Our first
R.O.A.R.K.E.
Ironically, Wym and I discussed
the R.O.A.R.K.E. Award at great length during the
weekend of THE Event @ TTP. She believes that we
should have a rotating committee who would then go
through nominations and award the R.O.A.R.K.E. to
the most deserving person.
I agreed with her then ... still
do agree with her now, but for purely selfish
reasons, her idea is just going to have to wait
until the next issue of ADWOFF! <g> Why?
Because there are two people who I would like to
recognize for have the attributes most deserving of
this month's ROARKE Award, and one of them is
Wym!
Much of this issue of ADWOFF has
been devoted to TTP and the magic we experienced. I
have said that Debby started the domino effect of
motivating women to want to make it to THE Event,
but it was when Wym announced that she was using an
inheritance to fly out here and spend the weekend
with us before heading up to NY to spend time with
her family that THE Event began to be molded into
place.
I have said that Nancy is our
conscience; well, Wym is our soul ... she is our
romantic ... she believes in magic ... and she
believed enough in us, trusted enough in us, to
make arrangements for a rental car and hotel rooms
3000 miles away. Without her efforts, THE Event may
have happened, true, but it would not have been
magical.
Wym said in her column that she
was suffering from PMS during the weekend, and that
she did not know how Debby and I survived rooming
with her. It may have been PMS to a degree, but I
believe it was the pressure of getting everything
together and making everything work that came down
on this broad's shoulders.
I think one of our proudest
moments during the weekend came when the newspaper
reporter asked Wym what her occupation was. After a
moment's hesitation, Wym said proudly, "I'm a
write." And we cheered and clapped.
Wym/Nina listen closely because
we broads are cheering and clapping for you right
now ... you brought us magic that weekend ... just
as you have done before and since ... I cannot
think of any broad more deserving on being honored
with a R.O.A.R.K.E!
Now I need you to shift gears.
I've just spent time
<<<gushing>>> about my good
buddy, Nina, and now I would like to spend some
time <<<gushing>>> about a good
buddy of Nora's who I feel is most deserving of a
ROARKE, too.
Without going into great detail,
Nora has been facing one of the most difficult
times of her professional/personal life when it was
discovered that one of her peers was stealing her
words, her ideas, and passing them off as her
own.
During the week of August 4,
Nora should have been experiencing one of the
greatest moments of her professional career when
she received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Romance Writer's Association.
Again, as most of us are aware,
Nora's week was sabotaged when the plagiarism issue
went national when the plagiarist admitted that she
had stolen from Nora. All hell broke loose. And
when that happens, the best way to survive is to
surround yourself with friends and family.
Nora was in Orlando, away from
her family, but she did have some of her good
buddies with her in Florida. But one buddy wasn't
there ... yet ... as soon as she understood what
was happening, she jumped on a plane and flew to
Florida to be with her and give her lots of
TLC.
We came to know this buddy when
Nora went to Australia. Nora e-mailed what we
called "travelogues" to Mary Kay McComas (MK), and
MK forwarded them on to several of us.
Nora and MK are romance writers;
as writers, they deal with relationships of all
kinds, all degrees. In many instances, Nora writes
about significant friendships/relationships
developed between characters---especially female
characters. The DREAM series showed this so very
well with the relationships of Margo, Kate, and
Laura.
MK flying to Florida to be with
her friend is the stuff that stories are fueled
from. But this wasn't fiction. It was true life. I
just think it was so special that MK cared enough
to be there ... for me, it epitomizes the spirit of
the R.O.A.R.K.E. award ... which is why I would
like to honor MK along with Wym in this issue of
ADWOFF.
If you have ideas ... if you
have recommendations for the next ROARKE, e-mail us
here @ ROARKE@adwoff.com ...
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