Musings on Romance
Hi All. Kaetrin’s Musings is moving to a new web host. That means there won’t be any new posts for a few days. Wish me luck and fingers crossed I don’t break anything! If you want to chat, hit me up on Twitter: @Kaetrin67
Photo courtesy of Erica_g via Flickr Creative Commons
Parliament House, Canberra
From Friday 6 March to Sunday 8 March, I was at the Australian Romance Readers Convention (ARRC) in Canberra. It was my first romance convention and exciting, exhausting, fun and challenging all at once. Because I’d never been to an ARRC before, I didn’t really know what to expect. Technically, I was on the Organising Committee (I’m a member of ARRA – the Australian Romance Readers Association and on the Executive Committee also) but my role was “Sponsorship Coordinator”, which sounds fancy but really involved wrangling the massive sponsorship spreadsheet of doom and emailing loads of people about stuff, so it’s not like I can actually take any credit for how it all went or anything.
I have to say the organisers went above and beyond. Because I was involved a little bit behind the scenes, I know something of just how much effort went into it. I guess I spent about half the actual convention helping organise things and doing volunteer stuff but basically, I just did what I was told and went where I was needed. The organisers had their fingers on so many pulses at once; I’m just staggered by their achievement. This is a volunteer organisation and I shudder to think just how many woman hours went into arranging ARRC. Continue reading
I’m going offline for a while. Things are too sad-making right now. So, I’m going to enjoy my family at Christmas. Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday season. Please God may 2015 be a better year.
Here’s why: The Importance of Pseudonymous Activity with added extra Storify and also this: Poisoning the Well and a really interesting examination of the history of it all here at Alex Hurst’s blog.
For a list of blogs participating in the blackout and the various ways they are doing it, go to Book Thingo’s post here. Kat also has some great pieces on the Hale story, which I also recommend reading.
Most of you will probably already know this. (I haven’t had a chance to get to the computer for a day or two to update the blog.) But better late than never as they say.
Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books has started up a Dear Author/Jane Litte defence fund at Go Fund Me.
Here are the details, from Sarah’s post:
Many people have been asking if and how they can contribute to Dear Author and Jane Litte’s legal defense in the defamation suit filed against her.
Consequently, and at Jane’s request, I have established and am administering The Dear Author Jane Litte Legal Defense Fund.
Why a fund?
Because lawsuits are expensive (that’s why they’re so often used as a threat, if you’ve ever wondered).
Because of that, and because the duration of the litigation is undetermined, Jane will need financial assistance. Jane’s attorney, Marc Randazza, is contributing by discounting his hourly rate. Even with a generous discount, it’s still expensive.
Jane Litte has set aside $20,000.00 of her own funds to fight this defamation suit and has paid the large retainer out of that amount, but that money will be depleted quickly as the case progresses.
How do I contribute?
If you’d like to donate to the legal fund, you can follow this link to the GoFundMe site, and make your donation. Please note: these are NOT tax deductible donations, as this is NOT a 501(c)3 not-for-profit
entity.All funds will be used for Jane’s legal defense, minus the fees charged by GoFundMe, and because Jane does not know what the end result will be, she has no way of knowing what the total amount required will be. If the fees do not exceed $20,000, we will attempt to refund the donations per the GoFundMe policies. Countries with the following currencies are supported: $ USD, £ GBP, $ CAD, $ AUD and € EUR. I also want to make it clear that I will receive absolutely zero money for this project, and other than as administrator, I’m not involved in the litigation of this case. I’m the administrator of the fund itself at Jane’s request, but all donations go to Jane’s legal defense. If there are any funds left over when the suit is finished, they will be donated to the Society of Professional Journalists Legal Defense Fund.
Anonymous donations are accepted, and we will not reveal your identity if you chose to donate anonymously.
It may seem that because $20,000 is an enormous amount of money (and it is), that additional funds are not required. I would not have set up the legal defense fund if that were the case. Any amount that you can contribute is most appreciated. Thank you.
At the time of writing, the fund was already up to more than $44,000 which is AMAZING and AWESOME and shows how passionately bloggers and readers feel about free speech and about Jane’s contribution to the romance community.
Sonoma Lass also has a post about alternate ways to donate if Go Fund Me is a problem for you (and I understand if it is). My understanding is that Go Fund Me was chosen as the best of the practical alternatives for such a large funding goal with the big ticket item being an easy way of refunding the donations if they are not needed. In any event, you can use the PayPal address as suggested by Sonoma Lass or contact Sarah Wendell at Sarah AT SmartBitchesTrashyBooks DOT com.
Also, for some light entertainment (things have been so heavy lately, no?) I present to you this. Get out the popcorn (maybe also really tiny violins) and enjoy the meltdown.
#NOTCHILLED (STILL)
I posted here about the lawsuit Ellora’s Cave and Jaid Black have taken against Dear Author and Jane Litte. Jane has requested assistance from Ellora’s Cave authors, editors and cover artists who have not been paid.
Courtney Milan has also posted about Jane’s request and makes an offer of her own for those who are worried about the confidentiality clauses in their contracts with Ellora’s Cave.
I don’t have any information which will help Jane. Boosting the signal (slightly) is about all I can do, so I’m doing that.
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