What is Patrons & Peers?
Four years ago, I decided to start a patron group. It was something my husband and I discussed briefly on a walk, and the thought just burrowed down deep and wouldn’t let me go, so I did that thing I do, which boggles my husband’s mind. I put my nose to the grindstone and developed it in the next week, then launched it. Without testing, without surveys, without anything but a vague hope of making some new friends, I launched Patrons & Peers on January 6, 2022. There are two levels: the Patrons, who can come in for as little as $5 a year and have access to all the community aspects and digital stuff; and the Peers, who come in at $15/mo or more and get all the physical stuff, like all my books when they release, without having to order them.
I remember the excitement when the order came in for the first subscription–a young woman named Hannah. Then I remember the laughter when, not long after, another order came in–another young woman named Hannah. For a couple hours there, I thought we were going to be the Hannah-Roseannas. Then others started joining too.
By the end of the first year, we were 30 strong. Now, at the end of the fourth year, we’re 52 strong. We’ve had some ladies who had to bow out. We’ve had some who stepped away for a season and returned. We’ve had new members who faithfully renew but don’t have the time or energy to engage with the community. But the core of the group–this amazing group of women–is something I hoped and prayed for, but which I’m still so in awe of.
Because this group has become a family…the sort that’s always excited to welcome in a new sister, a new friend.
The Dream
In 2020, my husband and I read Dream Big by Bob Goff and did the study (twice, actually–once with an in-person group and then we led a group via Zoom). Part of this program is writing down your big, crazy, out-there dreams. The things you wish you could do but don’t necessarily know how. The things you can’t control. The things that you certainly can’t do alone.
One of mine was “build a community.”
I didn’t honestly know what I meant. Was I thinking about a physical community? An online one? Something else altogether? I wasn’t sure, but I knew that the dream of it burned in my heart. I’d tried, in other ways. With my #BeBetter group…with my Seeing the Story site. Both of which flopped. So when I started a patron group, I really didn’t know what to expect. Would it work? Would it not? Would it just be me talking into the ether, no one paying attention? Would they take me seriously when I invited them to share their dreams, their passions, their lives? Would that be too weird?
But they did take me seriously. And maybe it was because some of the first ladies to join were our resident Extroverts, LOL–but they jumped in with both feet, opened up, shared their lives with us–their struggles, their concerns, their loves, their passions, what fueled them. And as others joined, they followed suit. And guys, when you have a place where vulnerability and openness is the norm…something amazing happens. It becomes a place of love. Of friendship. Where judgment cannot penetrate. Where friction is quickly smoothed over by genuine compassion and a desire to understand each other.
Looking Back
In our four years of P&P, we’ve gained some nicknames, like when Bonnie F from NC dubbed us “her Roseanna Girls,” and it stuck. In there, we also have subsets, like “the Houston girls,” “the Cali girls,” and “the fantasy girls.” While I have the easy definition of being able to refer to them as “my patron group,” they have a harder time trying to convey to outsiders what this awesome family is, so they usually end up calling it something like, “my book group” or “my group of reader friends” or “my book club.”
We’ve gone on three different retreats together–one to Georgia that first fall, where only five of us ended up making it after another got sick and had to cancel; one to the Outer Banks, where we had about fifteen total, but largely in two groups as people came and went midweek; and then this past November in Colorado Springs, to see the ballet of Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor, where there were seventeen. The first two were creative retreats, so during the day we’d write or quilt or paint or read or watch those classes we’d purchased but hadn’t had time to do yet, then we’d fellowship in the evenings. This last one was pure fellowship. (Also, after the Outer Banks trip, I was “fired” from planning them, LOL, when I made a mistake that totally stressed me out, and my darling husband decided that I should just show up and enjoy it. He’d planned on taking it over, but member Candice begged to be the one to do so, so we happily let her! The awesome CO Springs trip was thanks to her and the ladies she recruited to help, and it was AMAZING.)
