Big Joy in Little Groups

January 29, 2013 by

It’s not a new idea. I spend a lot of time talking about how I much I love and value my local Romance Writers of America (RWA) chapter on these pages.

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I was reminded again of how important these people are to me at our most recent meeting this weekend.

January is always a fun meeting. As we substitute our December Meeting for an early December holiday party it is often two months since many of us have seen each other.

Don’t think we ignore business, we always have a full agenda to attend to, but we also make sure we have time to catch up on each others lives and plan for our writing year ahead of us.

I’m sure that larger chapters have their positives as well, but for me I love that I am part of a chapter where everyone knows each other by name, where we all know which sub-genres everyone writes and what markets they are targeting. I love being part of a group that shares information and offers shoulders to lean on as needed.

For me, my small chapter is a perfect fit.

 

Filed Under: Writing Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Network Power

October 29, 2012 by

To all my friends and readers on the east cost being effected by Hurricane Sandy, you are in my thoughts this week. Please check in and let me you know you’re doing okay when you can.

This weekend at my local RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter’s meeting, we celebrated our twentieth anniversary in a  private, yet powerful, way. (A public celebration to come in a few months.) It was so enlightening to hear the stories of how our group was formed, the struggles they faced, and they foundation they laid for the chapter I later joined and is so dear to my heart.

We went around the room and each took a few minutes to talk about what brought us to RWA and MVRWA and what’s kept us there.

No surprise to those of you who read these pages regularly, because I’ve said it often here about myself, but there was a common thread that the group is not only a wealth of information  but an amazing source of support. Over and again our members said when they were looking for information on what an aspiring writer should do, they were directed to find a writer’s group that they felt connected to.

It is the same advice I give when I’m asked.

As anyone can attest to, when facing a difficult task, it’s helpful to know that you have a connection to people who have traveled the rough road before you, who can draw you a map and give you some direction. Those same people will help you back on your feet when you fall, and cheer loudly when you succeed.

So, I raise my glass to MVRW. Though I’ve only been around for a slim slice of that time, the knowledge and support I’ve gained has been unmeasurable. Here’s to many, many more anniversaries.

Filed Under: Fiction, MVRWA, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , ,

The Conference Community: Tales from RWA

July 31, 2012 by

In the days and weeks before leaving for RWA (and since being home) I’ve made many a mention in social media and on the blog about seeing old friends and making new ones. Some may wonder why I consider this an important aspect of this conference.

Shouldn’t it really be about the sessions and the knowledge gained?

Of course. And the workshops were top-notch.

But the writer’s community is something that can not be dismissed. It’s more than just a social aspect.

Writing may be done in solitude, but thanks to the internet and organizations like RWA (Romance Writers of America), we are able to find support from and communicate with the only people who truly understand what it’s like to wrestle the people in our head down to the written page.

(Pictured above are two friends and fellow Crescent Moon Press authors, Christine Ashworth and Sasha Summers.)

I came home with a notebook busting full of notes on tips and trends and spent hours learning about marketing and publicity, but the stolen moments with friends old and new to compare notes, discuss the business and lean on the shoulders of those who understand where I am coming from can not be dismissed and, in fact, will be treasured.

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Prepping for RWA National Conference: Shopping, Neither For Fun nor Frivolous

July 9, 2012 by

Two weeks from tomorrow I fly out to Anaheim with two good friends and writing cohorts For RWA’s (Romance Writers of America) national conference.

Any one who’s gone to a professional conference knows, there’s a great deal of preparation involved. You need to make travel arrangements, research a layout of the land so you can maneuver the area and that’s just the beginning.

For conferences like RWA, it could mean having to craft your pitches for editors and agents. Reviewing the list of workshops being offered is another big task that can eat up your time.

But for my friends and I, there was one important task left undone, that we just needed to attend to this past weekend: The shopping trip.

Those of you lucky readers who know us have heard tales of last year’s never-ending shopping trips in preparation for conference. As a favor to our sanity (and our pocketbooks) we promised only one trip this year, for just a couple of essential items. (okay…so some of us bargained up from our original deal of no shopping trip to one.)

While some of you may be saying this is the frivolous side or the fun side, I would have to disagree.

I’ll address the fun side first.

