Blog | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books | Romance Novel Reviews | All of the Romance, None of the Bullshit.

San Francisco Chronicle Covers RWA

August 18, 2008 | Monday at 5:51 pm | 19 Comments

I was volunteering at the RWA Registration Booth when a woman stopped by looking for credentials for a photographer. Her name was Heidi Benson, and she was from the SF Chronicle looking to write an article about the conference. She and I got to talking, and she told me she was so impressed with the conference, and having a good old time talking to everyone at RWA. In my estimation, she seemed like she was genuinely curious about the organization and the women who are writing and working within the genre, and didn’t seem to be starting from any specific assumption about romance novels, its writers, or the genre as a whole.

Thanks to Marta Acosta, I have a link to her article, which ran today (that’s a little late, no?) under the headline Romance-writing hopefuls discuss craft in S.F.:

Forget scones and Devonshire cream. Red meat is on the menu in the new generation of romance novels. According to fall book promotions, “the alpha male is back,” paired up this time with a “kick-butt heroine….”

...The genre couldn’t claim a 26.4 percent share of the book consumer market if it didn’t deftly reflect… read more »

Two More LOLRWAs For Your Saturday

August 09, 2008 | Saturday at 12:43 pm | 8 Comments

Thanks to Katiebabs and Angie for the images. I think if someone hadn’t distracted us, we’d still be in the Borders manically Twittering.

LOLRWA

August 07, 2008 | Thursday at 11:21 am | 35 Comments

Many, many people take photos at RWA. And you’ve seen really, really good ones at other sites, with beautiful folks in ball gowns noshing on all the chocolate in the universe at the RITA reception, authors meeting happy fans, and people queuing up to have books signed at the literacy signing. I don’t have many of those.

What do I have? LOLRWAs. Get ready. They’re terrible. Enjoy!

ETA: I forgot - many of these pictures were taken by Angie James. Thanks Angie!

Thirteen Things That Are Awesome About National

August 04, 2008 | Monday at 8:33 pm | 35 Comments

Last night when I sat down to tell Hubby about the RWA Conference, I had to look at my calendar to remember where I was and at what time, because it was all one big exhausting blur. A big, exhausting, happy blur.

But there are a few things that are popping right in the front of my brain, and since I stinketh at writing comprehensive summaries of things, I want to note a few things.

Jill Shalvis said in the comments to the post I wrote about Jennifer Greene’s acceptance speech (which still makes me cry if I think about it) that “Moments like that are what make the Ritas for me.”

Agreed. And it’s larger than that. There is a lot of effort, exhaustion, and sometimes a small amount of drama surrounding RWA National, but moments like that one speak volumes about how extraordinary RWA as a community and an organization is. There are a lot of folks who have problems with it as a whole, and there are surely some things I would love to change or see addressed, but consider the amazing combination of elements that makes up the RWA National… read more »

And that’s our coverage

August 04, 2008 | Monday at 3:09 am | 18 Comments

This was meant to be posted last night, but it was hung up in the place
where email goes and never comes out.

—-

The most powerful RITA moment for me was Jennifer Greene, who won for Best Novella. She told us that
after the story was published, her mother asked her to read her story aloud.
Her mother’s eyesight was failing, and the story was dedicated to her as
part of a Mother’s Day anthology.

When she finished reading, her mother said that having a daughter like her
was the highlight of her life. Ms. Greene said, “I lost her three weeks
later.”