We’ve discovered that quite a big percentage of our members are from the Houston, TX area, so the “Houston Girls” get together several times a year. They’ll go out to dinner, go to a bookstore, have book exchange parties…
Whenever one of us travels to an area where another lives, there are lunches or dinners arranged so they can meet in person, and they always send photos. There for a while, Cali-Hannah (one of those first two members, who lives in California) had met more of the ladies in person than I had!
We have added every form of communication imaginable, LOL. We have an address database, for cards and letters and gifts. We have the Marco Polo video chat app, which was one of our first methods of communication (and seeing each other’s faces and hearing voices does SUCH amazing things for connecting us!). We have an email list, which is where announcements and links go, as well as updates and prayer requests. We have a traditional text group. And when we got too big for that, most of us migrated to the GroupMe app.
Which means that we are chatting every day. Seriously. There isn’t a day that goes by without P&P communication, and I love that so much!
We have subgroups–the fantasy readers started by creating a fantasy sub-group on Marco Polo. Those who were lured into reading The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Nicole (ALL YOUR FAULT! LOL) now have a GroupMe group called Whereabouts Lane (the street where Emma lives in London), where we chat about Emma and the books and the merch we find. We have a pen pal group started recently for those who want to send physical letters to each other…which was started because the kids of the group wanted to write to each other! (It’s becoming multi-generational! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!)
Every time I have a book release, we schedule a “tea party.” These are inspired by my public Tea Party Book Club chats, but I don’t send out packages, and they’re only open to P&P members. We get together on Zoom, we talk through the book, and we spent usually 2+ hours at it, first focusing (mostly, LOL) on the story and then just chatting. And as of yesterday, we’ve decided to add a regular monthly Zoom chat where we’ll talk about a backlist book.
We also love to send out “encouragement bombs,” as I’ve taken to calling them, when a member is sick or going through a hard time or has just lost a loved one. They might be care packages, a deluge of cards, monetary donations, or meals. They might come in the mail, they might be delivered by another nearby member. I put the first one or two together, but since then, it’s been other members reaching out and saying, “Hey, I think we need to bless ____. I’m happy to spearhead the effort!” And I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!! I love that this group is not only generous but so tuned in to the struggles of each other and so quick to want to help.
We have an annual ornament exchange through Elfster, organized by another of the Houston ladies, Caroline.
Looking Forward
What’s coming for this group? Much of it will be a continuation of what we already do and love so much. We’ll keep chatting. We’ll keep Zooming. We’ll keep reading books together. We’ll keep meeting up whenever we can. We just decided yesterday to add a regular Saturday meet-up on Zoom once a month, to chat about one of my backlist titles, and everyone is SO excited to have that regular time to hang out on the calendar!
We’re for sure planning another beach retreat for our FIFTH year, this fall. Thus far, we’re leaning toward Pensacola Beach in October.
But we’re planning way ahead, too. We’ve decided that for our TENTH anniversary retreat, we’re going to Europe. We haven’t decided where, exactly. Maybe the Isles of Scilly. Or maybe Northumberland (where the manor house I based Fairfax Tower on is an actual Air BnB! But, sadly, no circus is in residence, LOL). Maybe Paris. Who knows? We’ve got a few years to figure that part out, but we’re already saying it’s a for-sure thing, so everyone has time to save up and get or renew their passports. =)
What These Ladies Mean to Me
I get teary when I ask myself this question. Because these ladies, these friends, these sisters have become part of my daily life. They have been there, supporting me and praying for me and encouraging me, through the hard chapters of cancer. They never tire of hearing about my stories. When I need someone to take a look at something before I turn it into my editor, they’re the ones I reach out to. Deanna read Yesterday’s Tides for me, to help me with the sign language. Lee Anne read A Noble Scheme for me, to help me work through an editorial suggestion that was frustrating me. Danielle, Pam, and Marisa read The Spy Keeper of Marseille to weigh in on pacing concerns. Nearly the whole group reads my fantasies before they release, in Alpha (as soon as I finish, before I edit at all), Beta (after my big edits), and Gamma (final proofread) shifts.
