Reader Author Get Together 2024

 JENN McKINLAY: Usually when I go to conferences, they are writer centric, meaning there are workshops and panels about craft and the business of publishing, etc and so forth. RAGT - which stands for Reader & Author Get Together - is not that. 

RAGT, founded nineteen years ago by New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster, is exactly what it says it is -- an annual reader and author get together described by Lori as "a fan-friendly event meant for readers, and open to everyone, readers, authors, and industry alike. The event also raises funds for many local causes." 

Lori Foster, founder of RAGT

Run by Lori and an amazing crew of volunteers (truly awesome people) this year the RAGT attendees raised $37,340 for Cancer Free Kids. It's impossible not to feel good about a gathering like this. 

Also, there are SHENANIGANS and for those of you who know my assistant Christie Conlee, you won't be surprised to learn she was the emcee of this year's event and the chief shenaniganator as seen here in her gown and tiara in the fire truck (yes, there was a fire but it was contained quickly and no one missed a step as the party rolled on).

Christie, our emcee and fire department ambassador

There were so many activities, interviews, signings, and parties (so many parties!) there truly was something for everyone in attendance. And for me, personally, it was a chance to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and meet my readers, which is always a delight. Here are some pics to give you a sense of the event:

Signing with my long time bestie Lori Wilde with help from our
assistant Christie Conlee. (Lori introduced me to Christie years ago).

The crowd! 400+ attendees!

Being interviewed by Lori Foster, just an all around lovely,
funny, big hearted person and a terrific writer.

The Monarch costume party (dress as your favorite monarch)! The outfits were amazing and everyone got a tiara (see below). It's impossible not to smile when you're wearing a tiara - I felt like Mayim Bialik's character on the Big Bang Theory - IYKYK (if you know, you know). 

Meeting readers! So many readers! Delightful!!!

Visitng the hilarious boardroom hosted by Priscilla Olivers, Regina Kyle, Naima Simone, and Sonali Dev (dirty doodles, I'm just saying).

These are just a few of the many, many, many photos - I could go on - but I'll spare you. You're welcome! All of this to say, I hadn't been to a reader centric event before and I have decided I actually prefer it to the author centric ones. The parties were epic and I still had plenty of time to talk business with my author friends. 

So, how about it Reds and Readers, do you prefer writer centric conferences or reader centric ones? Can you think of any that you've attended that had a good mix of both? What do you look for in a conference as a writer or a reader?

The Time Has Come

INGRID THOFT

This is a bittersweet post for me to write, but it’s time to let you know that I'm hanging up my red, leopard print pashmina in the coming weeks and leaving Jungle Red.  This was not an easy decision to make, and it was driven by a lack of time—not enthusiasm—for the blog and the JRW community.  My nearly two years as part of this amazing group of women has been terrific, and I look forward to transitioning to the role of enthusiastic fan.
 

The blog has introduced me to so many wonderful writers, offered travel tips, book recommendations, and a respite from the bad news that seems to be ever-present.  It also gave me the chance to pick the brains of writers I love and share that with readers.  Chevy Stevens, Nick Petrie, David Joy, Meg Gardiner, Linda Fairstein, and Carla Buckley are just some of the writers who answered my questions and yours.

This will come as no surprise, but the Jungle Red Writers are a group of funny, smart, supportive women who have enriched my life.  Behind-the-scenes, if someone is overwhelmed or life throws her a curve ball, the others step in seamlessly and offer support and guidance.  Having technical difficulties with a post?  Someone will wrestle with Blogger and fix the problem.  Frustrated with your publisher? The Reds will chime in with their horror stories and offer you advice.  A family crisis?  They’re on it.  As one of four daughters and an alumna of a women’s college, I’ve spent my life in groups of terrific women:  Jungle Red Writers is one of the best.

Lastly, the Jungle Red readers are an extraordinary bunch.  Thoughtful, perceptive, smart, encouraging—you all are an integral part of this blog.  Your comments are insightful and funny, and your fierce loyalty is without compare.  I am a better writer and reader for having spent time with all of you.

This is the last day I’m in charge of the blog, but I’m not disappearing; I’ll still be a Red for a couple more weeks.  Then I will be out of touch on a long-planned scuba diving and snorkeling trip in the South Pacific.  Barring an unplanned shark encounter, I’ll be back after Thanksgiving and checking in regularly as a fan.  Thanks to all of you for making this a wonderful experience.

Killing your protagonist, is it ever okay? by Jenn McKinlay

Scene: Me, banging my head on desk, and Hub stepping into the thick of it.

Hub: How’s the writing going?

Me: It’s not. I think I’m going to kill off (insert main character who is annoying me here) and call it a day.

Hub: I may wrong but I think your readers might be upset, like, really upset.

Me: But I just don’t see any other way out of this story.

Full disclosure: I haven’t killed off any of my characters but I can see where an author can be driven to murder.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes in the short story “The Final Problem”. Why? Because he was tired of writing about Holmes and wanted to focus on his other writing. He said Holmes “kept his mind from better things”, which he considered his historical fiction to be. Readers were unhappy -- understatement, one woman wrote him a letter calling him a “brute” -- and so pressured Doyle brought Holmes back in “The Adventure of the Empty House”.