While I love spending time with my friends and we can turn any situation into a good time, looking for clothes is not fun for me.

For example: One of the items on my shopping list was a skirt that was not black (like every other skirt I own.) Easy enough, you might say. It’s summer, there must be lost of bright and bold colors on the racks. You would be right. And quite a few light, airy fabrics in beautiful neutral tones too. I had no problem finding skirts I liked, what I did have problems with was finding one that looked okay on me given my short height.

At five foot two, most skirts don’t fall on me the way they are intended to. Designed to hit just below the knee? On me it’s mid-calf. A lovely mid-calf gauze skirt drags the floor o. And it’s just not about the length, it becomes about the way it’s cut to be through the hips. It’s exhausting to find one that looks like it was intended (But I did eventually succeed… x2 !)

So what about the idea that it’s frivolous?

You might have a better argument here.  I probably could string together enough clothes in my wardrobe for four professional outfits. And for the most part I will be depending on my current wardrobe, but I maintain that those couple of new items I bought, serve as a boost to the self-confidence. When a person feels good about what they are wearing, and they are dressed as a professional, acting like a pro begins to come naturally.

The low-cost of one or two items (Especially when you hit the sales racks) is worth the self confidence boost.

Besides…walking around the mall is great exercise to ensure that those current clothing selections fit the way we want to.

Over the next two weeks, I will be sharing posts about how I prep for a national conference. The week of July 23 - 27, I will be at conference and I will be re-running some of my favorite posts as well as articles I have written for Blogcritics.org and Blinded by Sound.

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

MVRWA, Community, and Our Book Lover’s Event

March 23, 2012 by

Today I’m blogging at the MVRWA Group Blog about the value of a writing community and our big Book Lover’s Event.

You can read it over at the MVRWA site.

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Maumee Valley RWA’s Spring Book Lover’s Event

March 1, 2012 by

It’s that time of year again. Maumee Valley Romance Writer’s of America is hosting our Spring Book Lover’s Event:

MVRWA invites you to attend the second annual

 Spring Book Lover’s Event  

 Saturday, March 24, 2012

 10 am – 2 pm at the Sanger Branch of the Toledo Library 

Public is Welcome—Bring a Friend!

 

  • Meet Local Authors
  • Listen to Book Readings
  • Sign Up to Win Door Prizes
  • Book Signings
  • Author Q&A 

FREE BOOKS!  FREE FOOD!  FREE BOOKS!

Whether you stop in for fifteen minutes or stay for the duration—we’d love to see you!

Thanks to Kristi Knight, for putting together this podcast featuring MVRWA President, Patrice Kavanaugh, and your’s truly, co-chair of the event with Deanna Wadsworth.

 Spring Book Lovers Event Podcast – Right click to download or left click to
listen.

Filed Under: Books, MVRWA, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Summer of Adventure

July 13, 2011 by

Summer is always a time for enjoying the great outdoors and just plain being more active than in the winter. This year, however, the action –and traveling– has been non-stop.

As my faithful readers now, I’ve just returned from a much-anticipated trip to NYC for RWA, and now having only been home a little over a week, am gearing up to head to Kentucky Horse Park next Monday for United States Pony Club (USPC) Championships and Festival. For eight days a group of us will be set up in what is considered the “heart of horse country.”

While this may seem like a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend a week, I expect it to be high paced (But, yes, fun!).

The focus of the first several days will be Championships. This is where the kids who finished the highest in all of their disciplines from across the several regions of the U.S. will compete for bragging rights.  This year, the dressage team from the Great Lakes Region will have two kids from our club — one being mine :-) )

The second half of the week is festival — an intense three days of instruction led by some of the top equestrians in the country (and in some cases from other countries), most former pony clubbers.

Of course, as usual, any time away from home is stressful these days. Not only am I separated from the job (which on the surface would look like a blessing, but is really a nightmare) but it will also be difficult to keep up with my new commitments to writing and reading everyday.  As I’ve mentioned in my time management posts, organization is a key to being successful so it is my goal to keep very fine tabs on my after-PC hours in the hotel to stay true to my commitment to myself.

