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I think RWA is (generally speaking) a great organization. I think a lot of times it's extremely helpful. I think RWA has done much to help romance become a genre that's taken seriously. I think RWA refuses to be shunted aside by people who say, "Oh, it's just women." I think that is awesome.

However. The number one thing I see from RWA members that makes me cringe is this "Pro" thing. Really. Stop it. I don't care that you have a pro pin. It doesn't actually make you a professional at all. In fact, I sort of mentally groan and roll my eyes and think to myself, "Great, yet another person who has no idea what she's doing."

It's not your fault -- RWA encourages you to think this is important. That's fine. But here's a reality check: it doesn't matter. If you're sending me a proposal, I care about your words a lot, and your publishing history/contacts a little bit, and your RWA status not at all.

(If you don't know what I am talking about, here's a quick definition: RWA offers something called a "Pro pin" to its members who have finished and submitted a manuscript. Since 999 times out of 1,000 (999,999 times out of 1,000,000?) a first-time submission won't get published, you can prove that you are a "pro" by showing them your rejection letter. Seriously. I have run into more than one person who writes and submits a crappy ms. just for a pro pin, and more than one person who thinks that a pro pin means something to editors. It does not. Obviously.)

La la la. Moving on. Yesterday when I woke up, Vincent was dragging his back legs. In fact, I woke up because he was making weird noise. It was like he didn't have the use of his hips, but he wouldn't let me look at his legs. So I called my vet and left a message and called in sick to work. I kept calling my vet. To make a long story short, she couldn't see me, so I went with both cats to the ghetto vet near the Williamsburg Bridge. Vincent was fine -- by the time we got there, he was totally okay. But it turns out that Shiksa's got conjunctivitis!

I felt kind of hysterical and ridiculous -- yet at the same time absolutely vindicated because something was wrong.

Then I went to the office, because I am a compulsive workaholic, and, before going out for supper with some of my friends, I stopped in at a B&N near my office. I was kind of appalled to see that romance only had two bookshelves, whereas mystery had five, but whatever. I picked up six or seven books, and read one of them while drinking a mocha -- The Admiral's Bride by Suzanne Brockmann. She's one of my favorite writers, and this is a reprint (originally published in 1999), and I loved it. And when I was finished, I realized that I shouldn't have done that. I should have saved her for last.

Because the other five books or however many I had? Were crap. I flipped through them on the train on my way home. The most egregious errors were ones the copyeditor really should have caught (like the heroine who first graduated in 1996 and then in 1998, and either way, there was no way that she was a successful sociology professor!). I hated so many of the characters. There were a lot of clumsy beginnings -- dossiers instead of character development, etc. Totally boring stuff that actually kind of upset me. Why so lazy, writers?

Not to even mention that 99% of the time, when there's a dossier to introduce characters, they're always accurate. I hate that. I think it would be much more interesting to do something like what

cesperanza did in her story MVP and have the dossier actually be inaccurate (or not entirely accurate, anyway). Come on, shake things up.

Jeez.

I don't mean to sound so vehement, but.... blah. I had high hopes. I always do. I just hate everything! I can see why other people would enjoy some of it (sometimes I can, anyway), but I just... Hm. Like my userinfo used to say, I am interested exclusively in things that are interesting.

Things I have tried and failed at in the last few days: to set up a "real" blog using movable type (that shit is hard!), Trackbacks, PB Wiki (

scratchyfishie and

2muchexposition both have one, but I can't figure out what to use it for!), the Xvid codec, the DivX codec, and to teach myself to compress video files without losing too much quality.

I have, however, suceeded at eating a lot of burritos, listening to a lot of Kane, watching a lot of Supernatural and Criminal Minds and Grey's Anatomy and The Evidence, and planning out what I am going to do with my life, which includes opening a roadside truckstop diner with my friends where we will serve pie.

In conclusion, Christian Kane is hot. There's not much more I can say about that.

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To be fair, there's another level called PAN, Published Author Network, but nobody would bother to put that on a cover letter -- you'd list the previous publications instead.

You have a real blog! You don't need a real one and Movable Type and all the pro stuff if the content is the important part.

A LiveJournal *is* a REAL blog! This is a community where you can set up a friends list (more properly called a reading list) and just click on that "friends" page link to read 'em all. Can't do that with blogspot. I have to make a special effort to remember to go read the blogspot writers I like. It's SO much better here, and easier to use. Don't ever let 'em tell you this isn't a REAL weblog!

