04-12-10  Workshop Schedule is online!
04-07-10  Interview with Samhain Managing Editor,
Lindsey Faber
03-30-10  Matching Grant for Literacy
03-25-10  Congratulations RITA & GH Nominees!
03-19-10  Word is spreading!
02-18-10  Win a ticket to the VIP dinner!
02-17-10  Interview with agent Paige Wheeler
02-12-10  Selena James joins the line up of editors taking pitches at Spring Fling
01-26-10  Interview with Danielle Jackson, lead publicist of Sourcebooks Casablanca
01-07-10  Check out the Booksigning tab
01-05-10  Interview with editor Kat O'Shea
12-18-09  Interview with editor Amanda Bergeron
12-14-09  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
11-06-09  Interview with agent Diana Fox
11-01-09  Early Registration opens
09-15-09  Workshop presenters, agents and editors
07-30-09  Keynote speakers

04-12-10
The workshop schedule is now online! Click Schedule in the left-hand menu, or the link below to see the times:

http://www.chicagospringfling.com/schedule.shtml

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04-07-10
We're sixteen days (!) away from Spring Fling 2010 and are so pleased to present an interview with Samhain Publishing's managing editor, Lindsey Faber.  Lindsey will be taking pitches and presenting a publishing spotlight at Spring Fling:

http://www.chicagospringfling.com/interview_faber.shtml

Lindsey gives great advice and sheds light on the mysteries of digital publishing. There's still time to register or sign up for a pitch appointment at Spring Fling 2010. Just send an email to conference@chicagonorthrwa.org.

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03-30-10
The Sol R. Kaufman Family Foundation will provide a generous grant that will match the silent auction proceeds up to a maximum of $5,000. Thank you!

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03-25-10
Today was an exciting day, especially for the Spring Fling 2010 team. We have speakers, chapter members and one of our headliners recognized as finalists in the prestigious RWA awards for published and unpublished writers. We want to offer congratulations to the following:

Spring Fling Workshop presenters (& chapter members):

Laurie Brown, RITA—Paranormal Romance, WHAT WOULD JANE AUSTEN DO?
Courtney Milan, RITA—Romance Novella, THIS WICKED GIFT

Spring Fling Workshop presenter:

Elizabeth Hoyt, RITA—Historical Romance, TO BEGUILE A BEAST

Spring Fling HEADLINER:

Julia Quinn, RITA—Regency Historical, WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON

Spring Fling Sponsoring chapter members:

Simone Elkeles, RITA—YA, PERFECT CHEMISTRY
Barbara Binns, GH—Mainstream Romantic Elements, DAMAGED GOODS
Erica O'Rourke, GH—YA, UNCHOSEN

Spring Fling attendees:

Cat Schield, GH—Contemporary Series, FAKE FIANCEE, REAL LOVE
*Heather Snow, GH—Regency Historical, SWEET ENEMY
*Rochelle Staab, GH—Contemporary Series Suspense/Adventure, HOLLYWOOD HOODOO

Chicago North seems to be doing something right. If you haven't signed up for Spring Fling 2010, there's still time to register. Our chapter is also auctioning off a critique session where the winner interacts with the chapter via webcam or telephone. You send your pages to be read at one of our meeting's critique sessions and after we've given our verbal comments, we'll send all the written copies, feedback included, back to the winners. Imagine having 20 critique partners from a chapter that produced all these RITA and GH nominees.

*Heather and Rochelle are also Fire & Ice Contest finalists.

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03-19-10
The word is spreading, Spring Fling is almost here!!
Our conference is mentioned on the following postings.

Read about contests and perseverance on Chuck Sambuchino's blog:
www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Perseverance+
And+Encouragement+The+Benefits+Of+Contests.aspx
by our own Pamala Knight.

Sarah Wendell, presenter Spring Fling 2010, has information to share about conferences at Smart Bitches Trashy Books:
www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/
comments/liberty-states-fiction-writers-2010-conference/

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02-18-10

REGISTER AND WIN A TICKET TO THE VIP dinner at Spring Fling 2010!

Register to attend Chicago North-RWA's Spring Fling 2010 and be entered into a contest to win one of two tickets to attend our VIP dinner on Friday night, April 23, 2010. The winners will gain admittance to this exclusive event and a chance to meet our headliners, Cherry Adair and Julia Quinn, in addition to our editors, agents and workshop presenters. Anyone who's already registered for the conference will automatically be entered into the drawing as well as any new registrants before March 15, 2010 at midnight CST.

