Make It Golden!

Are you an aspiring author planning to enter the Golden Heart this year?  The Rubies are hosting their annual Make It Golden Contest TODAY and the winner receives a paid entry fee for the contest!  Go forth and check it out, but hurry!  Entries will only be accepted until Midnight EST (or when the entry limit is reached, whichever is sooner). 

Good luck!!!

Conference Bound!

I'm off to the Romance Writers of America's annual national conference.  This year we're in sweltering New York City (and you can bet I'll be trying to squeeze in a Broadway show around the edges of all the conference action!).

If you're in the New York area, you can join us for the Literacy Signing on Wednesday - over 400 fabulous authors in one room, all with stacks of books to sell and all the proceeds going to a good cause.  It's a reader's paradise.

And no matter where you are, you can tune in to the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony on Saturday night (8pm EST).  It's our industry's biggest night, our version of the Oscars, and you won't want to miss being able to watch it stream live for the first time ever!  Visit www.rwa.org for more details.

Catch the RITAs LIVE This Year!

Do you love romance novels?  Did you know romance authors have their very own version of the Oscars/Grammy Awards/Tony Awards/what have you?  We do!  It's the Romance Writers of America RITA and Golden Heart Awards and this year for the first time ever they will be STREAMED LIVE!  I'll be there, cheering wildly for my favorites, but even if you can't attend, pop some bubbly and join the party.  ;)

JULY 25, 2015 - 8PM

Visit www.rwa.org for more details. 

Happy Golden Heart & RITA Call Day!!!

HUGE congratulations to all the new Golden Heart & RITA Awards Nominees!  This is always such an exciting day, feeling the fabulous energy of celebrating some of the great romances of the previous year!  If you're looking to party, swing on over to the Ruby Blog where we are having our annual celebration.  I know my TBR list is going to be expanding! 

And special congratulations to my good friend, the lovely Liz Talley for her richly deserved final!  Woohoo, Liz!

New Steps! New Steps! New Steps!

(Bonus points if you giggled over the Strictly Ballroom reference in the title.)

I'm back!  RWA was awesome and exhausting as ever.  I'm still recovering, but as I do I'm also over at the Ruby blog talking about the new Golden Heart & RITA rules for 2015.  Exciting stuff, boys and girls.  Come on over and see what the future brings...

Calling All Writers!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the fourth annual Ruby Winter Writing Festival is HERE!!!!  Can I get a woohooo?!  For the next seven weeks the Rubies and writers inclined to join us will be writing our fingers to the bone, fiercely piling up pages of brilliance, and doling out prizes with a wanton generosity that is really quite shocking.  (Shocking, I say!)

It all starts today!  Swing on over to the Ruby blog, announce your goals, set your point system, and then hie yourself (hie, dagnabbit!) on over to the Festival site (www.rsswwf.com) where you can partake of the Writing Sprints in the chat room!  (Hosted by yours truly from 1-3pm EST today and every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the festival!)

I shall be stacking up words of unimaginable brilliance (aren't I humble?) on a book of a shifterly persuasion, but the festival is open to ALL. Romance and non, full-time-writers and first timers. If you've always wanted to write a book, but never had a crowd of eager Rubies cheering you on, NOW is the time.  If you have a work-in-progress that is half dog's breakfast after the frenzy of NaNo, the festival is the perfect opportunity for revisions and rewrites as you set your very own goals and points.

We are always particularly delighted to hear that some of our former participants have gone on to sell works created or inspired during the festival.  It's a frenzy of creative energy and if you are of the writerly persuasion, not to be missed.  In my humble opinion.  So go forth and don't miss it!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Writing Contests

If you are an aspiring author type and interested in learning more about writing contests and what they can do for you, NYT Bestseller Darynda Jones is hosting an All About Contests week over at the Ruby Blog.  Come on by!

Get Your Writer Binge On!

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!  It's that time again.  The Third Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival! 

There are prizes, but the real prize is the words on the page - so if you're a writer sort (or you've always secretly wanted to be a writer sort) there is no time like the present to join in the amazing camaraderie of the RSSWWF.  You can visit the Ruby blog today to announce your goals for the festival (publicly admitting them is a really good way to keep yourself honest) and then swing on over to www.rsswwf.com where we have hosted writing sprints at all hours to help fire you up and keep you hammering away at the keyboard. 

Go forth and be brilliant, writer-friends!

For Aspiring Romance Authors:

Ever wish you could bypass the slush pile and get your work straight to an editor's desk?

The Golden Network is pleased to offer you just that chance. We're lucky to have secured some of the industry's most sought-after editors to judge a category in the final round of the Golden Pen contest:

Historical – Katherine Pelz, Berkley Publishing Group
Inspirational – Melissa Endlich, Steeple Hill
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements – Valerie Gray, MIRA Books and SPICE Books
Paranormal – Leis Pederson, Berkley Publishing Group
Romantic Suspense – Elizabeth Poteet, St. Martin's Press
Series Romance – Susan Litman, Harlequin Enterprises
Single Title – Deb Werksman, Sourcebooks Inc.
Young Adult – Regina Griffin, Egmont USA

By entering the Golden Pen, not only do you get the chance to make it to the final round (and earn a read from one of these top editors), but you also get constructive feedback from at least one Golden Heart finalist as part of the first-round competition.

The Golden Pen contest is open until August 15, but if you enter by July 15, you'll get $5 off of your entry fee. If you register to judge the first round of the contest, you qualify for an additional $5 discount. So don't delay--get your entry ready today!

