Welcome to
2016!
I’m thrilled
to be ushering in the New Year as president of the chapter with a (mostly) new
board. I’ve got a lot of plans for the year, with the goal of engaging members more
and helping them with everything we can to further careers in romance
publishing. The membership of this chapter is full of some of the smartest,
savviest, and most talented people I’ve ever met, and whether you’re still
finishing your first novel or have published ten, it’s a great pool to draw
support from.
I think I’m
the rare person who, when I make New Year’s resolutions, I usually follow
through with them. I’m not silly enough to resolve something like going to the
gym more often; I know myself well enough to know that would last, like, a
month, tops. I usually resolve to do career-related things.
For example,
my first published novel was essentially the result of a New Year’s resolution.
I started 2009 resolved that it would be the year I finally got serious and I
promised myself I’d send out a manuscript to an editor or agent by the end of
the year. I sent that manuscript out in August, and it was accepted for
publication a couple of months later.
So here’s my
challenge to you all: forget about what has come before for a moment. Forget
about rejections, failure, the manuscript languishing on your hard drive or in
a drawer. Resolve to do something this year to take your writing career to the
next level. It can be something simple, like writing a set number of words per
month, or finally finishing that unfinished manuscript. It can be something
bigger like showing your work to a colleague for the first time, or finally
sending that manuscript out to editors and agents. If you’re further along in
your career, maybe 2016 is the year you try writing in a new genre or finally
write that crazy idea you’ve been kicking around for awhile, even if it’s not
“commercial.” Maybe this is the year you try self-publishing or create a new
marketing plan to help you get on a bestseller list.
Whatever it
is, think big. Where do you want your writing career to be in a year’s time? In
five? In ten? Think about that and plan accordingly.
I have faith
you can do it. One of the reasons I even considered running for president of
the chapter is because I’ve met so many great people through it.
I also wanted
to let you all know you can contact me at any time with ideas for what programs
you’d like to see or projects you’d like the chapter to take on. This year will
feature some of our favorite chapter traditions and hopefully some new ones as
well.
I’ll raise a
toast to a fantastic 2016! Remember to think big and reach for the stars!♥
Kate McMurray
is the new President of the RWA/NYC chapter, and an award-winning author
of gay romance and an unabashed romance fan. When she’s not writing, she works
as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit
obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers,
the LGBT romance chapter of Romance Writers of America. She lives in Brooklyn,
NY. Visit her at www.katemcmurray.com.
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