Romance

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RWA Conference Talk

Next week, Romance Writers of America (RWA) kicks off its 31st Annual Conference in New York City —  Bright Lights, Big Stories. As I pack, my home office resembles the back room at Macy’s, filled with assorted tops, capris, slacks, dresses, and skirts. Lots of black, of course.  Black goes with everything. It’s also slimming.  This year I’m adding a splash of turquoise.  Found a darling Laura Ashley top on clearance and couldn’t resist, especially given the comfort factor of the travel ready top.  Comfort is important for conferences.

Editors & Agents answer questions at WisRWA's Write Touch 2011

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the WisRWA Write Touch Conference in Milwaukee.  Wisconsin is my home state so it’s a favorite.  Betsy Norman and her minions did an outstanding job organizing the event.  While there I learned, bought some books, met up with old friends and made a few new ones.  I also placed second in the FAB 5 contest, and came away renewed and refreshed.  Been writing hard ever since, at least when I’m not refurbishing my wardrobe for RWA National. 🙂

I love RWA Conferences — smaller regional ones like WisRWA’s Write Touch and NJRW’s Put Your Heart in a Book, and the queen of conferences, RWA National. Writing can be a lonely profession.  Conferences let me mingle and talk passionately about writing to others who understand.  They provide an opportunity to learn about the craft and business of writing, to network, and hopefully to take the steps needed to sell books.

Here are some tidbits I’ve learned about conferences. After you’ve read them, I hope you’ll share your own conference  lore and wisdom.

1 – Choose a conference wisely. Consider the speaker/s, topic/s, editor & agents attending, reputation, location, size, cost, and convenience.  Start out with a smaller conference or all-day workshop then work your way up.

2 – Set a conference goal. Do you need help with story conflict?  Motivation to finish your novel?  Do you hope to connect with an agent?  Connect with other writers?  Make your goal specific and achievable.

3 – Look professional but dress comfortably.  Wear clothes that make you feel good about yourself.  It shows.

4 – Wear comfortable shoes.  At larger conferences, you’ll be on your feet a lot, in line or walking between workshops.  Aerosoles, Easy Spirit, or Naturalizer are all favorites.  Flats.  Not as sexy as 4-inch heels, but more comfortable.

5 – Act professional. Everyone’s heard “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”  That’s not necessarily true for conferences.  You’ll meet people who could have some influence on your chosen career. Keep a positive, friendly attitude.  Smile.  Be helpful.

6 – Meet new people.  Strike up conversations in line. Ask if you may join a table with an empty seat where you don’t know anyone.  Skip a workshop and find a chair in the lobby or the bar and look for other writers.

7 – Bring business cards and offer to others you meet.  If it’s too late to have them printed, print your own.  See this link to an earlier post with some suggestions.

8 – If you can afford the time and expense, plan to arrive a day early, or leave a day late.  It will let you see a new city, or give you uninterrupted time in your room to write.

9 – Bring nutritious snacks for your hotel room.  Fruit and granola bars are my favorite. And of course, a few pieces of dark chocolate never hurt.

10 – Volunteer.  Conferences take a lot of energy to organize; many hands are needed.  If you haven’t signed up in advance, ask at registration to talk to the volunteer coordinator.  Tell her when you have some free time, and offer your services for an hour or two.

Questions?  Comments?  What advice do you have to share about conferences?

Now, it’s time to fill my suitcase!  I’m off to RWA National! ∞

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On the 18th of April…

A happy marriage is a long conversation that always seems too short.                                                                                                          André Maurois

They were married on April 18, 1942.  The United States had been at war since December and he would soon be called to serve as a Naval Officer aboard the U.S.S. Lexington.  During his time in the Pacific he exchanged long letters with his family and with her, the love of his life.  After the war and his return home they settled into suburban life and raised their growing family — two boys, three girls.  He was a Chemical Engineer who loved history and she was a meticulous homemaker and volunteer.  Both remained devoted to church, to family, and to each other.  It was a good marriage, a happy marriage, one with conversations that always seemed too short.

As writers, even as romance writers, we seldom write of marriages such as theirs. Exciting, passion-filled stories are all about conflict that show a struggle between two souls —  man against man, man against nature, or even man against himself.  Perhaps because life is filled with struggle, we long to read about it.  It is the struggle, the conflict that keeps us turning the pages.  What happens next?  How will they possibly resolve this insurmountable problem?

So we fill our stories with conflict.  If she’s a liberal reporter, he’s a conservative landowner.  If she’s a born and bred Texas rancher, he’s a NYC lawyer come South to stir up trouble.  If she’s the daughter of a Saxon King, then he’s a Norman knight granted her father’s castle, and perhaps her, by right of conquest.

Conflict isn’t only created by who the characters are.  It can also develop naturally through the setting.  Several years ago I heard film critic Roger Ebert discuss the amazing popularity of “fish out of water” stories.  At that time, I was reading a lot of time travel stories in which a modern heroine traveled back to an earlier time.  I started analyzing these and other popular stories. Plop a person down in a strange new world and there is instant conflict as she struggles against the unknown.  The story is not in heroine’s undying love for the hero, but in the conflict she must work through to attain that love.

Once the story’s conflict is resolved, the story is over.   The genre doesn’t matter.  Literary fiction ends with a resolution of problems, happy or sad.  Thrillers and mysteries end with the bad guy’s capture.  Romance ends with the concept of And they lived happily ever after.

What of my history-loving naval hero and his happy bride?   Their story endures in the memories and lives of their descendants.  Tomorrow would be their day.

Happy Anniversary, Tom & Betty!  ∞

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A Writer’s Valentine

My passion is writing romance. I grew up on boy meets girl stories. I watch romantic movies, read romance novels, and write happily ever after stories. For years, I’ve been a member of Romance Writers of America©.  Most of my close friends read and/or write romance.  Finally, and most important, I have been married to my own true hero for well over thirty years.

I should be able to come up with a unique and heartfelt way to say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day.  What can I give him?  And what will he give me?

As I ponder the questions, I don’t imagine that he’ll bring home a bouquet of long-stemmed roses.  That’s okay. I carried white roses on my wedding day. In our years together, he’s brought home roses for birthdays and illnesses, for Valentine’s Day, and sometimes for nothing special.  Nothing special flowers are best of all.  There are times when a soul aches for roses, but not now.

With Valentine’s Day on a Monday, we have no plans for a dinner of prime rib and champagne in a candlelit restaurant.  While the setting is romantic, it is winter, bitter cold, and we’ll both be tired from work.  I’m thinking crock-pot soup, sandwiches, and a Netflix movie.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

We’re beyond buying silly ties and heart-patterned socks and pj’s. There was a time for that, true.  But no more.  Chocolate truffles and bon-bons are out, too.  I’ve managed to lose over fifty pounds this past year.  I feel better than I have in decades.  I’d like to keep it off for me, and for him.

So what will I give him for Valentine’s Day?  I believe I’ll tell him –

~ for all the compliments you’ve given me, deserved or not, boosting my fragile ego

~ for the three sons we created and raised together

~ for trudging off to work in frigid pre-dawn hours, day after day, year after year

~ for the thousands of conversations we’ve had and will keep having until we can no longer talk

~ for the many many adventures we’ve shared

~ for championing the good causes and being my hero

Yes, quite simply I’ll say…for all that and more, I love you.  ∞