Mid November I attended my first big authors’ bash (big as in there being two hundred people there, as opposed to the authors being either physically big or big names, although there were both of those present!) It was the Romantic Novelists Association Winter Party, at the IMechE library in Birdcage Walk (a street which now makes me grin madly in the context of its mention on last week’s Garrow’s Law).
I managed to pluck up the courage to go and talk to strangers and not (I hope) look or sound like an absolute goon. I chatted with aspiring writers, established writers, publishers and booksellers. Did I ‘network?’ No, I don’t think so; certainly not in terms of trying to sell myself or my books. And it was a real novelty, for someone who still thinks of herself as both a newbie and entirely accidentally published, to be dispensing ‘wisdom and tips’ to wannabee authors.
Something I did sort of network was the fact that I write gay fiction. And that I’m published in both e-books and paperbacks. I suspect I was in the minority for the latter and unique for the former. Had to collect a few jaws as they headed towards the floor as I explained what genre I wrote. However, I didn’t have my pen pulled out of my handbag, name tag ripped from my chest and get sent from the room is disgrace. I surprised myself at my sheer degree of brass neck in terms of not hiding in a corner or “umming and ahing” about what I write. Mind you, as a fifty two year old woman wearing her teenage daughter’s cocktail dress and side lacing boots, I suspect my degree of “don’t care any more” is pretty high.
Pictures here, luckily none of me.
I did end up at one point talking to an ex-RNA president (I’d been steered in her direction, much to my embarrassment) who was adamant that gay romance was equally eligible for the RNA award categories. Mine isn’t as it’s by an American publisher but it was a heartening thing to hear.
So what did I achieve by going? Other than a night out in London on my own and some blessed hours of peace and thinking time on the train journey? Well, writing can be a lonely business and talking to other writers and listening to their experiences is both educational and comforting. Sometimes you just like to know that you’re not the only person with that problem or finding this difficult. And I’m convinced that, for many of us, this business is not just about what you know, it’s who you know (that’s been very true for me and it seemed a bit depressing to have to share that with some of the aspirant writers). Friendships and connections made at bashes like this – who knows where they’ll lead?
November 28, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Totally agreed with you on the importance of getting to speak to other writers in real life Online conversations can only do so much.
I’m sure your outfit looked fabulous too
November 28, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I think my outfit looked fabulous. For me…
Yes, there’s something great about talking face to face. It also sort of reassures me that I am a real writer!
Charlie
November 28, 2010 at 1:51 pm
[…] Romantic Novelists Association Winter Party « The Macaronis Other than a night out in London on my own and some blessed hours of peace and thinking time on the train journey? Well, writing can be a lonely business and talking to other writers and listening to their experiences is both … https://historicromance.wordpress.com/ — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 04:45:57 -0800 […]
November 28, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I really do not think your being published was accidental. An intro to a publisher is one thing… the quality of your writing speaks for itself.
Next time you talk to your colleagues at RNA, please ask if they’d ever consider recognizing a Canadian branch. It sound like the kind of writers’ group I’d like to join!
November 28, 2010 at 7:42 pm
They certainly have overseas members – not sure if they have overseas chapters.
I don’t think it was accidental in that way. It was meeting so many aspiring writers who were trying so hard to get an agent and get published – their one overriding ambition. I felt such a (not sure of the word here) fraud? Smarmy guts? Charlatan? at hoe things had fallen into place without me having to go to the lengths they were. does that make sense?
Charlie
November 28, 2010 at 7:54 pm
It does, but remember Joseph Campbell’s advice about following your bliss: “When you do the work you are supposed to be doing, doors will open for you that would not even exist for anyone else.”
Ask your appreciative readers–of which I am one–if you deserve to be published. Ambition doesn’t always guarantee ability.
November 28, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Lee, you always say the right thing. That means a lot – thank you.
Charlie
November 28, 2010 at 5:14 pm
The catch 22 is there is that there are no publishers taking on gay romance in the UK which is infuriating – so they are safe from entries. Let’s see what happens when they get them!
November 28, 2010 at 5:15 pm
And don’t keep saying you are accidentally published.
November 28, 2010 at 7:44 pm
See answer above, to Lee. I just felt so guilty…
November 28, 2010 at 7:43 pm
That should be an ambition!
November 28, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Speaking as a publisher who distributes in both the US and the UK, there is a huge difference in sales. Gay romance is booming in the US but practically nonexistent in the UK. Why is that?
November 28, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I wish I knew! At an uneducated guess, it’s because of the lack of British gay romance publishers, as Erastes alluded to?
November 29, 2010 at 1:04 pm
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