RWA National
Wow.
Just, wow.
I am sitting in my hotel room, waiting for the shuttle that will take me to the airport, and the airplaine, and home. But I've just finished attending my first Romance Writers of America National meeting.
As a brief digression - when I first started lawyering, I thought that all large law firms were the same. I figured that one boss was as good as another. And then, I worked in multiple firms, and I found that even the ones that were identical on paper were very, very different in reality.
I thought that all writing conventions would be the same. Bunch o' writers - check. Smaller bunch o' editors - check. Smaller still bunch o' agents - check. Big group of readers - check.
And yet, the feeling of RWA is completely and utterly different from the feeling of Worldcon or World Fantasy or any of the smaller, local cons that I've attended. Even the readers here want to be writers. And the published writers are hugely supportive of the unpublished writers. The convention was about 99% women (maybe a higher percentage than that!) and conversations in hallways might begin about shoes, but then move on to writing, reading, and publishing.
When I attended my first WorldCon, I left having met some of my closest friends in the writing world, but I didn't know that at the time. I wonder what people I've met in the past weekend that will stay in my life for decades to come.
Mindy, pleased, exhausted, and inspired to write. A lot.
Just, wow.
I am sitting in my hotel room, waiting for the shuttle that will take me to the airport, and the airplaine, and home. But I've just finished attending my first Romance Writers of America National meeting.
As a brief digression - when I first started lawyering, I thought that all large law firms were the same. I figured that one boss was as good as another. And then, I worked in multiple firms, and I found that even the ones that were identical on paper were very, very different in reality.
I thought that all writing conventions would be the same. Bunch o' writers - check. Smaller bunch o' editors - check. Smaller still bunch o' agents - check. Big group of readers - check.
And yet, the feeling of RWA is completely and utterly different from the feeling of Worldcon or World Fantasy or any of the smaller, local cons that I've attended. Even the readers here want to be writers. And the published writers are hugely supportive of the unpublished writers. The convention was about 99% women (maybe a higher percentage than that!) and conversations in hallways might begin about shoes, but then move on to writing, reading, and publishing.
When I attended my first WorldCon, I left having met some of my closest friends in the writing world, but I didn't know that at the time. I wonder what people I've met in the past weekend that will stay in my life for decades to come.
Mindy, pleased, exhausted, and inspired to write. A lot.
...maybe giving a workshop on weaving themes in spec fic romance? :)
I didn't realize that anyone on the f-list was in Atlanta - we'll have to make a point of meeting up in Dallas!
I did hear you were doing stories for HQN, which I'd somehow missed. Cool!
GIRL'S GUIDE is actually RDI, rather than HQN. (If, by HQN, you meant the imprint, rather than the publisher at large...) I think that I *finally* have a grasp on the different imprints - should be just about time for them to stir things up again! :-)
Where do your novels fit in, on the spectrum?
Aha. That's right. Mary Theresa was talking about it at the FF&P banquet and I only caught part of what she says. I did mean the publisher, but it's good to have the clarification, and I probably shouldn't have used the line name as an abbreviation. *grin*
My novels are, alas, both unfinished and unpublished. The finished one that was agent-shopped is erotic women's fiction. Somewhere along the lines of Kelly Armstrong, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jacqueline Carey, and Ellen Steiber's Rumor of Gems (which I can't say enough good things about).
I elected not to do the revisions on that one right now because I just don't believe in the story (after six years of working on it, it shows too many trackmarks of what it used to be for me to be happy with it) and don't have the heart to do a white page revision on it right now. The agent in question happily agrees and wants to see my next project the instant it's done.
The new one(s) that I'm working on are also in the same vein. A little less emphasis on erotic and romance, a little more emphasis on women's fiction. Working through the research now while putting pen to paper on a series of EroRom novellas to epublish just to keep the juices flowing (no pun intended, I swear). And then there's the ever present fic.
Now that you know more than you wanted to about me... *grin*
I wish that I'd gotten to Atlanta early enough for the FF&P banquet - I had some family business that delayed my arrival. Sigh. Next year :-)
It sounds as if you have a tremendously clear-eyed view of the field. That's a great advantage as you complete more mss and begin the process of selling them.
Best of luck!
Sounds as though things went well for you. Theat post-con inspiration is always good.
Though we'll miss you at WFC - I was looking forward to having Girl's Guide by then for you to sign.
Any plans to re-visit Toronto?