#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn (who is also the youngest member of Romance Writers of America's Hall of Fame) was this year's smart, funny and inspirational keynote speaker. Here she is with one of our favorite new historical romance authors, Manda Collins.
Kellie Kamryn's outstanding workshop on staying motivated was one of my favorites. She worked the crowd like a pro and did it in sparkly silver heels. Here she is, rocking those fabulous shoes with an equally fabulous outfit on Maggie night!
By the way, this year's theme was Corsets, Crime, Craft. There were ladies rocking some amazing corsets!
Busy ladies, and published authors, Kim Killion and Jennifer Jakes of Hot Damn Designs offered two great workshops and an up close and personal look at some of the historical clothes featured on the first class book covers they create.
By the way, in case you haven't noticed the Hot Damn Designs logo at the bottom of this page, Kim Killion is the very talented designer of The Romance Dish banner!
Jennifer McQuiston won last year's Maggie for unpublished historical romance. This year, she's celebrating a contract with Avon and a Scottish historical romance, What Happens in Scotland, that will be released February 26, 2013!
For sexy shoes, look no further than the ladies from Charlotte...
More ladies from Charlotte. (These women know their shoes!)
And finally, not to be outdone, these awesome boots from our own Trish Milburn!
Multi-talented Jeanette Cogdell not only made this outfit but also painted her shoes!
The uber-talented Tamara DeStefano. Love this outfit! And yes, she made her outfit too.
The author of Georgian historicals, Emery Lee (a/k/a Victoria Vane) could have stepped from the pages of one of her novels!
Emery Lee/Victoria Vane was kind enough to send me a photo of her blue suede shoes. I was so dazzled by her outfit, I totally missed her shoes!
Finally, a highlight of the M&M conference is the Basket Raffle with all proceeds of ticket sales going to literacy. Everyone outdid themselves with this year's baskets as evidenced by the fact that they sold out of tickets! The Romance Dish basket (an awesome basket, if I do say so) was won by Madeline from Jacksonville (who happens to be one of those ladies rocking the fabulous shoes in the photo above). Congratulations, Madeline and thank you for supporting this great cause!
We hope you've enjoyed our stroll through this year's M&M conference. We'll be adding the rest of our photos to the M&M 2012 album at The Romance Dish facebook page over the next few days so be sure to stop by and take a look.
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes. Do you favor hot pink stilettos or prefer the comfort of a great pair of sneakers? Or, if you're from a warm weather state, maybe sparkly flip-flops are more your style? One person leaving a comment on today's blog (U.S. and Canadian addresses only) will receive a package of books and swag from our conference stash, including Just Like Heaven and The Lady Most Likely..., both signed by Julia Quinn!
~PJ
