I just got back from the annual Dreamspinner Retreat in Orlando. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a once-a-year shindig for Dreamspinner authors that includes some fantastic teaching seminars, the chance to hob-nob with other authors, and one-on-one time with the publisher and the DSP team.
I love going to this retreat, because it reminds me what a wonderful, vibrant community we have.
So much goes on from behind the scenes at an event like this. The planned events this time were great – Damon Suede’s minute-by-minute voice-over narration, Mystery Science Theater style, of “Romancing the Stone” as an exemplary movie romance; the amazing business sense of DSP’s publisher, Elizabeth North on display at her annual State of the Company talks; and the once-a-year costume party (ok, so I missed it this year, but it’s always amazing, and I did see Lynn West as Maleficent).
But it’s the in-between moments at these events where you see the real community in the queer romance market.
It’s the small gatherings in the hotel cafeteria at lunch where you can meet new authors and have amazing conversations.
The last-minute invitations to dinner that offer a chance to deepen old relationships and create new ones.
The chance meetings with other authors and staff members in the hallways that put a face on those folks you chat with all the time via email and Facebook.
I’ve talked to a bunch of folks about this over the years, and we all agree that there is no other genre we know of that’s quite as tightly-knit as the queer romance community. Every year I go to these retreats and cons and meet old friends and make new ones.
I see it online too, the connections we make with each other and the love we share for the books and for each other.
I count myself lucky to have stumbled on this amazing group of people – each and every one of you. You make it worthwhile to keep writing.
See you at the next con!
About Scott
Scott was indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine. He devoured her library, but as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him were.
He decided that if there weren’t gay characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.
A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi and QueeRomance Ink with his husband Mark, sites that celebrate fiction reflecting queer reality.