Today’s the big day; our little girl is 2! What a wonderful age. She’s very independent, communicative and funny. The dh put photos of her on his photoblog from two years ago today and today. Hard to remember how tiny she was then.

Weekend update: huge progress on forming a new special interest RWA online chapter with worldwide membership. There are currently over 200 members and things are taking shape rapidly. It’s very exciting to have the opportunity to be among the founders of something on this scale. It has tremendous potential to benefit our subgenre.

Romancing the Blog has the amazing Monica Jackson’s first contribution posted this morning. An excellent article and very timely, too. Check it out!

We took a trip to Waldenbooks yesterday. Haven’t been there for a few months, so I had a nice surprise! Last visit: one shelf for EC books, total selection of about 5 titles. Clerk explained they can’t keep them in stock, they sell too fast. This visit: nearly 1/4 the shelf space in the entire romance section dedicated to EC books! Row upon row of titles.

I checked to see if they had Legendary Tails II yet; they don’t. They do have all the other Ellora’s Cavemen anthologies in stock. But it was just wonderful to see all those ankhs! Looking at so many print titles together gave me a mixed sense of pride and book greed. So many of them I don’t have yet and I wants them, my precioussss.

First item: I’m born to be wild! PaperBackWriter says so. How incredibly cool.

Second: Fallen Angels Reviews gave Dangerous Games 5 stars! Reviewer Jean says:
“I really enjoy Ms. Teglia’s books, and this one is no exception. The book has a believable plot, with just enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested, but what I enjoy most about this author’s writing is her great skill at characterization and dialogue. Drake and Melinda behave like real people; their characters have that extra something that makes them fascinating, so that the reader is drawn into their world and empathizes with their thoughts and feelings. The many male/female love scenes are explicit and very sexy and are woven into the story seamlessly. This book is a keeper as far as I’m
concerned, and I recommend it highly.”

That made it a lot easier to shrug off the other review I got for DG yesterday. Just as an FYI, I understand the reason for the mixed reviews on this book. It’s a good, strong book and nobody has complained about the craft aspect of it. The complaints have been about the erotic aspect, and this is understandable because the erotic element plays to a particular type of fantasy. It happens to be a common fantasy, in the top 10 reported, but it is by no means everybody’s fantasy. To those who enjoy this kind of fantasy, it’s the book they’re looking for. For those who don’t, it just won’t float your boat. On a happy note, both reviewers who did not get their boats floated still liked it overall. But it’s not PC and the type of fantasy it involves is very obvious in the blurb/excerpt so there are no surprises for the reader. Which is probably why readers have been unanimously enthused. They got what they expected or were able to skip it if it wasn’t their bag. Reviewers don’t always get to pick their reads.

Third: The fledgling special interest erotic romance writers RWA chapter is making rapid progress. By power of sheer numbers and name-dropping we ought to be a major presence at Nationals. Any interested potential members, you are welcome to join with the following understanding: our goal is to be a recognized RWA chapter, which means RWA membership will be required when the group is approved. RWA annual dues are $75 and dues for our chapter are yet to be settled since we’re figuring out what our expenses are right now, but a typical chapter membership is around $20. So please do join but if you’re not a member of RWA, be prepared for the future dues requirment. If you’re interested, apply here for membership in our new group. You must be approved by the moderator before you can enter the group.

I could blog away the hours, planting metaphors like flowers, kabbitzing ’bout the rain
I could be so very serious or funny or mysterious…if I only had a brain!

This is one of those mornings where I’m trying to figure out where I left my brain. Maybe I dropped it somewhere during my cleaning binge. In which case, it could be under the couch.

I have some Real Work (TM) to do, and I need gray matter to do it. Maybe if I just start working, my brain will show up for duty. Hey, it could happen.

Sometimes it is just pathetic, being at the mercy of ruthless hormones. Here’s how yesterday went.

Sane writer me: I feel so much better! That virus is like a bad memory. Cool, I can get back to my story now. Lessee, I left the heroine…

Hormones: You feel so much better. That virus is like a bad memory. Good. CLEAN THE ENTIRE HOUSE WITH A TOOTHBRUSH. NOW. Also, it’s time for you to wash the baby’s clothes, set up the bassinet, and pack your bag for the hospital.

