I actively avoid writers’ conferences. I find them incredibly draining and almost always resent them afterwards.

In 2023, however, I went to the best conference in my own backyard. The inaugural Rutgers Community Writing Workshop — organized by Roxane Gay, the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies and presented by the Institute for Women’s Leadership, School of Communication and Information, and Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — was small (less than 100 participants), and was both inspirational and useful and not exhausting.

I wasn’t able to attend last year’s conference, but immediately registered for this year’s event, a partnership between Gay and Romancing the Craft (RTC), which offers programming to marginalized unpublished and published romance authors.

Now, I don’t write romance, nor do I aspire to. But I read romance and have written about romance for Publishers Weekly since 2020. Also, I often struggle with plot in my fiction for young readers; who better to learn about narrative tension from than romance writers?

Some highlights from today:

• Mia Sosa and Sarah Younger (Nancy Yost Literary Agency)’s keynote focused on five elements of building a romance career: alignment, vision, craft, branding, a village. I’ve never read Sosa (*eeep*), but now I want to. I found her approach to craft and career to be grounded, refreshing.

• Sarah MacLean and Adriana Herrera spoke to the “work of the romance novel… the social contract [the writer] makes with the reader” in their writing masterclass. They referred to romance novels as “aspirational texts… the genre which drives us to be our best selves.” Herrera answered the question, “Can romance be feminist?” (Yes, and. Yes, but. She has spoken extensively about this topic on the Fated Mates and Rebel Ever After podcasts, and I urge you to listen to both.)

• After lunch, I took two workshops: “Tension: The Breath You Didn’t Know You Were Holding” with Natasha Bishop and Alexis Daria and “Refreshing the Classics: Romantic Retellings” with Nikki Payne. I wish both workshops were longer — more generative. I especially enjoyed meeting Payne; I’m a huge fan of her Austen retellings, and I’ve put her fall release — The Princess and the P.I. — on the top of my pre-order list.

• I didn’t expect to know anyone at the conference, but I ran into a friend who I haven’t seen in over a decade, a writer friend, a neighbor, and a coworker! During the hour of “speed dating” with editors/agents and the “wine hour” that followed, I socialized and networked — eeesh I really hate the word — before crashing.

Overall, I wish we had had more time to write! But I came away some insights and several book recommendations, and it was fun to talk about romance novels with others who love the genre as much as I do. Herrera told me that she hopes that the conference will return to New Jersey next year; I will be the first to register.