Off to Reno

Well folks, this is it. The last blog before I go bye-bye to Reno land. I suppose because this is the first nationals after the explosion of romance blogging, in which authors and soon-to-be authors treat everyone on the internet to the minutiae of their day-to-day, it stands to reason that this “before Nationals” preparation has taken on an enormous amount of importance in the community. Everywhere I’m seeing people talking about getting ready for the trip, from packing blogs (and here and here, and, god help us, a shopping-for-RWA blog here, to the excited shouts of first-timers (read anything recent of Shannon’s), to musings about the value of RWA ribbons to discussions of post-conference slump and lists of Conference Dos and Don’ts. (I’m a bit more in favor of the “industry prep” posts than the packing lists. This isn’t a fashion show, but if you want to share the top ten tips for pitching, I’m all ears!) I myself ran a pitch session chat, and have been knee-deep in getting my promotional materials and meetings set up.

And then, of course, are the detractors. Alison Kent shares again her opinion about the value of the RWA conference, and RWA altogether, and of course, quotes from the always-contrary PBW about how useless the whole endeavor is. Previously, Kent had argued against former RWA prez Shirley Hailstock’s scolding letter in the RWR admonishing conference crashers. Despite the fact that I thought the “scolding” was kind of childish (leaving the chicken-and-the-egg argument about the increasingly unprofessional behavior of RWA members and the PTB responses to same), I agree with the sentiment. Universalize the action and there IS no RWA conference, no speakers, no workshops, no agents and editors coming — because there are no attendees, just thousands of gate crashers and freeloaders.

This week, they’re backed up by an essay from Suzanne McMinn on Romancing the Blog. (I met Suzanne, interestingly enough, for the first time at a writing conference. Had she not been giving a talk there, I probably would never had heard of her, her website, or her books. So there you go.) Suzanne seems to argue that she was told by RWA chapter members in shrill tones that if she didn’t enter the Golden Heart, if she didn’t go to conferences and pitch, if she didn’t, in other words, do everything to sell her book other than write it and send it into publishers, then she’d never sell. (I gotta wonder what chapters these chicks are in. Alison tells similar horror stories about her RWA chapter, which apparently charges $25 PER MEETING, which is practically as much as my chapter charges per year.) Anyway, of course the argument works, because she sets it up as an either-or situation. Her chapter members told her that if she didn’t do those things, she wouldn’t sell. ::Insert helpless peals of laughter::

Is this what some RWA members are really teaching their brethren? I’m glad I’ve never met those folks then. I was told when I joined that the conferences were great networking events, where I’d get the opportunity to meet editors and agents, to attend enlightening workshops about the craft and the industry, to just soak up all the creative energy for a couple of days. I was never told it was my one and only opportunity to sell. Ditto writing contests. But in speaking to newbies and reading the blogs of ain’t-goings, I see that some people really have come away with this impression (the former that it’s the truth and the latter that it’s being presented as such). It’s not true.

I promise you, I swear on everything that is holy and good and just, it’s not true.

Writing conferences are great. I highly recommend them, both for the educational and networking opportunities they afford, and also for the chance to get out of the solitary writing life and immerse yourself in a world full of other people just like you. If you can’t afford them, or aren’t the public-places type, don’t go. It won’t have any effect on your career. You can still sell a book with nothing more than a ream of paper, the U.S. Post Office, and a $3.85 stamp.

On the flip side, NOTHING you do at these things will ruin your career, with the possible exception of committing stone cold murder in the middle of the room during the RITA awards. In fact, strike that, it will probably help you get a celebrity agent. Roxie Hart, anyone? You might give your career a little boost with the networking, but you can’t sell nothing. Gotta have the book, and for that, it’s you, the solitary life, and that aforementioned ream of paper.

Personally, I think I sold in small part because of an RWA conference, but only by accident. Granted, it was not a conference I attended, but it was one where one of my CPs pitched a book to an editor. Other industry people overheard, and before the weekend was over, I had a handful of requests. But then again, I signed with an agent to whom I’d sent a query, and we sold the book to a publisher the old fashioned way. So I would have sold without the conference. That just happened to be the method I took. Two roads leading to the same place.

In between the extremes are the reams of “I’m not going! Poor me!” laments. Some have set up “stay at home” writing challenges, or found other ways to amuse themselves. Seeing that deadline approaching, I’m a little jealous, to be honest.

Some are not taking it quite so well. I actually saw a post on an RWA list that complained about the amount of Reno-related posting, stating that it wasn’t fair to those who were staying at home and everyone should cut it out. They were feeling left out. What was special for them? (cf. earlier statement about childish behavior). Come on. This isn’t an elementary school birthday aprty, where you need to invite everyone int he class or not hand out the invitations at shcool. If I were a car salesman, and all the car salesmen were going to a car sale convention, but I couldn’t make it, and I posted something to a professional car salesman’s email list about how everyone needed to stop talking about the convention right now, because I wasn’t going, and it was mean, I’d fully expect to be laughed out of the car sales union. If you aren’t going and glad of it, good for you. If you aren’t going and devastated, there there. There’s always another year, and you will probably get all the pertinent info as soon as people are back. Write hard, both parties.

I assume that this blog will mostly be read by those of you staying at home. I’ll miss you. I’ll see you when I get back. Write hard people, and rest assured, there will be 2000 full reports (though if you honestly expect me to tell you what went on outside the bar, you don’t know me well-enough) when everyone returns.