I share this story with you only because it’s common knowledge, so hopefully no spoiler but also because Doyle brought him back so even if it is a spoiler, it all comes out okay in the end.

True confession: I’ve read series where an author kills off a beloved main character (a certain YA series leaps to mind, as well as a San Diego amateur sleuth series about a psychic and a detective that I adored) and as a reader I was, well, I’m not going to cotton ball it – I was furious and hurt and vowed never to read these authors again! What can I say? I get emotionally invested in characters and I can be overly dramatic sometimes.

So, while I understand the decision to kill off a character as an author, I am also aware of the betrayal felt by the reader – yes, this awareness has stayed my hand a couple of times. You’re welcome.

How about you, Reds, have you ever thought it was time to kill off a protagonist? How do you feel about it as a reader? Readers, how do you feel when an author kills off a beloved character?

Wish You Were Here! Manzanita Beach, OR

INGRID THOFT

Readers and writers are lucky.  We get to visit all sorts of exotic places in the pages of books, and sometimes, are literary travels take us to real places we might not otherwise visit.

This weekend I had the honor of being the visiting writer at the Manzanita Writers Series in Manzanita, Oregon. A small beach town on the majestic Oregon coast, it is a place whose residents are deeply committed to reading and writing. Visiting this gem reminds me that there are beautiful small towns all across the globe filled with awesome sights and wonderful people.

So tag along with me on my trip to Manzanita Beach, and tell me, where is your favorite small town or the one you most want to visit?

Manzanita Beach, OR

Amazing jelly fish I found on my beach walk.

The Writers Series sign

If there is a candy store in town, I will find it!

The local bookshop, which thrives thanks to dedicated readers.

The view overlooking Manzanita Beach

 Your turn!  Tell me about your favorite small town.

ON AUDIENCE

“When I write I aim in my mind not toward New York but a little east of Kansas.”
John Updike
“I don’t write for my friends or myself…I write for it for the pleasure of it.”
Eudora Welty
“I’ve always tried out material on my dogs first.”
John Steinbeck



HALLIE:
When I first started writing, I had no idea if what I was writing was any good at all. My sister Delia, whom I trust completely because she never sacrifices honesty for nice-ness, was the first person who asked me that awful question when I gave her an early essay: “And what exactly is the point you’re trying to make?” To which I said, uh, ah, well… because I didn’t really know. She was also the first person to say, “You’ve got talent.” Her saying it made me believe in myself. Is that pathetic or what?

So, who do you write for? Whom do you trust to read your work in progress?

RO:
Good questions. This is probably a little scary (especially if you're my editor) but I wrote Pushing Up Daisies for myself. The only platforms I thought about were in a shoebox in my closet. I thought I had a pretty good story to tell and wanted to see if I could tell it. And I did. And eventually two other people thought it was pretty good. So now I guess I'm writing for the three of us. Nobody reads my work in progress. After a third or fourth draft, I'll let my pal Kathy read it, and trust her to tell me if I've lost my mind. Are you volunteering?

HANK:
I'll read it! I'll read it! I can't believe you haven't let me read it yet, as a matter of fact.

When I was writing Prime Time, I would bring in my daily pages and make my husband (a lawyer) read them. He would dutifully read, dutifully laugh. Then then, after a few weeks, about chapter 5 or five, he said, Honey, is something going to happen soon? Yeah, I knew that was a problem. So he still reads, but I fear it's as much for reassurance that I'm not terrible or making some embarrassing legal mistake.

Still, now working on the revisions of book 2 and the proposal synopsis for book 3--at every page, at every word, I picture someone else reading what I wrote. Over my shoulder. Shrugging. Commenting the whole way. Huh, so what's original about that, one hovering 'reader' will say. Oh, that's kind of funny. Yeah, okay I like it. Whoa, unlikely, says another. Predictable. Hilarious. Tangential. The voices are constant. It's like writing with an imaginary but pushy critique group.

If I please the ghost readers, I'll try it on real people. But only when I'm completely finished. No one else reads it along the way.

JAN:
I think in the first draft, for the most part, I'm writing just to make it all work, to make it surprising, and to reveal the characters -- especially the brand new ones -- to myself. I have to figure out who everybody is, what they are after, and how they are going to collide.

On the second draft, I'm thinking a lot more about the reader and I'm looking for ways to make the writing sharper and richer, and the characters deeper. I've got a picture in my mind of the tired, fatigued eyes, reading my book in bed at the end of a long day, and I'm trying like hell to make them jump on to the next chapter -- despite the late hour.

As for who I trust to read my in progress? That's you Hallie. Barbara and Floyd, too. My writers group helps keep me from taking too many wrong turns, along the way. At the very end, I give it to a few trusted volunteers with fresh eyes, usually my cousin Laurie and my friend and fellow writer, Naomi Rand to read the novel as a whole. If I have time, I give it to Robin Kall, a Rhode Island buddy, to catch the Rhode Island mistakes.

HALLIE:
Yes, thank goodness for the writing group. But sometimes I wish I was the kind of writer who was so sure of herself that I could just write without showing it to anyone. That thing about writing being a solitary endeavour isn't really what it's like for many of us. I suppose if I didn't have them there would be little voices in my head, and then you never know where that takes you.