The July issue of the RWR is out and about. If you haven’t received it yet, it’ll be there soon. Included in this issue is the long awaited survey on what the definition of romance is.

Here’s your options to help them define romance:

A. The romantic relationship is between one man and one woman.

B. The romantic relationship is between two people.

Although other elements and subplots may also be components of the story line, by the book’s conclusion the romantic relationship has been resolved in an emotionally satisfying manner. (Satisfying to whom?)

You have choice A and B with no write in. And it states “Below are two versions of that definition, and we’d like your opinion on which you prefer. This is a survey only, so we ask that you include only your vote here. As always, your comments can be e-mailed to any member of the Board. We welcome them.”

There is no place to write in on the survey itself that you disagree with both options. If you don’t vote at all then it seems as if the survey results will be reported as ‘the majority feel’.

I have to say these definitions are, to me, so impossibly limiting. These rule out Paranormals with vamps/weres/ghosts/aliens, it rules out Chick Lit and MWRE. Why say ‘man’ and ‘woman’? Why not ‘male’ and ‘female’? Why only two parties? What about the wonderful romances of Emma Holly with m/m/f love stories?

Alright. This topic has been beaten to death, but still I have to vent my anger and fear somewhere so my blog is as good a place as any. The last few weeks have really shocked me with the venom directed toward erotic romance. Loops, listservs, blog postings, the RITA fiasco. Now the RWR, where in a letter to the editor a writer says:

“Also we may want to stop prattling on about how ‘we just don’t get no respect’ when we allow dopey-looking hunks in ridiculous costumes advertising an erotic publisher
on our back cover. There’s a big difference between sensual romance and erotica, and I think we made a big mistake in lowering our standards to accept such a publisher.”

I get it. Some of you don’t like erotic romance. Fine. Whatever. Go ahead and complain. I don’t care. That is your right.

But here’s the deal. I don’t care. However, it appears my publishers may care and this frightens me.

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I truly dislike the use of Yahoo Groups in a manner that would best work with a forum message board. Yahoo is great for small groups to commiserate or for large groups as announcement or mailing lists only, but for large communication loops it’s just a horrible medium. You can’t follow threads, topics scroll off the page, the archives are horrible, and you have several unrelated topics coalescing at one time. It’s just a mess. And your options–individual e-mails (prepare for a flood), digest (search for the needle in a haystack), or no mail (spend valuable time surfing to the Yahoo site) are dreadful. I much prefer getting one e-mail that says, “Someone has replied to the [insert title] topic. Click here to read the reply.” How easy is that? Too easy. Which makes me wonder why people continue to use Yahoo. It’s not hip or cool to have a Yahoo loop. Why torture and torment people by using them?

First, let me reference this: My name is Sylvia…

Then, allow me to reference this: http://wordworking.blogspot.com/2005/02/lipstick-on-pig.html

Quote:

The other day I was reading a writing blog; it’s one of my favorite procrastination techniques; and the writer started out telling how some family members don’t respect her because she writes Romance. I could sympathize.

Anyway, the woman went on to clarify that she write not just Romance, but she writes Romantica.

Ha! See? I’m “the woman” who writes “those books”.

Quote:

If you’re not familiar with the term, this is the latest bait-n-switch in the pornography game.

*clear throat* Excuse me?

Quote:

Yes, folks, men have long had movies, mags and The Penthouse Forum, now women have ROMANTICA.

Romantica, (why do I always roll my “r” when I say it?) sounds catchy and not seedy and trashy at all. Has a sort of soft-core porn, out-of-focus lens, smooth jazz, satin sheets sort of feel. Gone are the days of, “Come and take me, Big Boy.” Now it’s “Come here, Big Boy, I wanna take you.” I guess sexual manipulation is more virtuous when done by a woman. Mmmm.

Quote:

Sex remains one of His most awesome gifts to mankind. In the context of marriage it is the glue that makes it possible to remain faithful to an impossible ideal. Outside of that, it can still be pleasurable, but can quickly sink to depths yet unplumbed.

