Best time to join RWA?

They'll ding you $25 extra if you let your membership lapse. Apart from that, I can't think of any other time that makes it a good time to join.

If your focus in writing romance is not to aim at publication, RWA may not be a good fit for you, going forward. Their plan is to change their membership into two "tiers" -- general members who are career-focused according to their numeric standards and novels completed in a certain number of years; and associate members who are not producing at that level, for whatever reason.

Have you checked the Meetup groups in your area? There are several excellent writers' groups close to me, and I've had the privilege of learning from them for a few years now.

Are you looking for meetings in person? Or just online? You might be able to go to a local chapter RWA meeting or two for free or for $5 and see if you like it. That's how it works here...I don't know if all the local chapters are like that.

The forums are an excellent place to get information and to chat with other authors - as well, there are free courses at the RWA "University" that cover a variety of topics. Recently I've seen courses on staying healthy for writers, writing historical romances and an upcoming one on motorcycle clubs and how to write them.

Depends on what you're looking for... I just joined last fall and aside from the discount for submitting my books for the RITAS I'm getting a lot out of my membership!

Wren Winters said:

Is there a best month to join Romance Writers of America?

I don't want to waste my money by joining in February when my dues are up on May.

I'm a hobby romance writer. I'm not sure RWA is the place I should be. I'm looking for a group of romance writers to share ideas. Also, to help & encourage each other with our writing

Any Thoughts?

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Why not join the Romance Divas? It's free and full of romance writers at various stages in their career: http://forums.romancedivas.com/index.php

Deb Kinnard said:

If your focus in writing romance is not to aim at publication, RWA may not be a good fit for you, going forward. Their plan is to change their membership into two "tiers" -- general members who are career-focused according to their numeric standards and novels completed in a certain number of years; and associate members who are not producing at that level, for whatever reason.
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Interesting.

Evangeline said:

Why not join the Romance Divas? It's free and full of romance writers at various stages in their career: http://forums.romancedivas.com/index.php

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I just joined Romance Divas...it looks like it went through and just needs Admin review, but then I noticed on their Home page there's a box stating they're not accepting new members at this time. Oops!