Wednesday Wanderings

Rachael Johns is on the blog today, to tell us about her weekend
at the Sydney Royal Easter Show

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This year I was lucky enough to be invited by my publisher Harlequin Books to attend the Sydney Royal Easter Show for the inaugural Rural Fiction Festival – a celebration of rural fiction. Many, many, years ago when my age was still single digits, I lived in Sydney and remember attending the Easter Show with my mum and cousins, so of course I was very excited to get the opportunity to go again. While the location has moved since I last went, the buzz was still very much as I remembered.

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The Rural Fiction Festival stand was in the Arts & Crafts, Fashion & Style exhibition hall so we were surrounded by creative talent. We were also next door to a wine stand and I got chatting to a lovely lady there, who kept handing me tiny samples of sparkling wine, which I’m sure helped the nerves when it came time to talk over the microphone to the show passersby!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a very busy day talking to readers – die hard fans who made the trip to the show especially to say hello and to some who hadn’t discovered my books yet – so I didn’t get much time to look around the show and check out the other exhibitions. I was sad that I didn’t get to visit any animals or see the woodchopping, but luckily enough I did have a quick look at the fabulous cakes and crafts near the Rural Fiction Festival stand. We also found the time to head over to the CWA stand and buy a zillion scones, which we happily scoffed. Those CWA ladies are AMAZING – the line for their cakes, scones, sandwiches and homemade pastries was LONG but the food was well worth the wait.

But I was mostly there to talk to readers and talk I did. I’ve done library and bookshop events before but this was a little bit different, in that in addition to those keen readers who sat to listen there were loads of people passing by and catching only snippets of the conversations. But Cristina Lee from Harlequin and I took it in our stride, talking (with the aid of a microphone) over the top of the crowd about why rural romance is such a hot genre, why and how I got into writing it and also discussing where authors get their inspiration, among many many other things.

One of the highlights for me (aside from two guys from Harlequin dressing up as farmers), however was the number of men who came up and either bought a book or told me that they’d already read them. It just reinforced for me again that rural fiction really is a genre for everyone and I’m so happy to be writing in it.

If you have time, I’d love to hear about your show going experiences. What is your favourite thing to see, do and/or eat when you go to the Royal Show (whatever state you live in)?

Rachael’s latest rural release is Outback Sisters. Click on the cover image to read more.

Frankie and Simone are sisters and best friends. Could a new man in town drive a wedge between them for the first time ever?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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