All About Romance "officially" celebrated
its tenth anniversary this
year and it was important to me that I shepherd
the site through this milestone period.
My original purpose for AAR was to create a
back fence atmosphere for lovers of romance
novels. That mission has
always been at the core of who and what we
are; it's not lip-service that those words
are written into the logo that appears
atop each page at this site.
I owe the success of AAR during the past decade
to the hard work of a highly talented,
intelligent, funny, and creative
group of volunteers. We are more or less like
a family; we don't always agree and are sometimes
messy in our emotions, but we genuinely
care about each other. We've been through weddings,
childbirth, child-rearing, divorce,
illness, and death, and throughout it all have
lent support wherever possible. It is precisely
because these women [and historically, some
men] are so very clever and caring, and have
such a can-do ethic that my decision to pass
them the baton of ownership is an easy one. Blythe, Sandy, Rachel, and Lynn will be splitting the publishing and managerial responsibilities, with the able support of the incredibly talented and hard-working AAR reviewers and staff. The transfer, in the works for some weeks now, will occur on November 1st. Actually, some real changes have already been made. For instance, the reviews finalized this past week were finalized by somebody other than me.
I have no doubt whatsoever that these terrific
women will continue this site's commitment
to quality. Indeed, my guess is that the changes
they make over time will improve All About Romance,
and I look forward to watching them do so. And
I will watch...from entirely on the outside.
I can't imagine anything more difficult than
moving into a house and having the old owner
constantly peeking through the windows. Please
extend them some leeway and patience as they
learn to navigate the many administrative bits
and pieces that until recently resided mostly
in my brain. Content is not a problem - at this
point I'm more or less a conduit for these talented
women - instead they will need to catch up on
the technology, the financing, and other
managerial matters.
As for me, I will miss everything, from starting
the old Prodigy Romance Listserv for the now-defunct
online service that transformed over
time into AARList -
to the camaraderie of the early days
when the Internet looked very different than
it does now. I actually look back fondly
at the outrageous forum discussions about sex
in romance that, because of the involvement of
"Puzzled" and "Puzzled and Confused," drew
the attention of Salon
in the form of a feature article - and
another
volatile forum discussion that followed commentary I
wrote about book promoters who also review
books online. And I like to think that I helped
educate through stands I took, stories I broke
or helped publicize, such as those involving
plagiarism victims Nora
Roberts,
Gina Wilkins, and Linda
Turner; de facto, prima
faciecensorship exercised
by major retailers; and how the marketing and
shelving of books can have unintended
results.
I've also called the wrath
of hell upon AAR simply for calling attention
to newspaper
articles, and standing behind reviewers
who noted similarities
in stories...and took hits
to my personal reputation as a result.
In the end it was worth it, even when it was
very unpleasant, because so much of it pointed
to something critical. In order to celebrate
the good, we must also examine the bad. Differing
viewpoints are not only welcome, but necessary
for true communication...even if not everybody
"gets" that. I like to think we pioneered the
sort of interaction that many of us now take
for granted online, but when we first started,
providing an interactive format for disagreement
was a fairly unique concept - both between the
reader and staff but also among staff. I think
we did dual reviews first...just as I think we
were unique in encouraging readers with minority
opinions to speak out and not feel piled on by
the majority in return. That's pretty much why
we long-ago devoted commentary on topics such
as "Authors
others love that you don't,"
and actually give several negative awards in
our annual
poll.
Though most of AAR's readers are not castle-loving
historians, I've never regretted the time I spent
putting together the Castle
of the Week, part of a larger History
and Travel section. I feel badly, though, that the Historical
Cheat Sheet has stagnated in recent years,
but am incredibly proud of
the nearly 80 articles (20 of which were penned
by our own Ellen Micheletti!) we've provided;
they speak to how much interest in history is
generated by the reading of romance novels.
Yes...I proudly proclaim that much of what I
know about history, I learned from reading
historical romance. <g>
And then there are this year's author-penned Epilogue
Parodies, which were a great way
for me to remember ten hilarious year's worth
of Purple
Prose Parodies. Talking to all the authors
who wrote testimonials for our tenth
anniversary reminded me of all the fun I've
had getting to know them as
a result of interviews, correspondence, and
occasional face-to-face meetings. Which,
in turn, reminds me of the the secrets
authors have revealed to me over the years...for
a former blabber-mouth like me, their Big
Secrets have rarely been easy to keep, but
it's all been part and parcel of chronicling
Romance.
It's not just
authors and AAR colleagues, who have had to
put up with ten year's worth of my red pen, that
I'll miss, it's all
of you as well...it's that back fence thing
again. Some readers have come and gone [and
come back again] over time as their interests
have changed. Some of you are relative newbies
while others moved to AAR with me when I created
it. At times you make me laugh and
at others I've cried as a result of reading
something you've shared (as with many of your
entries in our annual Isn't
It Romantic? Contest).
Of course, sometimes you piss me off <g>,
but mostly, my cockles are plenty warm when I
reflect upon ten-plus years worth of give and
take. I thank you for that. I will miss it, I
will miss you, and I will miss sharing
my love of romance novels with you, even as I
know you will continue to gather at AAR's back
fence for a long time to come.
But now it's time to move on
to the next chapter of my life, and whatever
that may bring. It's time for me to retire
Laurie Likes Books and return to being Laurie
Gold, avid romance reader and private citizen.
