The six Romaniacs shortlisted for the Festival of Romance 2012 New Talent Award - (in no particular order) Celia, Lucie, Catherine. Laura, Sue, Jan, Liz, Vanessa, DebbieOne of the highlights of the Festival of Romance for me this weekend was meeting The Romaniacs. An amazing group of nine talented writers, the Romaniacs represent this year's Romantic Novelists' Association's New Writers scheme which showcases the writing talent of the future.
The girls met a year ago at the first-ever Festival of Romance in Hertford and have since developed a close friendship, not to mention a feisty blog that is followed all over the world.
At this year's conference 'After Fifty Shades - What Next? ' the Romaniacs were among those who dared to predict the future of women's fiction. (I can't give away too many secrets...)
On the subject of blogs the question was simple : what makes people sit up and take notice?
'Sex and swearing' quipped one of the panelists. Whether or not she was serious, I duly took note.
Romaniac Celia Anderson won the Piaktus Prize for her novel 'The Chocolate Project' which will be published as an e-book in the new year.
Congratulations also go also to Lesley Eames who won this year's New Talent Award with her work-in-progress When Storm Clouds Rage.
The rest of us enjoyed every pink-tinged minute and, hopefully, will be back again next year.