Their generosity astounds me. Their support holds me up. Their love for each other inspires me. I cannot imagine, now, life without this group. When we get together, in person or online, it’s like walking into a room with your best friends. When I met some for the first time this last November, I couldn’t quite believe I’d never hugged them before, because we know each other so well. We’ve done so much life together!
And it’s certainly not just about what they do for me. It’s about how I see them building such strong friendships with each other. It’s when one member reaches out because she knows another in going through a hard time, and she asks what we can do. It’s the care packages they spearhead sending. It’s the soup and flowers we send to members who’ve lost loved ones. It’s the meet-ups they arrange. And it’s the fact that one sister can get on in tears, afraid she said something to offend another, and the other is so quick to hop on too and reach out with love. We’ve had some disagreements here and there–but they’re always handled like the Church should handle them, with grace and affection and the certainty that the other meant only the best.
It’s the bridal party we throw via Zoom. It’s the school-supply drive we all pitched in on for a church in Texas. It’s the friend who will drive four hours to visit someone before a hospitalization. It’s the fact that when one of us gets hard news, we come and share it there FIRST, often before even talking to family, because we all know this is a place of love and safety, where we can work through things in vulnerability before we have to be strong for someone else. Where we know we’ll have prayer warriors supporting us as we have those hard conversations with our loved ones.
It’s the fact that these women are the Church.
What These Ladies Mean to Each Other
And that’s enough of my musing. I asked them to pipe in too, with their own thoughts on the group. So I’ll let them take it from here.
I struggle to adequately define Patrons and Peers (P&P) to people who are not part of the group. It is, on the surface, a funding tool for an author I love—but that description feels far too impersonal. It is perhaps like an online book club, yet that comparison also leaves out so much of what makes P&P so dear to me. It is a collection of women from different parts of the country, of different ages and backgrounds, united by a love of books and of God—and still, it is difficult to put into words how much I value their place in my life.
I initially joined the Patrons and Peers group because I enjoyed Roseanna’s books and thought it would be a fun way to receive a free copy of each new release while learning a little more about the stories behind them. I am not a writer—just a self-professed introverted book nerd who loves Christian historical fiction—and the P&P perks seemed like a good deal. What I have actually received over the past four years, however, is far more than I could have ever imagined. I have learned so much about the process an author goes through to turn an idea into a story, and then to craft that story into the novel I eventually hold in my hands. I’ve gained insight into editorial processes and publishing details I never knew existed, and I’ve even been given opportunities to participate in story development and editing. I’ve been introduced to genres I never would have tried otherwise, and I now appreciate far more deeply the love and effort behind every book I read—not just Roseanna’s.
Yet insight into the background of books is only a small part of the impact this group has had on my life. In my fellow P&Ps—or “Roseanna Girls,” as I affectionately call them—I have found a sisterhood of kindred spirits: fellow book lovers, prayer partners, encouragers, and friends—a bookish sorority of sorts. I never imagined such meaningful relationships could grow from an online community, but through the various platforms we use to connect, I have come to know not only their names, but their voices, their families, their pets, their jobs, their joys, their hopes, and their fears. We share book recommendations, recipes, advice, and burdens. We pray for one another, encourage one another, and walk alongside each other through both life-changing events and the ordinary struggles of daily life. In short, these Roseanna Girls have become treasured friends, and our in-person retreats in various locations are now much-anticipated delights.
I understand that, from the outside looking in, joining a group like this may feel intimidating. Please don’t worry—there is no pressure to participate beyond what you are comfortable with. You will benefit from P&P even if you simply sign up to receive the books and updates from Roseanna. You can choose to connect with the other Roseanna Girls through email, text, GroupMe, Marco Polo, Zoom parties—or you can remain happily in the background. This group has a place for you, no matter how interactive you choose to be.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.