FOCUS ON: ROMNA - Cyber Chapter of the RNA

In our series of Chapter posts we are joined today by Kate Johnson, helping us to dispel the myths and conquer the fear of online groups. Kate, together with Catherine Jones, is the is co-administrator of ROMNA, the online chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Kate Jackson

How long has ROMNA been running?

Since 2000, which is well before I joined the RNA. I believe before the Yahoo group it was a ListServ, back before forums had really got off the ground.

Who decided there was a need for a cyber chapter?

It was set up by Anna Jacobs and Shirley Wells; by common consensus I think since even in those heady early days of the Internet everyone could see its value.

What can new members expect from the online forum?

It's a pretty lively forum for debate. We encourage members to ask anything about writing, the industry, and the RNA, and to respond likewise. Our members range from authors who have been publishing longer than I've been alive, to new writers still working on their first manuscripts, and quite literally everything in between, so it's quite a varied forum. It can seem intimidating to begin with but if you ease yourself in gently and read a few comment threads you'll soon get the hang of it. Don't be shy!

What's lovely is you can get anything from a research query to industry advice, and far beyond. For instance, I remain very grateful to the respondents who helped me pick out a reading for my grandmother's funeral. People are very friendly and there is a lot of support for all levels of the industry.

How many members do you have and are many of them active?

We have over 400 members. It's hard to say how many are active: by my estimation about a quarter are fairly regular, with a small core even more eager than that; probably about two thirds post every now and then. Some are more readers than respondents, but every now and then we hear from someone in 'deep lurk' who has something to say. Of course, just because not everyone posts doesn't mean they're not listening, and you can get a lot from the forum just by reading along.

Can NWS members join?

Yes, absolutely. I think ROMNA is incredibly valuable to NWS members. I learned a huge amount from it when I was a new member.

ROMNA is run through Yahoo. Are there any plans to change this as we now have private Facebook groups that are so much more user friendly?

Not so far. For one thing, not all our members are on Facebook and migrating over could be more trouble than it's worth. We'll keep an eye on this though as things do change.

Do you have set days/dates for topics?  

No, anybody can post any topic on any day. The exception is promotional posts, which we only allow on Sundays.

ROMNA by its very nature is different from other RNA Chapters. What in your opinion makes it so special?

I think it's the absolute inclusivity. Not just in terms of experience, but in geographical diversity it's really wonderful. Not everyone can reach a local chapter, or have the time and means to do so, but interaction with other authors is absolutely invaluable. Plus, it's a continuous, rolling loop, so questions get answered quite quickly and conversations evolve all the time.

Do the administrators ever get together like the Chapters or do you meet in cyber space?

Mostly cyber space! We email and of course we usually see each other at RNA events.

Is ROMNA open to non-members of the RNA?

No, just current members. We politely request ex members to leave, and it's not open to people who have never been members. This keeps things confidential to the membership.

Catherine Jones

Are there any popular topics on ROMNA?

We return perennially to subjects like preparing submissions, the need for an agent, and advice on self-publishing. Of course since the industry changes all the time, so does the advice, and so does the membership so these things pop up quite frequently. Quite often someone will have a research query, usually historical or geographical. We do of course encourage people to look things up for themselves, but sometimes the easiest route is to ask "What do 13 year old girls read these days?" for instance, or "How much of this dialect should I use?" Usually someone will know, or know someone who does!

Who is the contact for new members?

Myself (K8JohnsonAuthor@yahoo.co.uk) or Catherine Jones (kate@KateLace.co.uk)

Many thanks, Kate, for a very helpful and informative post

   

The Blogging Team

Would you like your RNA Chapter to be featured in this series? Please contact us on natalie@nataliekleinman.co.uk 

Sarah Waights: A 'Take' on Politics

We are delighted to welcome Sarah Waights to the blog today.

Why our party leaders’ wives should never have married a politician.

First, may I say what a pleasure it is to be on the RNA Blog. My debut novel is a graduate of the brilliant NWS and, specifically, the lovely Catherine Jones who said all the right things at the right times, including things like “get off your arse” and “just do it, Waights”.  Thanks Catherine.

I have always seen party politics, with its monstrous, egotistical, power-mad inmates as an irresistible opportunity for drama and comedy. I’m loving the pre-election media fascination with the ‘behind the scenes’ lives of the party leaders. Their wives are being plonked in kitchens they have probably never seen before to drink coffee, lean nonchalantly and convey through facial expression alone that they consider their politician husbands to be wise, empathic and - last but not least - irresistibly hot.

