If you know me among my milspouse peeps, you know my standard argument regarding LGBT discrimination (over there, it’s a lot of railing around Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which thankfully is at an end): replace all instances regarding sexuality with another minority group and see how well that goes over.

Blacks shouldn’t be allowed to marry. It’s unnatural.

If we’re forced to attend a military function and Hispanics are there, we’ll be uncomfortable, and we’ll leave. Even if it means an adverse fitness report. We shouldn’t have to see Hispanics holding hands. That’s disgusting.

Our contest will no longer accept romances about Jews.

These are abhorrent, yet I’ve heard all of these pointed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer crowd. How is it we gasp in shock at one of the above statements, but it’s okay when we say homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry, or that being in the presence of a gay couple is cause to disobey an order, or that books with gay characters are no longer accepted in a contest?

I tweeted my discontent about this issue on Friday, and I was pleased to see that RWA National is actually manning its social networking posts, and they do engage with and respond to their members. I received a personal e-mail from Erin Fry, and she provided Executive Director Allison Kelley’s statement regarding Romance Writers, Ink’s decision to ban same-sex romances. Awesome! Kudos to RWA for being so on the ball and for using social networking the absolute right way.

But then, boo hiss to RWA and Allison Kelley’s response:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this situation. Whenever I receive a complaint, I know that a member’s expectations have not been met. Failing to meet member expectations is regrettable; however, it is very difficult in an organization with such a large and diverse membership as RWA’s to meet every member’s needs and expectations in all situations.

Several posts have quoted RWA’s definition of romance, but I wish to point out that RWA does not have an official definition of “romance.”  Instead, RWA acknowledges that romance fiction includes two basic elements—a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying and optimistic ending. The determination of whether or not a book meets this criterion is left to individual readers.

Chapter licensing agreements do not dictate the rules for chapter contests, and the idea that RWA can or should police contests run by its 145 chapters is fraught with complications. Following the suggestion logically, how far should RWA go with regulating chapter contests? Should RWA require chapters to only allow entries that would qualify for the RITA competition? If so, that would rule out contests that are open to books that are self published and/or books published by many small presses. Viewing the situation from another perspective, if the Rainbow chapter wished to hold a contest for the best LGBT books, should RWA say that’s not allowed? Personally, I don’t think so. Each chapter is separately incorporated and governed by volunteer leaders who are expected to make decisions in the best interests of the organization they serve. Each chapter is therefore allowed to offer programs and services that reflect the special interests and sensibilities of its members.

 At the national level, RWA’s membership (more than 10,000 members and 145 chapters) is served by a staff of 10, and RWA is fortunate to have a large pool of judges for the RITA and Golden Heart contests. I understand the concerns about RWA Ink’s contest, but I also understand the challenges of recruiting judges and contest coordinators, who are, in fact, volunteers. Compelling volunteers to judge books they are not comfortable reading will not produce fair and unbiased results, and chapters that are fully staffed by volunteers may not have the resources to identify and recruit enough judges willing to judge everything the romance genre encompasses.

 Respectfully,
Allison Kelley, CAE
Executive Director
allison.kelley@rwa.org

Should National be responsible for regulating chapter contests? No. But when one blatantly discriminates against a minority and National doesn’t respond appropriately, it conveys a very blatant message: RWA condones discrimination.

As for finding judges willing to read same-sex entries, I can understand. A very little. You’re going to have small-minded judges who can’t handle judging a story on its merits just because the characters aren’t the right color, religion, or sex. But you have a larger pool than just your chapter when it comes to pulling judges. How often have we seen calls go out to other chapters to request volunteer judges? If I saw a call requesting a judge for some m/m or f/f or ?/? romance, I’d be very willing to step in and take a couple. No problem. Why? First, I love reading romance that is atypical and offers a fresh perspective, flips tropes on their heads, and shows me how much more room there is to explore the genre. Second, there is not enough f/f romance in the world, and I’m dying to find some. I’d totally be a sneaky bastard, judge a contest, and request something from the coordinator if I found a beauty. Third, I know there are small-minded judges who will likely assume every same-sex romance is going to have icky (ORAL SECKS! HAND JOBZ! BUTTLOVE! MISSIONARY BUTTLOVE! OMG IN THE ARMPITZ!) sex scenes, even if the contest only judges the first chapter. I’m willing to balance out the assholes until we breed them out of our society.

