The Emily Contest Open for Submissions!

Want a chance to get a read from an agent and an editor? Here's your chance! My home chapter, West Houston RWA, has opened up submissions for our 21st annual writer's contest for unpublished and published authors (Some restrictions apply. See details at http://whrwa.com/emily/).

Yes, I highly recommend the Emily. When I finaled in 2008, I got a request for the full manuscript.

DETAILS, DETAILS - Read on!

DEADLINE: OCTOBER 7, 2009. ENTRY FEE: Members of West Houston RWA - $20; Non-members - $30. Electronic Entries Only.

Check out the fantastic line-up of final round editors and agents judging the categories!

Contemporary Single Title/Women' s Fiction: 90,000+ words
--> Final Judges: Frances Jalet-Miller, editor with Grand Central; Carolyn Grayson, agent with Ashley Grayson Literary Agency

Contemporary Series: Under 75,000 words
--> Final Judges: Patience Smith, editor with Silhouette Books; Sha-Shana Crichton, agent with Crichton & Associates, Inc. Literary Agency

Historical: Word count 50,000 - 110,000.
--> Final Judges: Esi Sogah, editor with Avon ; Barbara Poelle, agent with Irene Goodman Literary Agency

Paranormal: 50,000+ words--> Final Judges: Chris Keesler, editor with Dorchester; Maura Kye-Casella, agent with Don Congdon Associates

For additional details click on http://whrwa.com/emily.

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!