RWA Awards Ceremony

First off, congratulations to all the Golden Heart & RITA nominees and winners. I love the awards ceremony - it's like watching authors become Cinderella for the night. The celebration afterwards is super fun as well. That's Crystal Jordan and I with our Uber Fantastic agent Lucienne Diver in the photo.

Special shout-outs for RITA winners I know & just met at conference:

• Good friend & West Houston chaptermate Tera Lynn Childs won Best First Book for Oh. My. Gods. WTG!
• Lucienne's client Rosemary Clement-Moore won Best Young Adult Romance for HELL WEEK - Great to meet you, Rosemary - love the title!
• Pam Rosenthal won Best Historical for THE EDGE OF IMPROPRIETY. Enjoyed getting to know you, Pam!
• Yay for conference buddy Cindy Gerard who won in the Romantic Suspense Category for TAKE NO PRISONERS. Yay!

Congrats as well to my WHRWA chapter mates who finaled in the RITA: Colleen Thompson, Linda Warren, Deeanne Gist, Kerrelyn Sparks, and Judy Duarte. And congrats on another well-deserved final to my buddy Jane Graves.

So it's a wrap for the 2009 RWA Washington DC conference. Back to our regularly scheduled writing. Cheers to All.

The Time of My Life

I'm having the time of my life at the RWA National conference. The bright pink First Sale ribbon attracts a lot of congratulations. Anyway, so far I've been on the go-go-go starting with dinner & drinks with my PAL Gerry Bartlett and the lovely Nina Bangs. Both Gerry & Nina have been super helpful to this newbie. My roomies joined me in the bar to have drinks with friends from West Houston and DARA chapters of RWA. Wednesday was the mega literaracy signing. Thursday morning I had a breakfast with my fantastic agent Lucienne Diver. The lovely Michele Lang joined my CPs Karen Burns & Ellen Watkins at the luncheon. Thursday evening, I attended Grand Central's dinner. And then, my fellow GC author and long-time friend Jane Graves insisted we needed to do something in the bar. That something turned out to be a Huge Cheer from my buddies from DARA followed by toasts with champagine. To my DARA buddies - I'll never forget that moment. Thank you!!!!!!!!!

Rats, I'm running out of battery power, so better go charge up in the room. I'm having the Time of My Life!

RWA National Conference Here I Come!

Wow, I'm soooo excited because this year I get to wear a first sale ribbon and a PAN ribbon at the RWA national conference in Washington DC. It's been 3.5 weeks since the official sale, and I'm still a bit in disbelief over it all. But I know this is one conference I won't forget!

The one thing I do tend to forget is what a pain it is to pack for the annual RWA conference. And yes, those are 6 pairs of shoes + 2 pairs of flipflops in the photo at the right. Yes, I need 3 pairs of black shoes!!!

If you really want a shocker, check out these rubber flip flops at the astounding price of $168.30 - on SALE- LOL. Here's the link in case you have $$$ to burn: http://zapp.me/7529486

I used up the last of my frequent flyer miles for a first class ticket to DC - I'm really pampering myself this year. But I've worked really, really hard since January 2008 and at long last it paid off. So DC, here I come!

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Congratulations to my buddy Jo Anne Banker!

Major congratulations to my friend and West Houston chapter mate, Jo Anne Banker. Her series romance THIS CHILD IS MINE finaled in the Orange Rose Contest!!!!

I've got my fingers and toes crossed on the final round. Jo Anne is definitely an author to watch!

Uber Advance Publicity

Seven days ago, I officially sold my debut novel Confessions of a Duchess: A Matchmaker's Misadventures in a 3-book deal to Grand Central. Tonight, I got a Google Alert that my historical romance was featured in a blog by Maria Geraci on Night Owl Romance. Maria took the high concept pitch from Publishers Marketplace: The bachelor in Regency England (minus the hot tub and camera crew). Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/lsro82.

Speaking of high concepts, check out Maria's debut novel Bunco Babes Tell All on her website: http://www.mariageraci.com/. Sounds like tons of fun!

Thanks, Maria!

Yeah, I'm stunned. :-)

And if you're interested, check out my blog on creating the high concept pitch: http://tinyurl.com/nw7z33