Robin D. Owens has a long and storied attachment with RMFW. It began when Kay Bergstrom gave a class called “Writing Women In Jeopardy” through what was then Denver Free University in the spring of 1981. She took the class and spent the summer writing a terrible-learning-how-to-write-without-input book. Kay contacted her about working at the 1981 conference, where Kay was the organizer of the Editors and Agents tables. She told Robin if she helped out there, someone might not show up for their appointment she could pitch in their place – and it actually happened. Robin joined RMFW shortly after, having also attended three critique group meetings.
Robin joined initially for emotional support and to learn how to write. Then she found out about marketing and how much courage it took to submit to agents/editors/contests, and how helpful it was to know so many other writers who were as eager to share their knowledge as they were to learn more. She never looked back. Since then, she’s judged the Gold contest for 4 decades, been the RMFW librarian, contest co-chair, President for 2 years, the IPAL Chair, managed the email loop, was on the committee for Writer of the Year for decades, wrote articles and blogs, Chaired the Memorial Committee to honor lost members since 2008, taught at Conference for 20 years, and is contributing to the History of RMFW program. She also participated in committees to merge the Writer of the Year and Independent Writer of the Year awards, something she’s very proud of. All in her spare time, of course.
Oh, and then there are her awards. They include the 2016 RMFW Honored Guiding Member, RMFW Writer of the Year in 2004 AND in 2011, a RITA for the Best Paranormal Romance in 2010, Best of the Best Daphne Du Maurier Award, and the Colorado Romance Writers Lifetime Achievement Award. Fun fact: after winning an award she tends to dance around bored cats.
Robin’s spare time is hard to come by, since she’s put out nearly 40 books since 2001, including the Cleta series, the Ghost Seer Series, the Mystic Circle series, the Summoning Series, and Feral Magic Series, and collaborated on story collections with other authors.
Robin is still learning from RMFW, attending the RMFW retreat in 2022. She also encourages anyone who wants to be a good writer to join and learn more about the craft of writing, not to mention the incredible emotional support they will gain. She also still participates in a Critique Group she’s been with for a long time. It’s via Zoom now, since many of the members have moved to different states over the decades.
One of her favorite memories is from January 2001, when she got her PEN award. The conference took place only a few days after the September 11 horror. Because of the travel shutdown, none of the expected editors or agents attended. Robin remembers sitting at the table with all but one of her critique group partners when low and behold the last one walked in, after having rented a car in California so he could drive all the way back to the conference to be there for her.
Robin always signs off with this wish for all the writers out there: May all your writing dreams come true.
Written by Terri Benson