Rainbow Romance Writers Chapter Update

Posted on April 29, 2009 by SloanParker

Rainbow Romance Writers We’re official. Here’s the announcement from chapter president, Jade Buchanan.

Rainbow Romance Writers is the newest Special Interest Chapter within the Romance Writers of America. A lot of hard work has gone into setting us up as a chapter, but we are very proud to announce that writers specializing in LGBT romance now have a specific place to network with other career-focused writers and concentrate on our unique needs within the romance genre.

Our goals are:
-to promote excellence in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances
-to help members become published in LGBT romances
-to be an advocate within the industry for our genre
-to be a resource to our members and others on writing and the publishing industry

We currently have 39 wonderful members who represent all different aspects of the LGBT romance genre. Interested writers can contact us at membership@rainbowromancewriters.com if they would like to become members of RRW. They can also email me directly at jade.buchanan@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your continued support!

Jade Buchanan
RRW, President

You can visit the chapter web site at: www.rainbowromancewriters.com Thanks to Jade and the entire board for all their hard work. I’m glad to be a part of this group- Sloan

Rainbow Romance Writers

Posted on April 5, 2009 by SloanParker

I’ve recently joined Romance Writers of America. A group of us have formed an LGBT special interest group called Rainbow Romance Writers, and our officers are in the process of formalizing the chapter with RWA.

Thanks to RRW’s new officers for getting things going:

President – Jade Buchanan
Vice President – Sara Bell
Secretary – Kimberly Gardner
Treasurer – JL Langley

And to the webmaster: Jet Mykles for setting up the web site.

Check out the new site at www.rainbowromancewriters.com or click the image below. If you are interested in joining, complete the form on the members page. You need to be a member of RWA to join.

Quote I love: The Thirteenth Tale

Posted on February 12, 2009 by SloanParker

I saw this quote today and thought it captured something any author ponders but will never know for sure: How will your work be perceived after your gone? Will it be read? Will it be dead? Will it survive time and the changes of our world? I like to believe in magic. I like to believe when I do get my work published (notice the “WHEN”) that I will putting a story out there that, at the very least, will make people feel something, anything (whether I’m dead or alive when they read it).

I copied this quote from another site, not the book, so I apologize if the wording is inaccurate in any way.

“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in the ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic. –Margaret Lea”

— Diane Setterfield (The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel)

Grammar Resources

Posted on November 25, 2008 by SloanParker

I’ve been working on editing a draft of my first gay erotic romance and it has been a pretty intense process. I’ve spent time reading “how to” books (keeping what made sense and disregarding what didn’t work for me), studying grammar, and working on my own style. I’ve learned a lot about writing, about myself, and about the kind of writing I like to read vs. write.

Anyway, as a result of my research and studying, I’ve come across some various grammar sites that I thought I’d share. Some of these have been helpful in answering the tough questions or have provided me with an additional source to backup other resources.

Maybe they’ll help some of you.

If you have any other sites that you’ve found helpful, let me know via the contact form on my website. Thanks!!

Added (2/6/2009): check out the Links page to see all my grammar resource links. I’ll be adding new links to that page.

When to stop editing

Posted on September 10, 2008 by SloanParker

I am currently editing my first book in the MORE series. For some reason, I am doing a lot of editing this time around. Perhaps it is because this is my first work in the contemporary gay erotic romance genre. Perhaps it is simply because with each piece I write, I learn more and more about the writing process. Whatever the reason, I am happy with the way it is turning out. Writing and rewriting over and over again works for me. It always has.

I have always been a draft writer. My writing process is to write draft after draft, chapter by chapter, until I feel like the story is finished (most times working off a master outline that I tweak as I go). Then I move on to the actual editing process. During editing, I look for grammatical errors, spelling errors, overused words, unnecessary words, passive voice, etc. I just keep rereading the draft, highlighting errors or areas that need improvement with each pass through the story.

So, how do I know when I’m done editing?

Well, quite simply, I stop when the page turns white. When I read the draft and highlight only one or two words/phrases in the entire manuscript (no matter how long the work), then I know it’s ready. I know that I have changed as much as I can. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It means that I have done my best work. That’s when I know it is ready to let someone else read it.

Edited to change the series title, 2014