Monthly Archives: October 2016

November 20 – A Dom Is Not a Stalker in Leather with Cecilia Tan

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A workshop for writers who want to create scorching hot dominant heroes while still incorporating real-life BDSM community values. There are complex and valid reasons why female readers may choose to fantasize about a range of non-consensual scenarios in romance novels, from the classic “kidnapped into a sheik’s harem” to the currently popular “fated to be an alpha werewolf’s mate” and “met a billionaire who won’t take no for an answer.” But I feel it’s very important to distinguish between fantasy scenarios and depictions of real life. These fantasy archetypes are “safe” fantasies for women to indulge precisely because they are NOT real life. But how do real-life BDSM doms fit in the pantheon of romance archetypes? In the real BDSM community, doms who come across as pushy assholes or stalkers rarely last. This workshop will explore the intersections between what romance readers and real-life submissives are looking for in heroes and doms, and how romance writers can bring realistic depictions of domination and male dom personas into their work. I’ll present the results of surveys I took of both BDSM lifestyle submissives and avid romance readers which showed many parallels and a few surprising contrasts.

Cecilia Tan is “simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature,” according to Susie Bright. RT Magazine awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and their prestigious Pioneer Award. Tan’s BDSM romance novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) also won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in Erotic Romance and the Maggie Award for Excellence from the Georgia Romance Writers. She is the author of many books including the Magic University Series, Secrets of a Rock Star series, and Daron’s Guitar Chronicles, several collections of short stories, and even some nonfiction books on baseball. In 2017 she will launch a new urban fantasy series at Tor Books entitled The Vanished Chronicles. She lives in the Boston area with her lifelong partner corwin and three cats.

October 16 – You are your own hero: Using Goal, Motivation and Conflict to plan and execute your career with Dee Davis

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Bestselling author Dee Davis worked in association management before turning her hand to writing.  She is the author of over thirty novels and novellas, including her newest, Cottage in the Mist and the A-Tac series.  When not frantically trying to meet a deadline, Dee spends her time in her Connecticut farmhouse with her husband, and Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Board Candidate Bios

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We will be electing a new president and treasurer to a two-year term very soon. Here are the bios of our two candidates:

President – Jackie Horne

I joined NECRWA in 2011 in hopes of transferring the skills I earned during a decade of work in children’s book publishing and a subsequent foray into academia (during which I earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in children’s literature) into a new career as a historical romance novelist. Knowing that the best way to meet new people in any organization is to volunteer, I worked at my first conference, and the following year, ran for the Board position of Treasurer. Since 2012, I have served the chapter in that capacity, keeping track of our chapter funds and paying our chapter bills. But I’m eager to trade in the checkbook and spreadsheets for the more people-oriented work required of a chapter President.

I still keep several toes in academia. I am currently serving as the Chair of the Children’s Literature Association’s Publications Advisory Board, which reviews potential scholarly books for publication. And I also write about the intersections of romance and gender on my blog, Romance Novels for Feminists. But the bulk of my time is committed to writing and publishing historical romance. Since joining NEC, I have self-published two novels under my pen name, Bliss Bennet: A Rebel without a Rogue and A Man without a Mistress. A Lady without a Lord is due out this coming fall. Those books would still just be visions in my imagination without all the support and encouragement I’ve received from my fellow NEC members.

Publishing, particularly romance publishing, is in the midst of a great period of upheaval. As President of NEC, I would encourage our organization to find ways to support the careers of all romance writers, whether they are traditionally published, self-published, or some combination of the two.

Treasurer – Stephanie Kay

I joined NECRWA in 2008 after typing “THE END” on my first romance novel. We won’t discuss that book, it’s very comfortable lining the bottom of my desk drawer. Over the years I’ve learned so much and I love being a member of this chapter. As an avid reader for years and a newbie writer, I’d finally found a group of people that understood that having voices inside your head wasn’t a bad thing. After years of volunteering at conferences and a two-year stint as the program chair for Rhode Island Romance Writers, I’m ready to take on a larger role in NECRWA. I’ve been a mortgage underwriter for multiple national banks for the last decade, and I was a tax preparer for a year. I’m very organized and detail oriented. I think I would be a great fit for chapter treasurer.