Robin Covington told the assembled audience at St. Mary’s County Library’s first author fair that an important part of her success was “finding her tribe.” In her case, that was Romance Writers of America, the premier organization for romance writers. Robin talked about the excitement of meeting with both writers and fans of her genre, and learning about character, story, and marketing at conferences and other gatherings of romance writers. And she wasn’t the only one who talked about the importance of continuous learning and networking for authors.
So far, my tribe has been Creatures, Crimes and Creativity, a three-day conference held every Fall in Columbia, Maryland, and sponsored by Intrigue Publishing, LLC. This is a small conference by most standards, with about 75-80 people usually in attendance. The 2018 conference featured 42 authors, all of whom appear on at least one panel. The featured authors this year were Jamie Freveletti, author of both Running from the Devil and Run Deep, and Keith R.A. DeCandido, author of over 50 novels and stories which have been included in the “Star Trek, Sleepy Hollow, Supernatural, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Leverage, Marvel Comics, Cars, Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate” universes. They are joined by two local featured authors: E.A. Aymar and John Dedakis. Aymar is the author of I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead and You’re As Good As Dead), both from Black Opal Books. Dedakis is the author of Fast Track, Bluff, Troubled Water, and Bullet in the Chamber. All these authors’ presentations and panels were awesome as were the panels of the other authors in attendance. The photo above is me standing with my new friends Dee Lawrence, Shawn Cosby and Glenn Parris.
I enjoyed both the camaraderie and the panels. This year, I served on three: “Holding You Hostage-–Keeping the Reader Engaged,” “Across State Lines—Writing Across Genres,” and “Reflections of Humanity in Fantasy and Science Fiction.” Not surprisingly, I learned a great deal from my fellow authors and from all those in attendance.
This is clearly my tribe. Other tribes that authors often connect themselves include the following major organizations:
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators
Take your pick!
It’s harder to have a tribe when you write romantic suspense. You don’t fit the profile anywhere. I started in RWA, but I’ve grown away from them. I’m really enjoying getting to know you and the other writers in CCC. I suppose my tribe is my critique group which has been running for the past 35 years.