Stay tuned here for pictures and tales from KY in two weeks. I hope to keep this blog current next week–from the road.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Romancing Obscura

July 6, 2011 by

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I spent the last week in the heart of NYC at the Romance Writers of America National Conference. I can–and probably will–spend several posts sharing what I learned within the confines of the Marriott Hotel, but you have to know I couldn’t miss an opportunity to investigate some Obscure corners of the city.

So, yes, I’m a reality tv junkie and high on my list of “Shows that tickle the creative side of me” is Oddities on the Science Channel. When I knew I’d have a few extra days to explore the city, my mind started trying to find a way to get my butt inside the little shop I’d already spent hours in via my television.  Imagine my delight when I found out one of my traveling buddies was also a huge fan of the show. Plans were made, a cab was hailed, and on Monday, June 27, my little traveling threesome found ourselves inside the four walls of Obscura – A “delightful” little antique and oddity shop.

(Delightful is in quotes not because I don’t truly mean it, but only a certain segment of the population–one that I’m proud to be a part of–would find joy in their inventory.)

 A couple of fun facts about the shop.

1) It is even smaller than it appears on tv.  I was actually really shocked by how small. It’s hard for me to imagine a film crew in the shop as well as the customers, especially with their large boxes.

2) Mike and Evan are just as friendly and wickedly cool as they appear. Mike shared some stories of how life in the shop has changed since their tv debut and Evan and I had a nice little chat about the characteristics of vampires…you know, the way god created them and all…not how they appear in some of the modern-day novels. (Such fun!)

My heart did sigh a little, I must say. As I had hope that Ryan would be working that night. Silly (and a little twisted of) me, how can you not love a guy who loves to play with skeletons.

Maybe next time. 

Obscura Antiques & Oddities
280 East 10th Street
(Between 1st Avenue & Avenue A)
New York City
Open 7 days 12 noon-8:00 pm
open earlier on weekends.

Filed Under: Life, TV, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Planning for RWA in NYC: Fun and Work Abound

June 22, 2011 by

With just a few days remaining before I leave for NYC and the Romance Writer’s of America’s National conference, my chaptermates and I have been clogging up the internet with obsessive questioning and plans.

  • “Are you going to the PRO Retreat?”
  • “What do you think of XYZ workshop?”
  • “How many pairs of shoes are you taking?”
  • “What do you mean we can only take 1 bag on the plane?”

Lest you think we’re all about business there have been plenty of exchanges about what NYC sites we should see, restaraunts we should eat at, and how to maximize are precious hours of non-conference time.

All of this reminded me of one of my favorite things about RWA. Yes, this is a business organization, whose main focus is on helping writers manage the pitfalls of the career, but we’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t recognize that the community is just as valuable of an assett.

When it comes time to write, we must lock ourselves away and work in solitude, but that doesn’t mean we’re solitary. In fact, I find my friends and I to be quite social. So, even more than all the knowledge I will acquire, the sites I will see, and the food I will eat; I look forward to spending time with my friends and those I only get to see this one week a year.

This Friday’s post will be the last one before I leave for RWA 11. There will be no posts the week of June 27. I’ll be back Monday July 4.

Filed Under: Life, MVRWA, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Alone Doesn’t Have to Mean Lonely

June 20, 2011 by

This week I will be spending a few days alone. Well, as alone as possible in this day and age. The kids and my husband are out-of-town at USPC (United States Pony Club) Mega Rally for the Great Lakes Region, and I was the one chosen to stay home and care for the dogs and the business.

While I miss my family very much when they’re gone. I have to admit a lit bit of joy in the fact that I get two and half days to devote time to getting ready for the conference I’m going to next week.

I remember hearing somewhere along the way that a person can’t be happy in any relationship with another until they are happy spending time alone, and there was a time in my life when I know that picture to the left would have made me feel very lonely and maybe a little panicked. Now, when I look at it I see someone enjoying their solitude and it leaves me feeling at peace.

Does this mean I want to run away from my life as I know it or that I’m not going to be extremely happy to have my loved ones return on Tuesday? Of course not! And I have no plans to become a recluse. But what I am learning about myself is I’m a little more comfortable in my own skin that I was ten or even five years ago.  And that it’s okay to completely enjoy my solitude in small doses.

When you’re able to get some, do you look forward to me-time?

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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