Today I attended my very first NHRWA (New Hampshire Romance Writers Association) meeting, as a guest. It is held at the Library in Bow, New Hampshire. It was an – experience.
In fact, I kind of enjoyed their meeting much more than the little one I attend in the Monadnock area, which will begin meeting once again starting next weekend.
I learned that I must join the National RWA before I can join the state chapter. The National membership fee is $90, so I will have to wait a little bit longer before I will be able to join. I see that it is a good investment; I just don’t have the funds at this time to join. Maybe things will turn around next month and I will be able to fit it into my budget.
But the gals who I met today were down to earth and very enjoyable to be around. So, my membership will be delayed for a bit, but it will eventually come along in the near future.
We had a guest speaker today, just like the Monadnock Writers’ Group hosts. Her name was Laura Spinella and is the author of Beautiful Disasters, published by Penguin Books. She gave us some good points on composing Romance/Women’s fiction. 
I plan on incorporating this in the next Orgarlan Saga book with Darmin and Lord Ky’debaul. I love the idea because it gives the story added plot and subplots.
She said that when writing romance one should include certain aspects in the story.
They are:
- Society Defined
- The Meeting
- The Barrier
- The Attraction
- The Declaration
- Point of Ritual of Death
- The recognition
- Betrothal
Then she spoke about women’s fiction and what that is made up of. In general it is fiction about women.
There are several different categories:
- Friendships
- Women & Children
- Women & Husbands
- Women & Divorce
- Widows
- Women & Careers
- Women against Society
- Women & Messages
All of these things I have listed will make me think a little bit more about my plotting as I write. I am sure I can incorporate some of this in maybe even Road Salt.
All in all it was a great informative meeting. If you haven’t gone to a RWA meeting in your area yet and your thinking about writing romances you should really check them out, because I had a great time at the one I visited today.
Linda Nelson 