I like Courtney Milan’s suggestion. I like it a lot. Don’t submit your m/f romance to RWI’s contest. Don’t judge the contest. Ask the final judges not to judge the contest. Speak with dollars and with support…or lack thereof. Show RWI how we feel about contests that discriminate.

And in the meantime, balance out the assholes everywhere until we can breed them out.

Also, if you write f/f romance, I want. Send. Send now. I accept submissions at kerri-leigh at entangled publishing dot com, and I’m particularly interested in novellas from 10k-40k.

(X-posted from Five Scribes)

I’ve been writing since I was wee, so when I first pursued publication *mumble* years ago, nobody in my family was surprised. I love everything about writing, from the act itself, the process encasing it, other writers’ processes, teaching it, reading about it, flirting with different methods, etc. I never suspected I’d enjoy being in the editor’s seat quite as much as I do, though. I’m now part of someone else’s process, and it’s pretty cool.

But it’s still not mine. I’m taking someone else’s work and helping that artist to flesh it into something even better and more marketable. I’m hopefully making the stories more compelling, the characters more realistic, the conflicts more intense, but I’m only doing so by direction. The stories aren’t mine, and though I have a huge personal investment in each story, I don’t feel the satisfaction of having carved a piece of myself into something amazing that I can share with the world.

So though I don’t have a lot of time these days, I am still writing. I still want to publish with a reputable company that stands behind its releases. And this creates a conflict.

I love the publisher I work for. I think it’s the best business model around, and every time I talk to the senior editors or bigwigs, I’m reminded that–though we are a business, and our business is producing NY-quality books for shelves and e-readers–the authors come first. They get the biggest chunk of money as part of their royalties, and because of our reputation and the quality of our books, they also get some pretty amazing foreign rights sales. Our contracts are, we’ve been told, the fairest in the land. Every author is assigned a publicist who has a stake in the success of that title, and our authors get feedback and advice on their websites, their social media presence, and other publicity methods. In a word, the publisher I work for is the best in the industry.

And it’s where I’d publish…if I didn’t work there already.

For years, publishers that also publish their editors’ work have given me pause. I don’t assume the worst, but I do question what’s going on. Don’t judge–I remember when e-publishing and then digital-first publishers started because authors didn’t think they and their friends wouldn’t publish in New York because of [insert an excuse: unagented, NY doesn't take chances on new authors, NY doesn't take chances on historicals set anywhere but Britain or perhaps America, NY doesn't like dark/edgy stories, NY doesn't like comedy, NY is too busy dumping millions of dollars on their bestsellers, etc.]. I don’t think this is as much of an issue these days, especially considering the advent of easy and affordable self-publishing. I also know in a few cases how classy the publisher and its published editors are. But I do still wonder if there’s a conflict of interest nestled in that relationship between the author-editor and the publisher.

Entangled does publish stories submitted by a few of its own employees. Our editors, publicists, lawyers, financial gurus, etc. go through the same submissions process and receive the same consideration the droves of unagented and agented authors do. First and foremost, we want to produce marketable and high-quality stories. Nobody in the submissions pile is a precious snowflake.

Even though I believe there is no conflict of interest at Entangled, between the ethics of those who acquire, the emphasis on quality, and the stake each person in the publishing process has in each story, I’m uncertain whether I should pursue publication here. It’ll take a while before I figure it out, but in the meantime, I know one thing for sure: I’m not yet a good enough writer to publish at Entangled, so I have time before I have to make that decision.