Board Candidate Bios

We will be electing a new president and treasurer to a two-year term very soon. Here are the bios of our two candidates:

President – Jackie Horne

I joined NECRWA in 2011 in hopes of transferring the skills I earned during a decade of work in children’s book publishing and a subsequent foray into academia (during which I earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in children’s literature) into a new career as a historical romance novelist. Knowing that the best way to meet new people in any organization is to volunteer, I worked at my first conference, and the following year, ran for the Board position of Treasurer. Since 2012, I have served the chapter in that capacity, keeping track of our chapter funds and paying our chapter bills. But I’m eager to trade in the checkbook and spreadsheets for the more people-oriented work required of a chapter President.

I still keep several toes in academia. I am currently serving as the Chair of the Children’s Literature Association’s Publications Advisory Board, which reviews potential scholarly books for publication. And I also write about the intersections of romance and gender on my blog, Romance Novels for Feminists. But the bulk of my time is committed to writing and publishing historical romance. Since joining NEC, I have self-published two novels under my pen name, Bliss Bennet: A Rebel without a Rogue and A Man without a Mistress. A Lady without a Lord is due out this coming fall. Those books would still just be visions in my imagination without all the support and encouragement I’ve received from my fellow NEC members.

Publishing, particularly romance publishing, is in the midst of a great period of upheaval. As President of NEC, I would encourage our organization to find ways to support the careers of all romance writers, whether they are traditionally published, self-published, or some combination of the two.

Treasurer – Stephanie Kay

I joined NECRWA in 2008 after typing “THE END” on my first romance novel. We won’t discuss that book, it’s very comfortable lining the bottom of my desk drawer. Over the years I’ve learned so much and I love being a member of this chapter. As an avid reader for years and a newbie writer, I’d finally found a group of people that understood that having voices inside your head wasn’t a bad thing. After years of volunteering at conferences and a two-year stint as the program chair for Rhode Island Romance Writers, I’m ready to take on a larger role in NECRWA. I’ve been a mortgage underwriter for multiple national banks for the last decade, and I was a tax preparer for a year. I’m very organized and detail oriented. I think I would be a great fit for chapter treasurer.

September 18 – Self-Publishing Made Free and Easy: Spotlight on Pronoun

Thinking about wading into the waters of self publishing? Just snagged your rights back? Looking for the next indie trend?

Megan Frampton, an author as well as Pronoun’s Author Community Manager,  shares her experience with Pronoun, a free self-publishing platform that take the mystery and confusion out of self publishing. She’ll give an overview of the essential steps in self publishing a book, and explain the digital tools available to all authors, and answer questions about the traditional-to-hybrid transition.  She’ll also discuss how authors who choose not to publish with Pronoun can take advantage of their analytic tools and what Pronoun’s community site, The Verbs, offers to authors of all types and genres.

Megan Frampton grew up in a remote town in New Hampshire where she devoured every book of fiction in her well-read parents’ library. An English literature major at Barnard College with double minors in political science and religion, Megan wrote and edited reviews for a music industry magazine for fifteen years. Eventually, she became editor-in-chief and went on to develop conference programs for the industry. She worked as the community manager for Heroes and Heartbreakers, a romance novel website and now works for Pronoun. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son. She has written Contemporary Romance for William Morrow as Megan Caldwell and Historical Romance for Random House Loveswept under her own name. She has just concluded the Dukes Behaving Badly series for Avon and is working on her next series.

April 7-8, 2017—Conference News

The 2017 Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference will be held on April 7-8 at the Boston Marriott in Burlington, MA. Check out our Facebook page for the latest announcements about speakers, workshops and workshop submissions, agents and editors, and more.

If you have a conference workshop to propose, use our Workshop Proposal Form or email our Conference Workshop Chair, Stephanie Kay at [email protected].

August 21 – Storyboarding for Revisions

So you’ve written a book, now what? Where do you start your revisions? How can you analyze your book to know the revisions you make are the right ones? In this workshop, we’ll talk about using a storyboard to analyze your book and plan your revisions.

Ever since Megan Ryder discovered Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught while sneaking around the “forbidden” romance section of the library one day after school, she has been voraciously devouring romance novels of all types. Now a romance author in her own right, Megan pens sexy contemporary novels about family and hot lovin’ with the boy next door.

June 26 — Brainstorming

Are you stuck in your manuscript? Searching for new ideas? Anxious to talk to other writers about what you’re working on? We’ll breakup into small groups on June 26 and talk about our work. It is not necessary to bring pages, but do so if you think it will be helpful. Just be prepared to talk about your work or help someone else brainstorm theirs.

2016 New England Readers’ Choice Award Winners

EROTIC 

First Place Tie: Lauren Smith – The Gilded Cage

First Place Tie: Lauren Smith – The Gilded Cuff

Second Place:  VL Locey: Clean Sweep                                               

Third Place Tie: Christina James – Desire Me

Third Place Tie: Renea Mason – Cursing Doctor Vincent

 

SHORT CONTEMPORARY

First Place: Tanya Michaels – Falling for the Sheriff

Second Place: Heidi Hormel – The Surgeon and the Cowgirl

Third Place: Kathy Lyons – The Player Next Door

 

1st BOOK

First Place: Katrina Snow – Forbidden

Second Place: Joanna Shupe – The Courtesan Duchess

Third Place Tie:Brooke Newton – Letting Myself Go

Third Place Tie:Nancy Raven Smith – Land Sharks: a Swindle in Sumatra

 

