Should I Renew My RWA Membership?

Renewal time has come for me and I find myself seriously asking if I should renew or not. I’ve been a member of RWA for a few years now and as I think it over, the only things I have gotten out of my enrollment fee were a discount to the RT Convention and a monthly magazine.  It doesn’t seem worth it anymore.

Which is why I’ve decided to ask you all for your opinions. Should I renew my RWA membership? What do you get out of belonging to RWA? Do they actually do anything for you? Provide any kind of helpful service? I literally get a magazine from them once a month. That is it. So I’m wondering what else they do and how I can—if it is even possible—maximize my investment.

Maybe a lot of my problem is that my local RWA chapter is a joke. I’ve never met the ‘president,’ she doesn’t participate in any of the online forum discussions, in fact the forum is nothing more than two people’s person promo space. I get messages like, “I’ve written a blog post! Come check it out!” I wish I was kidding. I am not.

They also don’t hold meetings because it might snow. Snow is very dangerous even when it doesn’t snow at all. Because it could. It was in the forecast for the week after all, so maybe we shouldn’t chance it. And when they do hold meetings, it is a bunch of women sitting in the B&N coffee shop talking about how maybe they’d like to get published one day. Possibly. If they can find the time. No speakers. No workshops. No exchange of ideas.

So I’m really, really wondering, what does RWA do for me? What do I get for my $95 other than the ability to say, “I belong to RWA”?

I’d love for you all to tell me if you would what you get out of your membership. Because I’m sure there are things that I’m missing. There have to be. It can’t all just be a magazine subscription. Right?

Filed under: News Tagged: Assistance, Lisa Fox, Membership, Opinions, RWA