RWA Limbo
First off congrats to everyone I know (and those I don't) who got "the call" that they finaled in the Golden Heart or RITA contests today! It's such exhilarating news, and there's been lots of buzzing around the 'net as a result.
At the same time all this excitement is going on, I have to admit to a bit of a let-down. You see, even though my first book was published in 2007, it wasn't eligible for the RITAs. And, because the rules about publisher recognition changed last year, I wasn't eligible to enter the Golden Heart either.
Now, it's not that big a deal to me that I wasn't eligible to enter the contests, but it brings to a head something that's been bothering me for a while. I'm not really fish nor fowl for RWA right now. I have PRO status (for those actively pursuing publication), but at the same time I am published, so my needs are different than that of most PROs. I am dealing with publicity and contracts, good and bad (or no) reviews, etc.
So, I'm sitting and wondering what RWA has to offer me--at least as a National organization. As support groups, there's none better than my local and online chapters. But after that, what justifies the annual membership fee?
There's another problem here, and it's on my end. I'm not writing romance anymore. The YA that I'm finishing up, is not a romance, although it has a romantic element to it. If I do get back to CHERRY it's not really a romance either, but more women's fiction. I'm finding that the whole romance paradigm isn't one I'm compelled to write these days. Now, RWA is broadening out some. There is Elements, an online chapter that is for women's fiction with strong romantic elements, but although I was there until they started getting serious, I dropped out when they began looking around for people to do things. I was already doing enough of that.
Outside of RWA, there are so many wonderful online communities for writers (and they are free), that I'm having a hard time coming up with a good reason to keep up my membership. Well, there is one. I'm going to National this summer, and in order to attend I have to renew since my membership ends in June. Why am I going to National? Because I want to see some of my friends. I want to participate in the Literacy Booksigning, even though I haven't been able to find out if I'm eligible (and I'd need to donate the books myself since my publisher doesn't).
In retrospect, it occurs to me, that I probably could have arranged to skip the conference--easy since I don't go to many of the events anymore, saved all that fee, and I still would have been able to see my friends.
Maybe that's how I'll do things next year.
At the same time all this excitement is going on, I have to admit to a bit of a let-down. You see, even though my first book was published in 2007, it wasn't eligible for the RITAs. And, because the rules about publisher recognition changed last year, I wasn't eligible to enter the Golden Heart either.
Now, it's not that big a deal to me that I wasn't eligible to enter the contests, but it brings to a head something that's been bothering me for a while. I'm not really fish nor fowl for RWA right now. I have PRO status (for those actively pursuing publication), but at the same time I am published, so my needs are different than that of most PROs. I am dealing with publicity and contracts, good and bad (or no) reviews, etc.
So, I'm sitting and wondering what RWA has to offer me--at least as a National organization. As support groups, there's none better than my local and online chapters. But after that, what justifies the annual membership fee?
There's another problem here, and it's on my end. I'm not writing romance anymore. The YA that I'm finishing up, is not a romance, although it has a romantic element to it. If I do get back to CHERRY it's not really a romance either, but more women's fiction. I'm finding that the whole romance paradigm isn't one I'm compelled to write these days. Now, RWA is broadening out some. There is Elements, an online chapter that is for women's fiction with strong romantic elements, but although I was there until they started getting serious, I dropped out when they began looking around for people to do things. I was already doing enough of that.
Outside of RWA, there are so many wonderful online communities for writers (and they are free), that I'm having a hard time coming up with a good reason to keep up my membership. Well, there is one. I'm going to National this summer, and in order to attend I have to renew since my membership ends in June. Why am I going to National? Because I want to see some of my friends. I want to participate in the Literacy Booksigning, even though I haven't been able to find out if I'm eligible (and I'd need to donate the books myself since my publisher doesn't).
In retrospect, it occurs to me, that I probably could have arranged to skip the conference--easy since I don't go to many of the events anymore, saved all that fee, and I still would have been able to see my friends.
Maybe that's how I'll do things next year.
posted by Gina Black at 5:38 PM
Subscribe to The Gina Channel 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home