Ritas/GH Ceremony

The ending to my conference was wonderful. After a great appointment with the Mills & Boon editor, I have the go-ahead to send my next book and to write the third book in the Irish medieval series. Since we only had ten minutes to talk, she was gracious enough to invite me out for coffee afterwards. She gave me a feel for the revisions I’ll be doing on His Chosen Bride, and I’m looking forward to getting the comments. It still amazes me to realize that a senior editor and an editorial director have comments for my book. You go through your life hoping that this dream will come true, and when things start to happen, you want to pinch yourself. Is this really happening? Then there’s the slight fear in the back of my mind—what will I have to rewrite? Will it be something easy to fix or is it significant enough that I’ll have to re-envision the entire opening of the book? Can’t wait to find out.

Last night we all dressed up for the Rita/GH ceremony. Nora Roberts was the emcee, and she was gracious and funny as always. Interspersed between the awards were film clips about writing. We enjoyed the classic “Romancing the Stone” moments, as well as clips from “As Good as It Gets” (love Jack Nickelson) and “Misery.” I watched my chapter mate Alesia Holliday win a Rita award (think Academy Awards for romance novels) for best novella and we cheered on several others. One of the things I love about the Ritas is that I come away with a list of must-have romances, books that are guaranteed to be wonderful. To be nominated is one of the greatest honors. The author receives a golden statue and the publisher receives a plaque.

Here are some pictures of friends at the Ritas. First, here’s me, Amy Knupp, and Jan Kenny of the Writeminded Blog. Next we have Kacey Pickens, Amy Knupp, and Jan Kenny. Then we have Tanya Starratt, me, Lori, Trish, and Julie Cohen And the last group shot is Kacey, Jan, me, and Amy I love dressing up, but I learned that I need approximately 115 bobby pins to keep my hair in an updo. I imagined bobby pins shooting out of my head to attack innocent bystanders, as the arrangement kept coming down. But then Jan Kenny came to my rescue and redid the hairdo, bless her. She pointed out that I didn’t have enough pins. In the end, I had to give up and take it down. Oh well, worth a shot.

I will be heading off to Ireland tomorrow and I have my blog programmed to post all my workshop notes from the Harlequin spotlight, as well as other workshops. Hope you enjoy the information! If I get a chance, I’ll check in from Ireland.