RWA Welcomes Rainbow Romance Writers

It's official! The RWA has approved its newest Special Interest Chapter: Rainbow Romance Writers, dedicated to the promotion and advocacy of LGBT romance. Yay!!!!!

Despite my just starting out in the genre, the members of the RRW have been nothing but kind and supportive. They are an amazing, dedicated, and open group, and I'm proud to be part of the chapter. Go check out the RRW website to take a closer look.

Thanks to the Board of the RRW chapter (Jade Buchanan, Sara Bell, Kimberly Gardner, JL Langley, and Jet Mykles) and Laura Baumbach and others, who did all manner of gathering interest, collecting member information, and filling out the paperwork to assure all i's were dotted and t's were crossed. You all rock! Having an official LGBT chapter of the RWA will hold a lot of weight in the romance community. The majority of the members have been writing LGBT romances for as long as any romance author out there and it's time--past time, actually--that they receive equal recognition for their work.

As one of the members said in response to the chapter president's announcement: "Rainbow power--for the win!" It's a win we can all savor.

Write What You Want

Two posts over the last week or so have me thinking about my writing. I'm worried about how it will sell. Not worried in a hand wringing sort of fashion, but concerned.

First, there was a post on Karen Knows Best about whether traditional romance readers were ready for lesbian romances. The other post, over at The Galaxy Express, posed the question about publishers being "ashamed" of the science fiction romance subgenre. Can you guess why I'm a little concerned? Yep, Bad Girl, the manuscript I'm currently peddling, is a science fiction romance (or SF with romantic elements, depending on how you see these things) that has a relationship between two women. If the commentary/information regarding the desire for and treatment of F/F romances and SFR are any indication, I may be out of luck.

Marketing for the subgenres separately is tough. I know. It's very possible I'm setting myself up for a lot of rejection and frustration. I know. Publishing for a newbie in ANY genre is tough. I know.

But you know what? It's the story I wanted to write. It's the story that made me think about love and sacrifice. About who we are, who we're meant to be, and who we're meant to be with. There are good guys who aren't really all that good, and bad guys who aren't all bad. There's betrayal and emotional abandonment, forgiveness and redemption. While I was writing, the setting on another planet, in a future time, made it fun. As the relationship between my two heroines began to develop, it made me think. Not about how I'd market this story, but how I could make it the best possible story I could write.

Now that Bad Girl is seeking a home, I do consider the marketability of a F/F SFR (I take my career, such as it is, as seriously as the next writer.). One of my crit partners has warned me that it will be a tough sell. She kindly recommends that my next WIP be more marketable because she wants to see me published. I love her and appreciate her concern, and the current WIP is more "traditional". But even if Bad Girl doesn't get any further than my hard drive, it's a book that wanted to be written, and I'm really glad I wrote it.

Grow Up Already

Since I have an outside-of-the-house job, irregular as it may be, I actually have to dress like a grown up now and again. Sometimes for several days in a row. Crazy, I know. But because I didn't have any real need for normal, every day clothing, my serviceable wardrobe dwindled dramatically over the last seven years. If something got worn out, or stained (slob that I am, likely), or didn't fit any more (sadly, this was *most* likely), I didn't bother replacing it. Why spend money when I didn't really need to? I've never been concerned with fashion, and luckily we've lived in places where casual was acceptable for every occasion, so jeans and tee shirts or a sweater worked for me.

Until now. Now, not only do I have to wear something other than jeans sometimes, the clothes need to make me look like a grown up. No one would mistake me for any of the kids at either school, but I have to at least try to reflect my reaching adulthood. Tee shirts with cute pictures and snarky phrases won't do. The staff at the school would give me "looks." Not that they're snobby or anything, they are all very nice people, but I need to make the effort and present myself properly.

At the same time, I don't have a lick of fashion sense (which works well with the stand-by jeans and tee shirt outfits) and like to be comfortable (again, jeans and tees fit here). I settled on ordering some nice tees online, a pair of pants and a new pair of shoes. While still casual, I can dress up the tees and the pants aren't jeans. The shoes are more of a question mark as far as fit and style go. They may have to go back. We'll see.

I doubt anyone seeing me in my version of adult attire will swoon over my choices, but I won't embarrass anyone either. Hopefully they'll just appreciate that for where I'm from, my new duds mean either I won the lottery or have a court date.