D.C. Diary: Romance Writers of Washington

So here I am, sitting at the laptop, minding my own business and trying to upload about 2000 photos of Alaska to my blog, when my eye is caught by a notification of a new email. Not such a rare occurence it must be said, except that this one is entitled 'Invitation to speak to the Washington Romance Writers in November'. And it was addressed to Simon. What has my husband been up to? I would say that he is a fairly romantic chap, in a bloke-ish sort of way. He buys me flowers when he goes to the supermarket, takes me out for a meal on our anniversary and did once buy me a whistling gorilla and some love dice for Valentine's Day. All of which is most commendable, but I'm not entirely sure that it qualifies him to speak to a gathering (I am still searching for an appropriate collective noun - an embrace? a clinch? a flutter? a flirtation?) of Romance Writers.

I have to confess that temptation got the better of me and so I opened the email. It begins:

Dear Simon,

I write to follow up on a quick conversation we had in the spring of this year about the possibility of you coming to speak at a monthly meeting of the Washington Romance Writers (www.wrwdc.com <http://www.wrwdc.com> ), the local chapter of Romance Writers of America (www.rwanational.org <http://www.rwanational.org> ). It would be a great honor if you were to accept our invitation to speak at our November meeting.

What's this? My husband has known about this possibility since the spring of this year and has neglected to inform me? I read on and it becomes apparent that a) this email is not a joke and b) the organiser of November's meeting clearly has high hopes that Simon will address the group as their guest speaker.

I google the WRW and read 'About Us' on their website:

'Topics covered at WRW’s regular monthly meetings range from writing a dynamite first chapter to handling rejection letters, and from historical accuracy in costumes to forensic investigation of a murder scene. In addition, WRW hosts at least one or two thematic workshops a year, as well as an annual weekend retreat. For this renowned event, leading authors, editors, and agents are invited to join members for a relaxed weekend filled with workshops, panels, and discussion groups'.

Hhmm, I'm certainly looking forward to reading any 'dynamite first chapters' that my husband's talk might inspire. All I can say is that I can't wait until Simon gets home tonight when I intend to conduct a small forensic investigation of my own. I suppose that I should be grateful he hasn't been invited on the annual weekend retreat. Or at least not as far as I know. I shall be keeping a firm eye on those email notification alerts between now and November.