I'm glad to hear that the kitty with pinkeye is being treated. I would still keep an eye (any color will do) on the other kitty, though, because my cat Mischief had a problem with the ligaments in his hip joints, and we had to keep him from jumping on the furniture for a couple of weeks so they could get better (and then the vet looked again and said things were OK, but it could've been a problem.) Mischief had to stay in our sunroom for a couple of weeks, and he thought he was being punished and sentenced to prison. I had to take all the furniture out, and he must have spent the whole time wondering, "Why me? What'd I do?" Poor baby! But anyway, it sounds a bit alarming, so I'd definitely watch for any other symptoms. You probably already ARE, but just thought I would nag. I'm really good at nagging. Are there job descriptions that include nagging? (Other than "mom" and "spouse.")

I agree with you that many of the books I pick up now seem to be lacking. I think this is colored slightly by my various experiences trying to sell my own manuscripts, but that's not all of it; so many books just don't measure up to what I think they could be. Don't know if there's anything to be done about it other than wait. If we don't become a post-literate society, maybe there'll be a sea change. Maybe proofreading will come back in fashion! I hope so! *grin* One of the problems is that critique groups and how-to books and so forth are teaching a One True Way to write. It's making everything too much the same. You have to be politically correct (or so I am told by one online instructor), you can't do THIS and you can't do THAT, and you have to do A, B, and C within chapter one. Within such restrictive guidelines, people turn out books that are (or edit their books to become) vanilla and isn't-this-one-I've-read? The exciting new voices are damped down after the first round of critiques and rewrites. Anything that could be interesting goes away in those new drafts. It's alarming, but when I chime in to say that perhaps the problems could be fixed without losing the freshness and the voice, I am told that The Rules Rule. No matter that the rules did not come from any editor! No matter that someone just made them up! The Rules are promulgated across many critique groups and workshops. They can be useful, but other times they are taken in the wrong spirit. I miss "Book" books, the ones that weren't part of a brand or part of a genre, but just books. (That ship has sailed. Or it crashed on the rocks.)

I know you're trying to support and buy the good "Book" books. Keep it up.

Pie will always beat cake! Be sure to let me know how it turns out. Of course, if you have a judge with finely tuned taste buds, your judge will be able to tell that your crust is store bought!

Graham cracker crumb shells can be made with margarine. In fact, any pie crust can be made with soy margarine or vegetable shortening! Good luck!

Hell yes! Yay ice cream! Soy-based or dairy, your pleasure. *g*

claiming RWA pro status in a query letter was tantamount to saying "I am unpublished *and* don't know much about the industry" unless there were the publication (or *really* good contest) credits to go with it.

YES. Frankly, people who have been published generally know better.

My favorite cover letters are the ones who say, "I am a published author with five books to my credit" but never tell me the titles of the books or the companies. Anywhere. So I google search the author and almost always, 99 times out of 100, the author was published by a crappy e-press.

SIGH.

ok, what is a dossier? I hope that isn't a really dumb question. now I am glad I can stop feeling guilty and like a slacker for never becoming PRO for RWA. I thought I would just skip that step. haha.

Speaking of pie, I loooove Boston Cream Pie! If you opened up one of those trucks... that would be something...

& that thing about your future... You have one of my dream jobs... not just anyone can do what you are doing and be great at it. Although I don't know much about it, it seems very glamorous. Pies, on the other hand also seem glamorous, esp these hot guys that run this bakery in Camp Hill. And the pies taste as good as these guys look. Any pie. yum!

Actually, one of the best things about RWA -- and the way it separates itself from SFWA -- is that it doesn't separate the published from unpublished. It does have a "Published Authors Network" separate, but for the most part everyone is together, helping the unpublished learn from the published. I think that's fabulous, and important -- how can anyone learn if no one is around to teach them?

I think what RWA is trying to do is encourage the writers -- it's the same reason that unpublished writers are told to call themselves "pre-published" instead of "unpublished". Also a total indicator to me that someone doesn' t have a clue!

You're kidding? Tell me that you're at least addicted to Veronica Mars.

I actually sort of agree that this isn't a "real" blog -- but I am anti all "blog" type entities! I am from the old school, when we all hand-coded our HTML and wrote our journal entries in pico in a shell box and if you wanted to interact with someone, you caught them on a BBS or via email. Also we had to walk uphill both ways, barefoot and in the snow! Hah.