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02-17-10
Read the excellent interview with agent Paige Wheeler from Folio Literary Management on Anne Riley's blog:

http://annecapitellriley.blogspot.com/2010/02/literary-agent-spotlight-paige-wheeler.html

Paige will be taking pitches at Spring Fling 2010, so get those pages ready and sign up!

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02-12-10
It's official!! Selena James of Kensington Books becomes the eighth and final industry professional taking pitches at Spring Fling 2010. Here in her own words, is what she's looking for in terms of manuscripts:

"I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in April. I will not be presenting a spotlight on Kensington, but I am definitely interested in the editor panel and pitch sessions. I'm looking for paranormal and historical romances for the Zebra imprint, which publishes New York Times bestselling authors Fern Michaels, Hannah Howell, and Jacquelyn Frank."

We're very excited to have Selena at Spring Fling 2010. For those conference attendees who've already signed up to pitch, we will send out an email with an opportunity to rearrange your editor/agent picks if you'd like to take Selena into consideration.

For more information about Selena James, check out:: http://www.chicagospringfling.com/james_bio.shtml

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01-26-10
Next up in our series of interviews with the industry professionals attending Spring Fling 2010, we would like to introduce Danielle Jackson, lead publicist of Sourcebooks Casablanca.  Danielle provides much useful information in learning to navigate book promotion and publicity:

http://www.chicagospringfling.com/interview_jackson.shtml

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01-07-10
Check out the Booksigning tab for a quick peek at the current list of wonderful authors who'll be in attendance at the booksigning event at Spring Fling 2010. We have a seriously stellar line up of talent and more authors are signing up every day.  Remember, the event, held on Saturday April 24, 2010 from 4:30pm to 6pm is open to the public.  Invite your friends!

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01-05-10
The second interview with an industry professional who'll be attending Spring Fling 2010 has been posted. Please check out our Q & A with Kat O'Shea of Leap Books and The Wild Rose Press:

http://www.chicagospringfling.com/interview_oshea.shtml

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12-18-09
In the first of a series of interviews with the industry professionals who'll be attending Spring Fling 2010, we'd like to introduce our first guest, Amanda Bergeron of AvonBooks/HarperCollins:

http://www.chicagospringfling.com/interview_bergeron.shtml

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12-14-09
Keep up to date with the latest information on Chicago North RWA's Spring Fling 2010 with Twitter and Facebook.

Follow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ChicagoSF2010

There's also our new Facebook Fan Page, which is still under construction but available here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-North-RWAs-Spring-Fling-2010/200638251511?ref=ts

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11-06-09
Agent Diana Fox was a guest at The Blog Realm where she gave an informative interview found here:

http://realmlovejoy.blogspot.com/2009/11/agent-interview-diana-fox.html

Diana will be taking pitches at Spring Fling 2010.

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11-05-09
Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, one of the agents attending Spring Fling 2010, shares her thoughts on successful queries here:

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Successful+
Queries+Agent+Joanna+StampfelVolpe+And+Sway.aspx

Joanna will be taking pitches at Spring Fling 2010.

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11-01-09
EARLY REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

We hope that you'll join us for our conference featuring workshops led by our headliners, Julia Quinn and Cherry Adair, as well as authors Jenna Petersen, Elizabeth Hoyt, Jade Lee, Courtney Milan, and Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and many others.

Pitch appointments will be available with guest Editors: Amanda Bergeron (Avon), Lindsey Faber (Samhain) and Kat O'Shea (Leap Books & The Wild Rose Press) or Agents: Diana Fox, Laurie McLean, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, and Paige Wheeler.

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09-15-09
We're very excited and honored to host among our workshop presenters, editors, agents and publishers such well-known and respected persons as authors Elizabeth Hoyt, Jade Lee, Blythe Gifford, Jenna Petersen, Sarah Wendell and Patricia Rosemoor, Amanda Bergeron from Avon, Kat O'Brien from The Wild Rose Press, agents Joanna Stampfel-Volpe from Nancy Coffey Literary & Media and Diana Fox of Fox Literary. The conference will also feature publishing spotlights including Sourcebooks. Stay tuned to hear as names are added to our line up.

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07-30-09
Keynote speakers:  Cherry Adair and Julia Quinn

We hope that you'll join us for the conference featuring workshops led by our headliners as well as author Jenna Petersen, Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and many others.  Editor and Agent appointments will also be available.  Please check our website regularly for updated information.

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