LONG CONTEMPORARY

First Place: Nancy Herkness – The CEO Buys In

Second Place: Cathryn Parry, The Secret Garden

Third Place Tie: Lauren Gallagher – The Saint’s Wife

Third Place Tie: Holly Jacobs – Carry Her Heart

 

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Leslie Jones – Night Hush

Second Place: Marta Perry – Where Secrets Sleep

Third Place: Cate Beauman – Reagan’s Redemption

 

NOVELLA

First Place: Crista McHugh – Tell Me True

Second Place: Tanya Michaels – New Year’s Resolution: Just a Fling

Third Place Tie: Karen Rock – Winter Wedding Bells: The Kiss

Third Place Tie: Marie Tuhart – Red Club Temptation

 

HISTORICAL

First Place: Joanna Shupe – The Lady Hellion

Second Place: Meg Hennessy – A Pirate’s Command

Third Place Tie: Anna Campbell – A Scoundrel by Moonlight

Third Place Tie: LR Olson – A Dangerous Temptation

 

PARANORMAL

First Place:  Angela Quarles – Must Love Chainmail

Second Place: Allie Marie – Teardrops of the Innocent: The White Diamond Story

Third Place Tie: Angela Quarles – Steam Me Up, Rawley

Third Place Tie: Katrina Snow – Forbidden

April 17 – Why and How You Should Market to Public Libraries with Cynthia Johnson + Conference Prep

Cynthia Johnson, writing as Evelyn Richardson, fell in love with the Regency period when she first discovered “Pride and Prejudice” stuck at home on a snow day in junior high school. She has followed that interest through college (where she wrote her honors thesis on Fanny Burney) and graduate school, and continues to indulge herself with membership in the American Society for Eighteenth Century studies and writing Regency set historical novels.

Cynthia has also been a librarian and library administrator for many years, which is reflected in her meticulous period bibliography and lists of reference resources. Living in the Boston area, she has access to, and haunts (electronically or in person) several of the country’s major research libraries.

Find her at evenlynrichardson.net


 

We will also take part of this meeting to discuss what to expect at the conference.

Congratulations to 2016 New England Readers’ Choice Finalists

Winners will be announced at the Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference Awards Breakfast

EROTIC                                                             

Christina James – Desire Me

VL Locey – Clean Sweep

Renea Mason – Cursing Doctor Vincent

Lauren Smith – The Gilded Cage

Lauren Smith – The Gilded Cuff

 

SHORT CONTEMPORARY

Heidi Hormel – The Surgeon and the Cowgirl

Tanya Michaels – Falling for the Sheriff

Kathy Lyons – The Player Next Door

 

1st BOOK

Brooke Newton – Letting Myself Go

Joanna Shupe – The Courtesan Duchess

Nancy Raven Smith – Land Sharks: a Swindle in Sumatra

Katrina Snow – Forbidden

 

LONG CONTEMPORARY

Lauren Gallagher – The Saint’s Wife

Nancy Herkness – The CEO Buys In

Holly Jacobs – Carry Her Heart

Cathryn Parry – The Secret Garden

 

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Cate Beauman – Reagan’s Redemption

Leslie Jones – Night Hush

Marta Perry – Where Secrets Sleep

 

NOVELLA

Tanya Michaels – New Year’s Resolution: Just a Fling

Crista McHugh – Tell Me True

Karen Rock – Winter Wedding Bells: The Kiss

Marie Tuhart – Red Club Temptation

 

HISTORICAL

Anna Campbell – A Scoundrel by Moonlight

Meg Hennessy – A Pirate’s Command

LR Olson – A Dangerous Temptation

Joanna Shupe – The Lady Hellion

 

PARANORMAL

Allie Marie – Teardrops of the Innocent: The White Diamond Story

Angela Quarles – Steam Me Up, Rawley

Angela Quarles – Must Love Chainmail

Katrina Snow – Forbidden

Call for Goldrick Award Nominations

Each year at the Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference, we present the Goldrick Service Award to a deserving New England Chapter member.

The Goldrick, first awarded in 1996, is given in honor of the late Bob Goldrick who, along with his wife Emma, wrote as Emma Goldrick for Harlequin. They were longtime chapter members who generously volunteered their time, knowledge, and help to the chapter and their fellow members. Upon his death, it was decided to create a service award that would annually celebrate a member whose contribution to the chapter exemplified the service and cooperation among fellow writers that so characterized Bob’s legacy.

The Board encourages the membership to nominate any member they feel promotes the best of what the chapter is about, in particular those who have given their time, energy, and emotional/mental stamina to the chapter, especially those unsung members who so quietly give of themselves. Current Board members are not eligible.

The Board will review all the nominations and choose a recipient. The award will be presented to the winner in a special presentation during the conference.. There is no formal nomination submission process for the award. You can simply email or mail your nominations to any member of the board. However, please include a detailed statement as to why you have nominated a particular member since this will help the Board during the selection process.

If you have any questions, contact [email protected].

The board is looking forward to  receiving your nominations.

Past award recipients are:

1996: Neringa Bryant and Jo Ann Ferguson (joint recipients)
1997: Terri Pino
1998: Blanche Marriott
1999: Betsy Eliot
2000: Michelle Drosos
2001: Lori Lotti
2002: Katy Cooper and Cindy Jachrimo (joint recipients)
2003: Barbara Wallace
2004: Lesley Mathews
2005: Jessica Andersen
2006: Liana Dalton
2007: Cathryn Parry
2008: Barbara Keiler
2009: Jessica Smith
2010: Tara Holt
2011: Hannah Howell
2012: Myretta Robens
2013: Valerie Harris
2014: Mary Reiber
2015: Sandy Tabor