It’s a tough call. Let’ face it, all of those party leaders have had their unlovely moments:

Nick Clegg’s wife - whose is obviously much cleverer than him - had to put up with his boasting that he had had multiple sexual partners. He couldn’t even be precise about numbers, but was pretty sure it was ‘no more than thirty’. Charming. David Cameron’s young family clearly have scant respect for him. They probably kick sand in his face on the beach - and who can blame them? He is master of the off-message pronouncement, proclaiming once on live radio that “too many tweets make a tw*t”. Quite. As for Ed Milliband, his wife probably has to pretend watching him eat a bacon sandwich is enough to make her squirm with pride - and I’m sure squirming comes easily to the poor woman. I could go on, but sadly Nigel Farage’s verbal indiscretions are too huge a subject for this post.

The advice my heroine, Emily Pemilly gives other politicians’ wives at the beginning of the novel is different - I hope - to the advice she would give them at the end. The story is a romance, of course, but it is also an examination of two very different forms of love:

At the opening Emily is a dutiful wife, devoting her life to making rising MP Ralph look good and behaving in a (mostly) irreproachable way under the enduring scrutiny of the world. Emily’s husband is charming, handsome, urbane, ambitious and successful. He and Emily share lively repartee, they are raising two children and clocking up a decent few years of marriage under their belts. On many levels, it works - successful marriages have been based on less. In contrast, the reader has to judge whether former lover Matt is truly on Emily’s side. After all, he’s a journalist with a story to find, he is clearly angry about his and Emily’s past failed relationship and he is bluntly critical about her life choices. Emily agonises as to which man is best for her, struggling with the notion of what true love really is, and having to decide whether she is right to be steadfast or to disrupt her life and those around her to follow her heart.

Never Marry a Politician is Sarah Waights’ debut novel. A romcom, e-published by Choc Lit, it was runner up in the Good Housekeeping Novel Writing Competition 2014, where it was judged ‘a witty comedy’, ‘laugh out loud funny from the first line’ and ‘one to watch.’

About Sarah

Sarah Waights wrote her first book when she was five. Her childhood was split between UK boarding schools and joining her parents overseas in the school holidays.

After several years in public relations, campaigning, political lobbying and freelance journalism, she realised her preference for making things up and switched to writing novels instead.

Sarah takes an anthropological interest in family, friends and life in her West Sussex village where she lives with her artist husband, their children and other pets.

Thank you for joining us today, Sarah.

Links:

‘Never Marry a Politician’

Website

Twitter

The RNA Blog is brought to you by

Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman.

If you would like to appear on the Blog please contact us at elaineeverest@aol.com

How to survive the RNA conference. Drink Wine, Eat Chocolate!

With only a week to go before Conference we welcome the inimitable Jane Wenham-Jones talking about her first RNA Conference

The last time I wrote about the RNA conference it was 2003 and I was a virgin. At least that’s what they told me. I arrived at that first initiation into wine-soaked kitchen parties and chocolate feasts, not knowing what to expect but somewhat hot and cross, having come off the M25 at the wrong junction, failed to find the registration desk and then spent half an hour looking for my accomodation. (You youngsters don't know you're born with your sat navs and Jan Jones's handy set of photo directions. We had it tough in those days...)

Roger Sanderson found me wandering in a car park, contemplating hysterics, and packed me off to the panel I was missing. For which, I recall, I was still dressed in my driving pyjama bottoms and an ancient pair of flip flops. (I hadn’t yet heard about The Shoes).

At dinner they ran out of wine…  “We didn’t know we’d need so much…” said the bemused woman behind the bar, as I shamelessly jumped the queue and got her in a half-nelson for the last remaining bottle. Fortunately, before mutiny erupted totally - I’d have very probably been lynched - further supplies were found stashed elsewhere. That next case emptied in minutes. Gosh, I thought, my kinda women. Then I met Catherine Jones and Katie Fforde. And discovered where it had gone.   

As the new speaker on the block, I’d been given the Sunday morning Hang Over slot (I’ve had it several times since) and all I will say is, I wasn’t the only one clutching the Nurofen. I seem to remember passing on my hot tip for a cure-all. Peanut butter, mixed with marmite, on lots of toast. I have discovered another one since: Crisps! I don’t know whether it’s the fat or the salt or the carbohydrate content but a bag of ready-salted (possibly with a small hair of the dog) will put you right in no time. Just a shame it feels wrong to eat them for breakfast.

Er – isn’t that a diet book I see she’s plugging, I hear you cry. Toast? Crisps? What’s going on? As the author of a Flab-Fighting tome, who knows all about the occupational hazard of Writers’ Bottom and indeed claims to have coined the term, (only to you, dear fellow novelists, can I admit that I put weight ON writing the damn thing), I have been busy explaining to anyone who’ll listen that the whole point of the book is not that I am stick thin (I am not) but that given the amount I drink, eat and lounge on my backside, I manage to avoid being morbidly obese.