One of the problems is that critique groups and how-to books and so forth are teaching a One True Way to write. It's making everything too much the same.

Yup. It is sad. It makes me sad. I don't like it when everything sounds the same -- that is BORING!!

Second that. And I should add that most of the "real blogs" are awful (ok not anyone associated with TOR - especially not Neil or TNH who are amazing bloggers but the rest of the blogosphere just seems to add this level of pompous to their bloggings)

Does getting a "pro" rating with RWA mean anything inside RWA? The writers' organization I belong to (http://www.writers.ns.ca) has a "pro" designation which does mean something - i.e. you have to have been published to get it - although it doesn't actually mean you're a professional since you can earn it on the strength of a handful of magazine sales (as I initially did). I wouldn't mention it in a cover letter. I'm agog at the idea that anybody would care. But! It means I can serve on their Board of Directors. It seems important that the people running the place know something about getting published.

None of this really has a point, I am just rambling because the internal operations of writers' organizations is way more interesting to me than banking products, which I have to go back to editing once I am done this post.

Wish they sold pie in the cafeteria...

Well, having one of your dream jobs doesn't mean that I want to be an editor for the rest of my life! My life is going to hopefully be long and full of interesting things that don't all revolve around text. :)

Dossier: http://m-w.com/dictionary/dossier

I hate Veronica Mars, actually.

and I was sort of kidding. I do enjoy a good mystery -- although mostly I like my mysteries on tv (CSI, Father Dowling, Criminal Minds, The Evidence, Law & Order, etc.) rather than in novels.

there's also a live cd. you can buy it on their website: kanemusic.com

As far as I know, it doesn't mean anything internally or externally. It's just something to make their members feel good! Which I can support. I just think they go about it in the wrong way.

Aww, look at you, pimping your little heart out.

Can I assume you are NOW A CANADIAN?

BOW BEFORE THE QUEEN, AMERICAN INFIDEL!!!!

Though SFWA has s lot of very good and useful "advice for writers" out there on the public website - you don't need to be a member to access it.

Yes, Christian Kane is hot.

I never figured being in RWA would do much for me, especially since there's no local group (not to mention I don't really write romance), but I still think it's funny and always will that some folks thing you have to be in it if you're a writer. *g*

Oh.

Ok.

I'm assuming that if I say anymore that it will be a repeat of those frustrating years when I tried to convince a girlfriend to get into Babylon 5. Everyone's taste is different. Everyone's taste is different. But it's so good. How could anyone hate it? Ok I'll just move along now.

it's true, that girl has side projects that would be whole jobs for lesser mortals.
also, are there not-cute and successful at Tor? or cute and not-successful?
and do you two ever put your fists against each other, resulting in a blinding flash of light that bedazzles all around you? i imagine that'd be good for meetings...

if you want help on sorting out codecs, etc., feel free to email me with questions [see my LJ profile for that]. at this point i'm pretty good at the basics. i'm not quite to the point of being obsessive as some digital videophiles can be, but i do a lot of ripping/encoding/conversion. i blundered about for a while [just like you] and then found some solutions that worked for me and it's all been history from there. so don't worry, there's hope for you yet.

I actually tend to recommend it for anyone writing in romance or women's fiction. Their monthly magazine, the RWR, is often full of excellent information -- from who is acquiring what at which house to discussions of craft to advice on how to do your taxes if you're a professional writer.

I actually just had this discussion with Liz at lunch.

For starters, I think Veronica is annoying. I hated teenagers when I was a teenager. I still hate most teenagers, and Veronica is a particularly hideous breed of teenager.

Secondly, the show is very clever. The show -- should I say Rob Thomas? -- is obsessed with its own cleverness. I find people like that really entertaining (um, myself being one of them!), but television shows and novels tedious. If I am not in on the joke, the joke isn't funny -- and since I don't like Veronica, or any of her supporting cast (except the biker gang guy), I am not in on the joke and it's not funny.

Thirdly, Veronica is annoying.

(I also don't like B5. Just watched the first episode last night, actually! Turned it off after a half hour.)

I don't write women's fic, per se, though. I've had just as many male readers as female. *g* (For some reason, I see RWA and imeediately think of that really old Roseanne movie called She Devil. Don't ask me why. LOL)

Maybe Vincent figured out there was something wrong with Shiksa and put on a great act so you'd drag them to the vet? If that's what he did, then he should get extra pets and chin scritches for being so helpful. *g*

And I really can spell immediately. LOL

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