Fallen into the Abyss
No, this isn't a post about why I haven't been blogging this year. I'm not sure what's up with that. Perhaps its because I'm spending more time on Facebook and Twittering (you can follow or friend me if you like), or maybe it's because I'm in waiting, waiting, waiting mode which is a rather inactive, boring place to be communicating from.
But today I have a topic. In honor of all the nominations for the Golden Heart and Rita that are going out today, I'm going to consider a question that's been bothering me for almost a year now: should I stay in RWA?
Seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer, but it isn't.
I've been a member since 1993. Even while my mother was dying and then later when I couldn't pull myself together to write for several years, even when I let my local membership with the Orange County Chapter lapse I stayed connected with the National Organization. I found the Online Chapter back in maybe 2002 and jumped right in, making wonderful friends and getting and giving support.
I went from being a novice wanna-be-writer to a published author in these years. But therein lies the crux . . .
Although RWA allows that my publisher is a non-vanity, non-subsidy press, they do not consider that my book (even though it can be obtained through local bookstores and cyberbookstores) qualifies me to be in their ranks of published authors. At the same time, because I do have this book out, they do not consider me to be unpublished either. For the most part this doesn't matter at all. However, there is one important way in which it does: the Golden Heart contest for unpubbed and the Rita contest for pubbed.
One would think that in a sensible organization one would qualify for one OR the other, but I don't. I fall into the great abyss that should not exist but runs between them.
It isn't just the contests. This hole is symbolic of where I fall in the organization overall. I'm not fish nor fowl. I admit I've exascerbated this somewhat by moving from romance to young adult and I don't think I'm going back although I do plan on writing women's fiction (and finishing CHERRY) at some point.
So why leave RWA?
The immediate financial consideration is that it would save me $85 a year (plus the dues to the local chapters which is roughly another $60). Since I have moved too far from the Orange County Chapter to attend the meetings anymore it's arguable that I could just not renew that membership and save. But looking at the whole amount, that's a good chunk of change in this economy, especially if I'm not getting adequate return for it.
Which then makes me wonder, what would be an adequate return?
Networking. RWA has always been wonderful for networking, but you know what? I'm now getting that through Facebook and Twitter and the blogosphere. I'm getting that at Verla Kay's forums and with the occasional Romance Diva fix. When I first started in RWA there wasn't much going on for writers on the internet and now everyone on the internet seems to be a writer, so times have changed.
Industry knowledge. RWA is so slow at keeping up with what's happening in publishing. The RWA Alert sheets that come out are always filled with old news. Maybe there is better information on the loops now, but I've been off them for so long because after many years I got tired of seeing the same questions over and over again.
And I think that's really the bottom line here. RWA has not kept up with me. As a writer I have grown, in fact, I have grown away from them. Sometimes that happens in relationships.
Still, it's hard to give up on an old friend after all these years.
But today I have a topic. In honor of all the nominations for the Golden Heart and Rita that are going out today, I'm going to consider a question that's been bothering me for almost a year now: should I stay in RWA?
Seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer, but it isn't.
I've been a member since 1993. Even while my mother was dying and then later when I couldn't pull myself together to write for several years, even when I let my local membership with the Orange County Chapter lapse I stayed connected with the National Organization. I found the Online Chapter back in maybe 2002 and jumped right in, making wonderful friends and getting and giving support.
I went from being a novice wanna-be-writer to a published author in these years. But therein lies the crux . . .
Although RWA allows that my publisher is a non-vanity, non-subsidy press, they do not consider that my book (even though it can be obtained through local bookstores and cyberbookstores) qualifies me to be in their ranks of published authors. At the same time, because I do have this book out, they do not consider me to be unpublished either. For the most part this doesn't matter at all. However, there is one important way in which it does: the Golden Heart contest for unpubbed and the Rita contest for pubbed.
One would think that in a sensible organization one would qualify for one OR the other, but I don't. I fall into the great abyss that should not exist but runs between them.
It isn't just the contests. This hole is symbolic of where I fall in the organization overall. I'm not fish nor fowl. I admit I've exascerbated this somewhat by moving from romance to young adult and I don't think I'm going back although I do plan on writing women's fiction (and finishing CHERRY) at some point.
So why leave RWA?
The immediate financial consideration is that it would save me $85 a year (plus the dues to the local chapters which is roughly another $60). Since I have moved too far from the Orange County Chapter to attend the meetings anymore it's arguable that I could just not renew that membership and save. But looking at the whole amount, that's a good chunk of change in this economy, especially if I'm not getting adequate return for it.
Which then makes me wonder, what would be an adequate return?
Networking. RWA has always been wonderful for networking, but you know what? I'm now getting that through Facebook and Twitter and the blogosphere. I'm getting that at Verla Kay's forums and with the occasional Romance Diva fix. When I first started in RWA there wasn't much going on for writers on the internet and now everyone on the internet seems to be a writer, so times have changed.
Industry knowledge. RWA is so slow at keeping up with what's happening in publishing. The RWA Alert sheets that come out are always filled with old news. Maybe there is better information on the loops now, but I've been off them for so long because after many years I got tired of seeing the same questions over and over again.
