RIRW exists to promote excellence in women’s and popular fiction, to help writers become published and build careers in their writing field, and to provide continuing support for writers within the women’s and popular fiction publishing industry. Formed in 1983 as a Romance Writers of America chapter, we disaffiliated in 1988. We are an independent, nonprofit organization in Rhode Island.
If you are serious about writing popular fiction, we invite you to join us! Click here to see membership benefits.
We welcome everyone, without regard to race, color, national origin, disability, religion, cultural identity, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, or any other identity distinction. Furthermore, we recognize that because racism, homophobia, and other forms of bias are systemic in our national culture, people from marginalized communities continue to be denied advancement in our industry. RIRW strives to address this by raising awareness within our membership and increasing our efforts to attract members from a variety of backgrounds to enrich our community of writers.
We meet from September to June on the first Saturday of the month (except for February, when we hold our annual retreat). Because of holidays and/or other conflicts, the date or venue may change (scroll down to see list of dates). We will announce changes here on our home page. We do meetings via ZOOM.
Check us out on our public Facebook page (click here!)
April 5, 2025 — Renata McKinney: Ask Me Anything!
Workshop: During RIRW’s 2023-2024 program year, Renita did a presentation on writing inclusively. She was scheduled for a follow-up last May (2024), but got sick. So we rescheduled her for this April. In her initial presentation she shared a slide deck with lots of information about terms for skin tones and such…and it went by so fast that some of us asked for her slides to capture it. Our program director sent those to whomever asked for them. This meeting coming up is a good opportunity to revisit that conversation if you’d like to see the list again and spend more time talking about it. Also, there will be time to ask Renita whatever you’d like. Remember, she reads hundreds of books each year and is very active in the Bookverse, so she sees a lot.
About Renita: Renita McKinney was born in Texas, but raised in Arkansas and Texas. As an only child, she started reading around the age of 2 and books became her best friends. The characters became her family, and she developed a love and respect for writing, reading, books, and authors. Reading developed into more than a hobby to Renita; it’s a passion, an unquenchable thirst. Not being able to read would seemingly be a slow and torturous death.
She has been fortunate to live and travel all over this world due to being the former wife of a military man. So often she would visit foreign countries that would not seem so foreign at all, because she had already traveled there within the confines of a book.
Her passion for books, desire for writing and love for words have afforded her the opportunity to work with many New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling authors.
Renita found her niche in sensitivity editing. Where she works with authors to step outside of their comfort zone and write stories with all types of diverse characters
“It’s exciting to be on the inside of a story as it comes together and even more amazing that my opinion and input is requested by these phenomenal storytellers.”
Renita now lives in San Antonio, Texas, is the mother of three amazing adults: Holly, Lamontre, and Brandon, and two beautiful grandchildren, Ashanti and A’Zari. She is the owner of A Book A Day Author Services, tries to read at least 300 books a year, and loves to hang out with her small circle of friends that have become family.
Note: For regular meetings, we welcome Visitors for up to two regular meetings before you need to join. If you want to check us out, please send us a message by NOON on Friday (day before meeting) and we’ll send you a ZOOM link. Come join your fellow writers for a free-ranging discussion!
For regular meetings, we gather to chat at noon; Meeting starts at 12:30, with workshops starting about 1:30
Fall Schedule, 2024:
September 7 Susan Kaye Quinn
October 5 – Renita McKinney on Trends and Tropes
November 2 – Brenda Chin on Layering
December 14 (ARIA Expo is Dec 7) – Jeanette Smith on Self-editing
Winter/Spring Schedule 2025:
January 4 Roundtable
Jan. 31 – 1 February 1 (Retreat, with Deb Dixon and Jo Ann Ferguson)
March 1 – Holly Darling, Email marketing
April 5 – Renita McKinney
May 3 – Grant Miller, Fight scenes
June 7 – Roundtable