My favourite part was her analogy comparing publishing to swimming in a pool.  As a writer, your job is to jump in the pool.  RWA is a springboard to get in.  If you’re spending all your time complaining about how other people have been in the pool longer, or that the water is too cold, you will not learn to swim.  You will drown.  So either get in there and practice your strokes, or get out and whine on the chaise lounge.  It’s up to you.

If you think it used to be easier back when she broke in:  B.S.  (She didn’t bleep herself, but since I’m writing children’s fiction, I’m censoring my blog.  Sigh.)

She said, “People are still people and a-holes are still a-holes.”  She did a signing at a nursing home where an old man told her off because he was expecting Oral Roberts.

The main thrust of her speech was that RWA gave her the friendships that sustained her for the past 30 years.  But for a newbie like me, it reminded me to keep on swimming.