RWA's Slow, Self-Inflicted Death and the Phoenix

When I left Romance Writers of America, it had problems. Lots of problems.

There was an anti-erotica (really it was anti-sex) bent. An anti-ebook bent. An anti-Black bent. Guess what my first romance series had? Yep. All three.

It made me sad. I did learn a lot from the authors in the chapters I belonged to in Houston. But as time passed, I felt more and more uncomfortable. Finally, I slipped out so quietly most people didn't even realize I wasn't there.

Courtney Milan wasn't that lucky. She was tossed out on her ass in a ham-fisted attempt to silence her. Because she was a woman of color, and she was loud, and the Nice White Ladies who really controlled RWA and its purse strings couldn't handle someone like Courtney, other than to make shit up and totally bypass the organization's Ethics Committee.

So, what's happened since last winter?

RWA has lost roughly half its membership. COVID-19 forced their annual conference to go online, but I haven't heard of anyone who's going. I honestly don't know how it will work. They plan on using ZOOM, but all the schools across the country using ZOOM managed to crash the system last week. RWA has lost its biggest money-makers, the RITA and the Golden Heart contests, because so many entrants and judges withdrew.

But what about Courtney Milan?

She's finally put out a new book, the proverbial book of her heart, The Duke Who Didn't, which will be released on September 22. Personally, I'm looking forward to this story.

In the meantime, Courtney talks about her experience with RWA and how her maternal grandmother was the inspiration for her newest novel in a article on Entertainment Weekly.