RomFest is fast approaching

I’ve faithfully participated in The Ashland (Massachusetts) Library Annual Romance Festival* for years—2025 excepted, since I was in London at the time. But this year I’m in Massachusetts, and looking forward to attending with my brilliant assistant, Jessica. She will, no doubt, keep the social media alerted while I spend time with readers and author friends.Once upon a time, events like this happened frequently, all over the country, usually sponsored by local chapters of the Romance Writers of America. That organization has had an annual conference dating to the early days of my career, in the last century. But since the RWA upheaval and COVID, things have changed. Romance writers and readers have had fewer opportunities to gather and celebrate our multi-faceted genre. Yes, we’ve been getting together via Zoom, but it isn’t the same, is it?Still, in the last year or so, I’ve been alerted to more events happening around the country. Some are library sponsored. Some regional romance…