I’ve decided it’ll be part of my 50th birthday present, since it’s happening a week before. I’ve always been interested in the RWA conference, which I hear is really chock-full of great writing business info, so even though I don’t primarily identify as a romance writer, I thought this might be a good option. And I do commit romance on occasion, witness Perennial.
(https://serendib-kitchen.myshopify.com/…/prod…/perennial)
I’m thinking I may use the retreat time (4 days) to re-read and potentially revise The Arrangement, which is a mainstream literary novel, but also, at least in some ways, a romance. This is the one that was cancelled by HarperCollins (mostly for not being romance-tropey enough even though it wasn’t intended to be a romance at the time). It’ll be interesting to look at it again through a deliberate romance lens.
Also, I’ve never been to Nashville! Please spam me with your Nashville restaurant / activity recommendations; I’m not sure if I’ll just spend the whole time at the retreat, but in case I don’t….
As a side note, RWA cleverly made it $25 cheaper to go to the retreat if you buy a membership to RWA first, and so I did so, which means that they have a good chance of collecting years of membership dues from me, even if I don’t stay active in RWA…see? Savvy business people. I have much to learn. 
(Romance writer peeps — what does one wear to RWA? I am having a little bit of an attack of ‘all the girls will be looking at me and judging me’ — I have my SF convention clothing game pretty set (business casual, with plenty of stars), but romance is a whole different genre….)
