If this panel was put in at the last minute, then that’s cool and it’s great that there was anything at all. But the data from the low attendance this time should be used to plan ahead for next year, and adjustments made so the result is closer to what folks are looking for.

Angie

I didn’t go because I don’t know what plagiarism is, but because, as some others have suggested, I wanted to show my support for the panel in the first place. Discussion about what should/can be done in the future can’t happen if people are suggesting that the discussion be hushed or shouldn’t be held in public.

If the panel is held in D.C., yes, editor/publisher response to this would be great. It would be *really* nice to have someone from Dailey and Edwards’s publishers there to explain why they *haven’t* taken more action against these women.

But if it’s held again, I’ll be there. Hopefully the room will be standing room only this time around.

Dailey is no longer listed on the RWA website as the winner of the award. 1993 is simply left off.

That’s interesting, she was there on Wed when looked and posted here.

I think the panel should be repeated at every National Conference, and written up in the RWR so that all members have access to the information. I shared that opinion with a friend of mine on the RWA Board.

In addition to the solid information, one more thing I took out of that panel was the need for a united community effort against plagiarism. Yes, people can, and should, speak out against it, but I want to think of ways to raise awareness of the issue. It’s a small thing, and largely symbolic, but I suggested to SB Sarah that we need a web widget/button that we can display on our websites and blogs that shows we are writers against plagiarism. Sarah’s web-talented and could create something like this. I made a similar suggestion to my Bo-Mem friend that RWA could also design such a widget.

Sometimes a simple button gets someone’s attention which leads to conversation, which further creates awareness.

Sadly, it seems to me that-’like so many other issues-’those who most need to be educated in this area are the least likely to attend. I know for a fact that the one friend I have who adamantly puts Jane/Sarah/Candy in the “mean girls” club over their “persecution” of Cassie Edwards stated emphatically that she'd never attend something like this. *sigh*

But the atmosphere in RWA and amongst writers should be so strongly against the very idea of plagiarism that someone like the friend wouldn’t dare voice that opinion without fearing looking like an idiot.

I haven’t been an RWA member in a number of years, but were I still a member I might not have attended the workshop because its description (as quoted above) sounds deadly dull and doesn’t imply any kind of “call to action” (as someone else noted). If it were more action-oriented rather than scholarly, I wonder if the attendance might not have been higher.

If it had been more about Nora Roberts wanting to rescue the soul of the industry and teach everyone else how to fight the good fight, I’d have been there with colours flying.

Workshop proposals can be submitted as early as NOW. In the RWR magazine, there is the workshop application for 2009 on page 29. The magazine is also online at http://rwanational.org.

I agree that the publishing industry needs to get more serious about punishing transgressors; if more readers sent letters to editors about plagerism it might help the problem.

It’s too bad that this is the kind of situation that tends to engender a certain tolerance until someone experiences it personally. Everyone seems at a loss for what to do, what to do, when so much of what can be done is in small gestures — like rescinding an award given to the author who plagiarized the award’s namesake and delivering the message that no matter what anyone else thinks, the RWA doesn’t find plagiarism the least little bit acceptable.

A friend called me in 1998 to tell me she’d just watched a scene from my (unpublished, first draft, workshopped) short story enacted word for word on a soap. The scene was unusual and came from my own personal experience. That same year poem of mine was made into a song without my knowledge. Another poem of mine was claimed by another, and I was accused of being the thief. I did nothing about the first two incidents, I had no idea how to go about it and was new to writing, but with the last one I tromped on the so-called poet with all I had.

I tell you this to let you know someone understands the deep outrage from the personal level.

Doug Clegg wrote me that a woman had stolen his whole novel. You’ll be glad to know he went after her and won.

Plagiarism and copyright infringement are good, accurate words, but don’t seem to carry the weight of what they’ve done. To me it’s simple–they’re thieves. They’ve stolen something that came from inside you.

I hope many more attend your next dip into this subject.

Jo

As to Dailey being listed as a recipient for the award now carrying my name, yeah, huge ouch. I hope that can be rectified, and quickly.

I’m sooooo thinking there need to be some letters sent . . . a whole lot of letters.

As to Dailey being listed as a recipient for the award now carrying my name, yeah, huge ouch. I hope that can be rectified, and quickly.

ouch

I do, however, find it beyond shocking that Janet Daily is still shown on the RWA website as being the recipient/holder of the 1993 RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. That seems really tacky

Shut UP. Are you for real? Wow. I’ve tarried around this blog almost all day. I am gone now.

What has RWA done about this topic as an organization? I'm no longer a member of RWA, but am curious to know what they are doing as a body to advocate for authors.

They have addressed the issue in multiple forams (online, in our monthly newsletter, and at the conference). Beyond that, I don't think there have been any recent cases that have had legs (so to speak).

In the Kaavya Viswanathan case, the book was withdrawn by the publisher.

Hidden Passion (the “ode” to Jane Eyre that finaled in the EPPIE) was withdrawn by the publisher.

The Cassie Edwards case is another beast altogether, since she can't be sued for plagiarizing sources in the public domain (as many of hers are) and it's not finically feasible for academics to sue her for use of their copyrighted materials, as they would be hard-pressed to demonstrate monetary damages. The only real punishment possible is the distain of her peers and the loss of her publishing contracts (and has already been pointed out, if she's still earning $ for them, she'll always have a home). CE is not a member of RWA, so she can't even be booted out for her behavior.

I do, however, find it beyond shocking that Janet Daily is still shown on the RWA website as being the recipient/holder of the 1993 RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. That seems really tacky.

Stef

But… I also feel that most fans do not care whether, say, Cassie Edwards did a bad thing as long as they keep getting the stories they enjoy from her.

You are right about that. We as a online community have friends offline too and meet other readers so (a lack of knowledge is there and b) some readers really don’t care

And depresses me.

A lot.