In 2003,
a group of about sixty women met each other online for the first
time. They were finalists for the Romance Writers of America’s
Golden Heart award – the top measure of achievement for
unpublished writers in the industry. Like finalists before them,
they formed an Internet loop to discuss the upcoming awards
ceremony at the national convention, held that year in New York.
Most of these online loops dissolve shortly
after the convention, but something happened on the way to the
Big Apple. This particular group found they had a level of
camaraderie unknown to them before. Instead
of breaking up after some finalists won their category and some
lost, they stayed together - through births and deaths, the
inevitable agent and editor rejections, and giddy-making first
sales. At some point, one of them expressed doubt about her
worth and talent, and another one threatened to cover the miles
between them, picking up other members along the way, to thrash
her with a wet noodle until she remembered that she was a good
writer with good friends.
That’s how the
Wet Noodle Posse was born.
Noodlers are international. In addition to our
American members, scattered all over the country, there are
Noodlers in South Korea, Australia, and Canada. Our diversity is
reflected in the stories we tell. Our romance novels are about
vampires and Scots, time travel and Regency misses, firefighters
and elves, criminologists and fashionistas. Some of us also
write women’s fiction, Regency chick-lit, and self-help. A great
many of us are published writers now, and first sales continue
to come in, but we also have members who do other things, like
running an online store or studying fashion design. Noodlers
support each other, no matter where our hearts take us.
We wanted to share the support and silliness we
get from each other with a larger audience of women. So we
created an e-zine that included all the things we take comfort
from: food, crafts, books, good advice, and lots of humor.
For almost four years we’ve provided you with
the wonderful articles in
the e-zine, ways to feel good about yourself, to be good to
yourself. Times change, though, and the e-zine has come to an
end. Our articles remain here for you, however, because we’re
proud of them and they can still help you to be good to
yourself.
We’re not going away, though. The Wet Noodle
Posse has a
blog, a place we can continue to encourage you to
be good to yourself. We are focusing all of 2008 on How to
Write, so if you are writing, too, or if you are just interested
in the writing process, come visit us.