Reese Ryan Romance

Colorful characters. Sinfully sweet romance.

RWA

Where is RWA Today? A Romance Writers of America Q & A with Alyssa Day, LaQuette and C. Chilove

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Last night I had the privilege of hosting a frank, open discussion about the current state of Romance Writers of America with interim president, Alyssa Day, interim secretary, C. Chilove, and Director-at-Large, LaQuette. They gave us a glimpse of all the work that the interim board has been doing to right the ship and rebuild RWA’s reputation with authors, publishers, and readers.

I invited these women to chat with me about what’s going on in RWA because I’d allowed my membership to lapse after the debacle and implosion of the organization at the end of last year. So I had several questions about how the organization is handling the rampant racism and homophobia among its membership that led to what has been termed the #RWAShitShow and decades of the odds being stacked against black women and other authors of color in the judging of the RITA awards—which have now been abolished and replaced.

Listen to the playback to find out what practical steps the organization has taken to tackle bigotry and homophobia within its ranks and prevent marginalized authors from being discriminated against or feeling unwelcome or unsafe in the national organization, in local chapters, or on the community of practice forums.

As you listen to the playback, we invite you to share your thoughts on what you heard in the comments section of the video. If you enjoyed the discussion and found value in it, be sure to hit the LIKE button. If you’d like to hear other author discussions, check out my past conversations with authors like Kennedy Ryan, Farrah Rochon, Olivia Dade, and Vanessa Riley in my #StoryBehindTheStory Playlist. And hit SUBSCRIBE to be the first to know about future author discussions.

Reese Ryan. Colorful characters. Sinfully sweet romance.

Where is RWA Today? A Romance Writers of America Q & A with Alyssa Day, LaQuette and C. Chilove

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Last year the romance writers trade organization Romance Writers of America essentially blew up due to a series of events that stemmed from long-standing issues of racism and inequities suffered by LGBTQ authors and authors of color—particularly Black authors. When the dust settled, the entire Board of Directors was gone, and a Special Election was held in March of 2020 where an a new slate was elected.

Fast forward three months. Many former members—like myself—would like to see the organization succeed. We’re also feeling a bit gun shy and many of us are standing on the sidelines taking a wait and see approach.

The idea for this chat was born out of my personal interest in getting an update on what’s been going on behind the scenes since the installation of the new board. The purpose of this discussion is to get a snapshot of where the organization is right now and where the board sees it heading. It will be a positive, constructive conversation to discuss recent board decisions and to learn about the board’s future plans for the organization.

3 Reasons to Write the Premise BEFORE You Write Your Novel

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As writers, we get so absorbed with the storyline and characters, writing, and a myriad of creative reasons not  to write that we forget about the business side of being a writer.

We lose sight of the fact that once we’re done with writing, editing, revising (rinse and repeat), we’ll need to talk about the book. In a way that’s interesting, intelligent and concise. 

Cue the deer in the headlights footage.


It’s embarrassing when someone asks, “What’s your book about?” and you stand there staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights. It can be absolutely disastrous if it happens when you’re on the elevator at a writing conference and your dream agent is the one asking.

I’ve been there before.

Not on the elevator with my dream agent. But let’s just say my deer-in-the-headlights face has gotten pretty damned good thanks to some hard core practice.

What I have since discovered is that writing the premise of your story first is the key to never having this happen to you again. Today I’m over at Contemporary Romance Writers–the blog for my RWA online Contemporary Romance Writers Chapter enumerating the this and two other reasons why it pays to write the premise before you write your book.

Listen to the little diddy above (because it will seriously make you happy for at least the next three hours) then I’d love it if you popped over to the Contemporary Romance Writers blog to chat about whether you write your premise first and when your last deer-in-the-headlights experience occurred.

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