Sane writer me: But there’s plenty of time to clean and do all of that stuff. I want to write!

Hormones: Too bad. We’re in charge now.

So. Zero words for yesterday, but you can now eat off my floor. Assuming anybody besides our cats would want to. I’m hoping that those hormones will now shut the hell up and let me get something important done.

Update on the new erotic romance authors group: there are more than 100 members already, the request for RWA approval is in process, and all the various business items related for forming a new chapter, incorporating, etc., are underway. The big question right now is which way the wind in RWA is blowing because the membership will be voting on two proposed mission statements that will determine the future course of the organization. Get out and vote, members.

What you give; what you get. Somebody in this newly formed group asked what was the point of joining RWA. Good question and one I struggle with every year when renewal time comes up. There are two sides to this coin. One is what you give. The other is what you get.

What you get: the RWR, a monthly publication filled with industry news, market updates, first sales information, craft and business articles. RWA e-notes, a monthly online newsletter filled with more of the same and 2nd book sales information, also very useful to those wondering which publishers are building ongoing relationships with new authors. Access to the Member’s Only section of the RWA website, full of useful information, including RWA approved agents. That in itself is a very useful resource when you’re beginning the agent quest. Networking opportunities. Opportunities to learn from other members. Editor and agent appointment availability at local, regional and national conferences, along with educational and networking opportunities at those same conferences. And of course the chance to make and maintain friendships in the business. I’ve made some terrific friends in RWA over the years.

What you give: this is the one that probably gets overlooked. Certainly I have overlooked it in the past. One huge thing we as a group have to give is education about our subgenre and the realities of our part of the romance industry. The vast majority of RWA members who are struggling to master craft, learn the business, and get published have no idea of the opportunities available in erotic romance. For instance, Amber Quill Press and eXtasy ebooks are now at the same sales level that gave Ellora’s Cave their initial RWA publisher recognition status. The rules got changed in the last month and now they don’t qualify. (EC still does.) But this is a little-known fact and members do not know that these publishers are good ones to deal with.

Published members are also very much in the dark about this subgenre. There’s a lot of confusion over the difference between erotic romance and erotica, about sales figures, about why this is both legitimate romance and legitimate publishing experience.

As I see it, RWA as an organization and our fledgling group as a chapter have a great deal to offer each other. We are a large part of the romance industry and we deserve to have a voice in our national organization. Likewise, RWA deserves to have our expertise, our knowledge, our inside experience to support, educate and assist writers in the road to publication and beyond (where it gets more complicated and support and education are still needed).

Since Sasha White and Meg Harris both tagged anybody who hadn’t done it yet, I consider me tagged. Here’s some bloggy amusement for today while I do my RTB columnist thing!

Total number of books I own: No idea. Seriously. But I think it took about 30 book boxes for us to move and we’ve bought more books since then. (There’s a reason we’re buying more and more ebooks!)

Last book I bought: Wildcard by Cheyenne McCray.

Last book I read: A Fine Work of Art by Shelby Reed. I’m not normally a fan of the deep emotional romance where there’s very little exterior plot and a lot of internal conflict (and surprisingly little dialog), but that’s her voice and it is astounding. She sucked me in, made me sniffle, and kept me breathless until the end. She made me care deeply about the characters from the very beginning. She had me at hello!

5 books that mean a lot to me:
A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L’Engle. By age 8 or so I was already reading Heinlein and Asimov, but here was juvenile SF with *gasp* romance! And a FEMALE protagonist!

A Stranger In a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein. An amazing book. I read it in junior high and it knocked my socks off. It still does. Michael Valentine Smith will live forever in my heart. And so will that crusty old Jubal Horshaw.

Dove, Robin L. Graham. For years after reading this I dreamed of learning to sail and sailing around the world. I still do, actually, although now I’d like to have a boat we used on weekends. For any long voyage I’d rather take a cruise!

Hearts Aflame, Joanna Lindsey. I love Vikings! First Viking romance I ever read. First Lindsey I ever read. And after this I studied everything she wrote. Learned much craft from Lindsey.

Of Men and Numbers, Jean Muir. The book that taught dyslexic me how to understand math.