Writer Unboxed

This past week, Kath and I learned about a new Romance Writers of America special interest chapter called the Rainbow Romance Writers, for writers of LGBT romance. To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised that this chapter hadn’t existed before now, and I wanted to know more about their evolution and how they went about establishing themselves. When I emailed the chapter secretary, Kimberly Gardner, we decided that a great way to get the word out about RRW was through WU. Time for a Take Five.

Take Five Interview with Kimberly Gardner

Q: What is the Rainbow Romance Writers chapter all about? What are the goals of your chapter?

A: The Rainbow Romance Writers are the newest special interest chapter of the Romance Writers of America. We represent both published and pre-published writers of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances and we also have a number of industry professionals within our group, including agents, editors, publishers and academics.

Our official 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

Q: How did things get started? How did you know you’d have enough interest to form a chapter?

A: A number of months ago, we created a google group for the purpose of discussing the possibility of forming an LGBT chapter within RWA. After posting the information on numerous blogs and websites, we had over a hundred authors sign up for that group and we were very excited by the amount of enthusiasm people demonstrated for the idea. We are required to have our authors be members of RWA so the actual number of individuals who joined the official group was lower, as some of the original participants either couldn’t join at the time or wanted to wait to see if the chapter actually happpened before shelling out the money to join RWA. But we are really excited to see some of those original discussion group members signing up now that we are official.

Q: What types of issues have writers of LGBT romance faced in the past and how has the need for advocacy been answered by your chapter?

A: One of our goals as a chapter, and we feel very strongly about this, is advocating for our members. For many years writers of LGBT romance have been attending conferences, hoping for the chance to network and promote the genre they love, only to be pushed aside and sometimes even met with outright discrimination. They have had their promo materials called offensive and removed from exhibit tables, and their books rejected for review by some of the leading review magazines, while those same publications were more than eager to take their advertising dollars. It’s injustices like these, and others I won’t get into here, that we hope to address as an advocacy group.

Q: How do you think this chapter will help empower writers of LGBT romance?

A: Right from the start of this entire process, we were overwhelmed by the positive comments we received from writers. It seems that while there are certain avenues where writers of LGBT novels are networking with other authors, all of our members have expressed their joy that this is a place that is inclusive and welcoming to all authors who write gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances. There are many individuals within the chapter that I have never met before and we have already begun learning from each other, only a week after our official chapter status was announced!

I believe that the positive energy being created within the group right now will grow exponentially as we grow as a chapter. We have both published and unpublished writers in RRW and all of them have expressed the need for an officially recognized group that is professional and dedicated to the advancement of our members and the LGBT genre as a whole.

Q: How can authors of romantic LGBT stories learn more about your chapter, and join?

A: As we are a special interest chapter within RWA, we do require that members be RWA National members before joining RRW. Non-RWA writers can find member information here: http://www.rwanational.org/cs/become_a_member.

Interested authors and industry professionals can visit the Rainbow Romance Writers website at http://www.rainbowromancewriters.com/ to find information on how to join our chapter. Questions can also be directed to any board member, and our contact information is contained on the website.

We are actively seeking new members, as we believe that a varied group will benefit everyone!

Thanks so much for taking the time out to do this Q&A with us, Kimber, and best of luck with your new special interest chapter!

Therese Walsh co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006. Her debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, sold to Random House in a two-book deal in 2008, was named one of January Magazine’s Best Books of 2009, and was a Target Breakout Book in 2010. She's never been published with a lit magazine, but LOST's Carlton Cuse liked her haiku best on Twitter, and that made her pretty happy.

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