How?  Oh dear, I’ve used up my space so, as they say, you’ll have to read it. But rest assured, it certainly involves wine and chocolate…

For a bit of a preview see www.100waystofighttheflab.com 

For hot tips on how to eat, drink and be merry without ending up the size of Milton Keynes read this.

100 Ways to Fight the Flab and still have wine and chocolate by Jane Wenham-Jones is published by Accent Press in paperback at £7.99 and on Kindle and e formats

Jane will be presiding over the Sunday Sofa at the conference from 4.45pm. 

Come along, have a laugh, put your feet up. Bring your leftover wine and chocolate… J

http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com

Thank you for joining us, Jane. We always loves anything that involves wine and chocolate.

RNA blogs are brought to you by Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman.
If you would like to write something for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

           

FOCUS ON: Oxford Chapter

This month we welcome Liz Harris, Convenor of the Oxford Chapter who tells us about their Retreat Day.

The members of the RNA Oxford Chapter chose to locate their Writers’ Retreat Day in the pub (now stop that sniggering!) where they meet monthly for the Ox Lunch. The central nature of The Victoria Arms, Old Marston, with its large car park, made that the ideal venue for the Ox lunchers, some of whom come from as far as Gloucestershire.

The planned day comprised talks and discussions, punctuated by tea and coffee and a pre-arranged buffet lunch. The subject of each of the three talks had been chosen by the members.

The first was entitled Promoting One's Novel and the Social Media. Writing a novel is just the start; the next, very important stage is selling that novel, and the members, both traditionally published and self-published, were keen for guidance about how best to do this.

Illustrating her informative talk with images flashed on to the screen, RNA PR officer, Maggi Fox, covered the traditional forms of book promotion, indicating the key points that should be observed. After Maggi, Janet Gover took everyone through aspects of blogging and statistical analysis in a talk that gave the listeners plenty to think about. There is a wealth of information to be obtained from google statistics, and members were encouraged to use it to the full. Finally, Liz Harris drew attention to the advantages of accessing twitter through an engine such as tweetdeck, pointing out that the time spent morning and evening on the social media can be seen as the equivalent of driving to and from work.

After a buffet lunch, experienced blurb-writer, Anselm Audley, took the group through the key points of writing a blurb for one's novel. It was a very useful talk, dealing as it did with a subject of great importance to those both traditionally published and self-published.

This was followed by a most entertaining and informative final session: multi-published author, Anita Burgh, spoke about the publishing industry as it used to be, illustrating her talk with many an amusing anecdote. When Anita had finished her talk, Catherine Jones took over, speaking about the realities of publishing today, a topic which stimulated much discussion.

By the end of the day we were all only a teeny bit older, but we were a great deal wiser and better informed about aspects that relating to our own writing, as well as to the publishing industry today.

The Oxford Chapter finished the day by expressing their gratitude to the RNA committee, for helping to make such an enjoyable, informative day possible.

 

For details of the Oxford Chapter meetings please contact Liz Harris: lizharriswatlington@yahoo.co.uk

Thank you, Liz.

This blog is brought to you by the blogging team of Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman. If you would like to feature your RNA Chapter, promote a book or write a craft feature please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Veronica Henry Reports on the Colman Getty Pen Quiz

There were sore heads for more than one reason, when the RNA team entered the Colman Getty Pen Quiz. Veronica Henry tells all.


We had all been swotting for weeks, glued to Mastermind/University Challenge/Brain of Britain in a vain attempt to improve our general knowledge. But nothing could prepare us for the ferociously hard questions at the 2009 Colman Getty Pen Quiz, hosted by the eloquent and efficient David Mitchell of Peep Show and Mitchell and Webb fame.

We had been lulled into a false sense of security beforehand, quaffing champagne in the splendour of the Royal Institute of British Architects and spotting literary luminaries such as Joan Bakewell, Sarah Waters, Deborah Moggach, Daisy Goodwin, Isobel Wolff and Kathy Lette, mixed in with a good sprinkling of publishing movers and shakers.

Then we moved into the banqueting room for dinner and … agonising torture as the questions came thick and fast. We conferred, debated, scratched our heads, reached for the wine bottle and actually put up a pretty good fight in the end, our best rounds being history [where we played our joker, earning double points] and the picture round.

In the end it was a tie between The Times, The Guardian and Harper Collins [the competition was pretty tough!], so the final winner was decided by a quick fire round, with The Times emerging as victors after correctly answering the question ‘In 1519, the French King Francis 1 bought which painting to put in his bathroom?’ [The Mona Lisa].

Coming last was softened by Liz Harris winning four bottles of fine malt whisky in the raffle, and the knowledge that we had contributed to an excellent cause – the evening raised approximately £20,000 to support PEN’s work defending freedom of expression, campaigning on behalf of persecuted writers worldwide and promoting literature and literacy.