0but this year\u2019s\u00a0was a gorgeous pheasant mug. It goes back to a standing joke developed during a vaguely hysterical lockdown phone call and it\u2019s now been adopted as my official writing mug!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Georgia the Pheasant!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I also always get given a new fan by pal Lynn Forth, Queen of Fannage. With temperatures rising to 30C on Sunday it came in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
That plastic cow was a complete tart. Here\u2019s Lynn doing the early morning milking round \u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Gala Dinner crowned the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Yours truly, Legend Ian Wilfred and Queen of Fannage Lynn Forth.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Janice Preston, Victoria Walker, Anita Faulkner and a lot of bottles \u2026.!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This year I\u2019d decided to go by train and travelled up with fellow Devon resident and writer of superb cosy crime, Helena Dixon. The return journey, featuring The Suitcase of Doom, will have a blog all of its own. Watch this space \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Helena Dixon and yours truly.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the Romantic Novelists\u2019 Association conference and the room was full of love. It really was! It was that time of year again. Time for the annual conference. Except excitement was mounting even more feverishly because it was going to be the first time we were able to meet in person for three years. News of possible rail strikes and heatwaves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,209,805,875,314,206,389],"class_list":["post-3466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-georgia-hill","tag-harper-adams-university","tag-helena-dixon","tag-ian-wilfred","tag-lynn-forth","tag-romance-writers","tag-romantic-novelists-association-conference-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3466"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3491,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3466\/revisions\/3491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}