So when you hear the term Romantica, remember the bait-n-switch is on.

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Ya know… I wanted to buy a critique for the Trish Jensen fund. I have a historical I wanted to have looked at. But the coordinator for the historical category is overwhelmed I think.

I e-mailed my initial request. When I didn’t hear anything back over a week later, I e-mailed her again. She responded that she was working on the spreadsheet and would get back to me in a couple of days. Then nothing.

And more nothing.

That was two weeks ago. This past weekend I e-mailed again. The critique sale ends on Friday. She wrote back yesterday morning and said she would let me know what critiques were left when she got home.

Nothing.

So I give up. Everything happens for a reason. Apparently, I’m not supposed to get a critique.

I’m out a critique and Trish is out $40. Don’t know why I’m telling you all this, other than it’s extremely frustrating to be left hanging, for whatever the reason. And it’s been happening to me a lot lately, not just the critique coordinator, but in general.

I’m always honest about whether I can meet an obligation or not. I try never to say I’m available to do something, if I’m not. And if I do say that I am available, I will set aside everything else to get it done. I gave my word, that’s important to me. If I’m not going to be able to do the task, I say so. And if I suspect I’m not going to get it done within the specified time frame, I say that too. Before I agree. Not after I’m already late.

This turned into a rant. Sorry. This isn’t just about the critique. Several people dropped the ball on me this week.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

First, I’ll start with my rant. (#2 rant, in case you’re keeping count. )

The Google ads on peoples’ blogs drive me nuts!! Why the hell are they on there? Why would you add Google ads to your site? To make money? Does anyone really click on a Google ad and buy something? I don’t like them. I always feel like I am on a commercial site rather than a personal site when I see those ads on there. I think they are yucky. End rant.

I’m pleased the blog is working out for you all–loading faster and easy to use. On my end, it’s fabulous! I love it.

I’m working on the dreaded synopsis. So far, I thinks it’s going fairly well, but I’m certain my critique partners will tear it apart. That’s why I love them. They catch all the little things I pay no attention to. A big epiphany for me was this:

Kathy Carmichael – “For a romance novel synopsis, I can’t say this strongly enough: the external plot is mentioned only as it affects the emotional arc of either the hero or heroine. If it doesn’t, then you don’t need to mention it. “

And here I was, detailing everything about the plot and secondary characters. Usually, my synopsis confuses the hell out of judges. I had one judge who wrote, “My initial reaction after reading [the entry] is that I can’t wait to read more, yet the synopsis does not compel me to read the book. Part of this may be because your synopsis is only 3 pages long, with numerous named characters and a twisting plot.”

Ouch. Not good. I’m going to be honest here. (Watch out.) I’ve never paid much attention to refining my ability to write the synopsis because I knew my writing would hook the reader in, despite the glaring horribleness of the synopsis. In fact, I’ve even sometimes deliberately left the synopsis out, knowing it would hurt rather than help me. But let’s face it. I have to get over my fear and learn to write the synopsis. They are a necessary evil and I’m not much of a writer if I can’t pull one off.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is–where am I going with my career? What am I doing to achieve my goals?

That’s it. I have one completely finished, fully critiqued ms sitting here because of the stupid “Simultaneous Submission” rule, which I’m about to break, because jees!!! How long am I supposed to freakin’ wait?

I’m not hunting for an agent. Sometimes, I think I should be.

I’m telling you right now, when (no if’s here, I’m working on being more optimistic.) I get published, I’m going to make it a crusade to help talented wannabes get ahead. Probably not through contests, but through simple recommendations to people (read agent and editor) I know. Word of mouth carries a lot of weight. Surely, it would be alright to say, “I know someone, [insert name], who has sent you a ms. I think they’re really good, maybe you will too.” (Of course, I’ll have to truly believe that writer is really good. )

Anyway, back to my contemplating. I think I should be doing more to get somewhere. But I’m not sure what more I could be doing. Perhaps I’m just getting impatient, which I hate.