And I think that's really the bottom line here. RWA has not kept up with me. As a writer I have grown, in fact, I have grown away from them. Sometimes that happens in relationships.
Still, it's hard to give up on an old friend after all these years.
posted by Gina Black at 3:52 PM
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8 Comments:
I know how you feel. If I wasn't half an hour from my local chapter, which I love, it would be an easier decision.
What really bums me out is that in the latest round of pro/anti small press discussion, there was a lot of "well, you made the decision to go with X publisher, so there are consequences." I chose my publisher in part because they were a recognized pub. A month after they earned it, RWA changed its rules, so that went away. But my books were eligible for the RITA -- until this year, when they changed the rules again.
I don't mind making informed decisions and choosing what works best for my career. But when the rules change every year, how are we supposed to be held responsible for consequences that weren't there when we made the decision in the first place?
And wow, am I long winded much? Sorry about that. :)
I decided to rejoin this year and probably next because next year conference will be in Nashville and I want to go :) But I don't love my chapter the way I used to, and I am a little resentful of feeling guilty for not volunteering. And like you, I'm neither fish nor fowl.
I like what Kate said about things changing since making our choice of publisher.
Hey Gina
You know, I can't honestly say that I've ever belonged. I *might* have joined the national organization for a year when I first began selling, but my memory is hazy. The reason I don't belong now is clearer to me. My situation is a lot like yours. I would be happy to be recognized as a romance author, but I'm not. My stuff isn't easily cubbyholed. For a long time I was kind of resentful about this. I was ready to fight the good fight defending the romance label, but I never got the chance. With one small exception I won't bore you with here.
There's a more important reason I will not join, and you've touched on it. The RWA is painfully slow to face up to the facts.Publishing is changing and changing fast. Old definitions are not good enough anymore. Not only your 'neither fish nor fowle' situation but also the bruhaha a few years ago about erotica. There's a distinctly holier-than-thou vibe I get from the RWA that I want nothing to do with.
So my vote: spend that money on books, or a massage, or something else that will give you a real boost.
I'm in the same boat, Gina, and have been for a long time.
Of course, I'm not published so I'm one of the dreaded unpubbed in that grand organization.
The attitudes flung around, on the loops and at Nationals, has always been a bit hard to take. Some can't let it rest and just say we are all writers no matter what we write. I can't take the us vs. them any more.
This will be my last year. I'll finish out my term as chap president and fade into the sunset.
Maybe you can even talk me into going back to facebook, which I walked away from earlier this week.
They can't offer me any more at the level I'm at, and the things I would like to know, I'm not allowed to see/hear/know of.
Whatever you decided to do, Gina, I'm more than likely be behind you, cheering you along.
If worse comes to worse, we can always make an Abyss club. ;) We'll have tea and cookies.
I like being a member. Not entirely sure why. I think maybe because I joined when there wasn't a lot of info online and I've met a lot of great people who've taught me a lot (and entertained and inspired me far more) and I love going to National. I think I really felt the need to belong when I moved to France. But I rarely read the RWR anymore and I network elsewhere, too, and I just hate some of the exclusionary things I see happening, even though I certainly don't think everyone involved *means* to be exclusionary. I hate seeing things such as you're encountering, Gina, because *surely* there has to be some way out of it? That doesn't change the month after?
So I say do what you need to do. And if you feel it's best to leave then do that. And then if you feel the need to come back...:-)
When I think about it logically I find myself agreeing with a lot of your points. I suppose I stay because I'm always hoping that things will change and that maybe at some point I can help change them.
I'll have to go and find you on twitter now :)
Kate D--I'm with you on wonderful local chapters. Since I've moved, I'm at least two hundred miles from an RWA group so I lost that glue. And I also made my decision before the rules changed. I would have still been eligible for the GH under the old scenario. Ah well.
MJ--I am thinking I've been to my last National. It was my dream to be there and sign my first book, and I did. I provided the books because the publisher didn't and that was okay. I am always happy to support literacy. But I think I'm done and over it now. I could change my mind in a few years, but I think I'm going to settle for smaller local writing conferences that are more diverse.
Rosina--I am also still burned by the erotica brouhaha from several years back. I think at a certain point one just gets tired of the kerfuffles over nothing. It's not their job to moralize or validate our careers.
Kristen--DO come back to Facebook. I miss your cheery notes! And without RWA to define us, we have all the latitude we want to define ourselves, which is as it should be. Really.
Gabrielle--I think what I'm feeling that is so disturbing is the matriarchial "we know what's best for you" (whether you do or not) that pervades the organization. What's really odd is that one of the BOD is a dear friend and our president is also a friend. If I don't like the organization and how it's behaving while two people who I care about and trust are at the helm, well then it's obviously the wrong organization for me.
Kate P--so glad you found me on Twitter. :)
I'm now in the same situation as you—my book is being published by a legit publisher, but I'm not eligible for PAN. As I understand it, I can't enter my book in the RITA contest, even though I'm no longer eligible for the Golden Heart. And the reasons the BOD gives for these rules disregard the current publishing trends and the makeup of the membership (which is increasingly writers who don't write straight romance).
Yet I'm staying in. The contacts I make are valuable, more valuable, I think, than what I make online.
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