Romance writing vs. High school
I’ve got a workshop tomorrow. To prepare, today I’ve made three pounds of pasta salad, sliced 2 cantelopes, a honeydew mellon, a pineapple and half a watermelon. My fingers are pruny with fruit juice, but I think I’ve earned to right to rant for a little bit.
Lately, both in romance blogland, and just the romance industry in general, I kind of feel like I’m back in high school.
I hated high school.
I’m feeling like a bunch of people are getting all clique-ish. I’ll start by saying that I think a big part of this is my own neurosis/psychosis/etc, but it exists just the same.
Joining blog forces seems to be a big thing. Now, it makes sense, if there are more people, you don’t have to post as often so it cuts down on work load. Plus, if you have a group blog and your own blog, presumably you can increase readership somehow.
But (here’s where my neruosis comes in) what I see when I see a group blog is: Look, we’re all friends BUT you’re not.
I KNOW it’s insane, but still, it’s the same feeling I had in high school.
Also, a lot of romance writers are like those people who sat next to you in homeroom and never said two words to you until they needed to copy your geometry homework (yeah, like I did it?). I don’t appreciate my “friends” only popping in when they’ve got something to say about themselves. Hello? Take advantage much?
Then, there are the “All about Me” blogs.
Now obviously all blogs are about the person who writes them in some way (Duh). But come one, can’t you share the good with the bad? Reading some blogs, you’d think that these people are next in line for Sainthood. And they’re not even dead! I don’t care to read about all of your great reviews (that’s not true, I do, but only if I already like you. I don’t want review after review and nothing else). If you’re going to go to the trouble to have a blog so people get to know you, why not be yourself, Miss High School Cheerleading Captian!?!?!
Are you getting the point that I didn’t like high school?
And I’ve been sitting on this rant for awhile, but I’m cranky enough to pull it out now. I WILL NEVER NAME NAMES, but there were a lot of people I met in Reno that I didn’t like.
I mean, I was completely on my best behavior every second. Other people were not. I’m a good judge of character. I can tell when people are being fake and when they’re generally nice people. I’d imagine editors and agents (at least the ones that I met) are the same way.
There were a LOT of fake people there. (And don’t even get me started on the clique-ish-ness) of the National conference.
Is my crankiness jsut taking off in bizarre directions? Am I the only one who sees this? Does anyone want to cut a half a watermelon for me?
September 30th, 2005 at 11:47 pm
If I sit with you at lunch will you name names?
:grin:
I think the high-schoolness of the online world is one of the reasons I’ve never had an incredibly strong desire to attend conferences. (Although, the New England Conference? Not high-school-y. It rocks.) I’ve heard so many stories about cattiness at Nationals that I can imagine standing in the corner with my food tray, afraid to approach any of the lunch tables.
I was a cheerleader in high school. :oops: Or should I say my misfitishness was hidden by a cheerleading out fit for a while. I did hide a book in my pompoms once. :smile:
October 1st, 2005 at 11:47 am
No, I don’t think you’re the only one who’ve seen this. I enjoyed the Nationals I went to, but there was more than one instance where I felt very much the outsider because I wasn’t “in” a group. That is one of the reasons going off to National isn’t high on my list now that I’ve rejoined.
As for the fakeness — yeah, saw that too. People who were there just to promote themselves and/or their agenda and really didn’t give a damn about what anyone else was doing. For me, the classic moment was when one of these people asked what I wrote and when I replied, “Regencies,” they said, “Well, if you don’t want to make money…”
No, I didn’t like high school either. :smile:
October 1st, 2005 at 11:02 pm
i hope your workshop went well! :grin:
October 2nd, 2005 at 9:53 am
Man, I’m glad I never met you at National so I don’t have to worry that you think *I’m* fake. (paranoid much?? No, not me…:mrgreen: ) (actually, I wish we HAD met!)
The romance writing world has always had cliques since I joined RWA like 12 years ago. Sometimes it bugs me. Sometimes it surprises me. Sometimes the people I seem to like online I can’t stand in person. Sometimes I can’t stand them online, and their real live personalities prove me right :roll:
Though I’ve met some people through blogging that I’d never met before and have become real friends now. AND I liked them in person too!
The romance writing world is weird like that…
October 2nd, 2005 at 10:43 am
Kacey - You’re right (although I am totally sure I WOULD have liked you in person, and I still don’t really understand how I didn’t meet you). I think the whole “high-school phenomenon is just par for the course when you have a large group of women interacting.
There are just those times when it really starts to bug me (obviously now is one of those times).