Read the Rules and Guidelines: http://thegoldennetwork.com/tgp-rules/
Register to judge: http://thegoldennetwork.com/judge-sign-up/
Enter your manuscript: http://thegoldennetwork.com/tgp-enter/

Please contact the coordinator directly at goldenpencontest@gmail.com if you have any questions.


If you're angling toward becoming a published romance author, contests can be a great way to get impartial feedback AND potentially get you in front of some big time editors.  One recent finalist sold to the editor who first saw her book in the Golden Pen.  So polish up those manuscripts...

Golden Heart & Rita Call Day!

Today is the day, boys and girls! It's the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart & RITA Award Call Day!

All around the world, aspiring writers and published authors are waking up and hovering by their phones for The Call that will set them on the path to that little gold necklace or that massive gold statue, respectively. I didn't enter this year, but I have my fingers firmly crossed for several good friends.

Now, as the calls go out, may I say GOOD LUCK to all those who entered and CONGRATULATIONS to those deserving authors who get the call.

And if you're looking for a party, a place to score some PRIZES, share your excitement or get some commiseration if that call doesn't come, be sure to go to the Ruby Blog today where we are having our Annual Call Day Party. It will be crazy and marvelous and not to be missed.

Good luck!

******UPDATED*******
Congratulations to all the finalists (you can see a full list HERE)

But special shout outs to Rubies Darynda Jones & Elizabeth Essex for their Rita Nominations (NSRE/Best First Book & Historical respectively!).

To Rubies Elisa Beatty, Sally Eggert, Kim Law & Elizabeth Bemis on their Golden Heart Nominations.

To Sally Kirkpatrick (who I met at my very first writing conference and who is AWESOME) on her Novel with Strong Romantic Elements Golden Heart nom.

To Eileen Emerson (whose ms I was lucky enough to read last year) for her Regency Historical Golden Heart nom.

AND to the fabulous Jamie Wesley (fellow NU alum, GO CATS!) for her Series Contemporary Golden Heart nomination!

GOOD LUCK, LADIES!

Golden Heart Tips

Today I'm over at the Ruby blog, talking with my fellow Rubies about writing tips for folks who are focused on entering the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart awards. If you are of the writing inclination, swing on by and check out the Rubies' series of Golden Heart tips.

My brilliant tip? Luck. It's all luck. That's my theory.

Epic, Dude.

Guess what, boys and girls? The Winter Wishes anthology, featuring my lil Christmas novella No Angel, along with most excellent works by the divine Moira Rogers (Freeze Line) and transcendent Vivian Arend (Tangled Tinsel) has been named as a finalist in the 2012 EPIC Awards. Can I get a woohoo?

Also among the finalists is my good friend, the fabulous Kelli Scott for her novella Stormy Wedding!

Congratulations to all the finalists and good luck!

Make It Golden Contest for Writers

If you are an aspiring writer planning on entering the Golden Heart this year, hie yourself over to the Ruby Blog RIGHT THIS INSTANT. The Make It Golden Contest is now live. No entry fee for the Make It Golden Contest and the prize is a paid Golden Heart entry fee. Only the first 100 entries will be considered, so polish up your first line and scamper over to enter. Don't delay!

Last Chance!

If you're an aspiring romance author type and you're planning to enter the Golden Heart this year and you want some feedback on your opening, the Golden Pen contest closes tomorrow (the 15th!) for entries.

Go forth and conquer Romancelandia, minions! (I really needed to call someone "minion!" today. Just sayin'.)

Also, if you are a published author type and feeling the inclination to judge, such volunteering is always welcome and much appreciated. Click here to register to judge.

Rita Reads: And One Last Thing...

Lately I've been reading my way through a stack of the Romance Writers of America's RITA Awards nominees. (A pastime I highly recommend.) Many are by authors I already know and love. One, Nothing But Trouble by Rachel Gibson, whom I read a book by a bajillion years ago and had a "meh" reaction to, so knocked my delighted little socks off that I'm now digging heartily into her backlist and kicking myself for not giving her a second read sooner. And then there is the unparalleled joy of finding a New-To-Me Kickass Rockstar Author. Molly Harper.

Ms. Harper's And One Last Thing is nominated in the Contemporary category. It looks distinctly "chick-litty" and from the blurb I don't know that I would have picked it up at a bookstore if not for the RITA recognition. Divorcee, blah blah blah. Personal growth, blah blah blah. Learning to love again, blah-de-freaking-blah. I didn't have any particular desire to read a frothier version of Eat Pray Love. (I know everyone loves that book, but memoire is such a self-indulgent form of writing! It's like the authorial version of performance art. Soooo not my navel-gazing cup o' tea. But that's a rant for another day.) All I can say is: Thank God for RITA nominations. This book is not that book. Not at all! It's utterly fabulous. Bright and so dang funny. Witty and insightful. Grounded in reality but optimistic and empowering. It's a novel about self-discovery that doesn't force-feed you platitudes on every page!

And it got me thinking about the characters I admire in literature and life, versus the ones I feel like I am told I should want to be... if that makes sense. I like strong people - but they aren't always sweetness and light. One theme of the book is the idea of breaking away from being "nice" or always doing the easy thing to avoid causing a fuss. (And then learning how to rein it in so your empowerment doesn't spill out into needlessly hurting others.)

Maybe the reason I loved this is that I don't think of myself as a "nice" person. It's never been high on my list of virtues. And I have a hard time in places/groups/around people who value Nice above Competent or Strong. I would rather been known as sharp than sweet, but I don't feel societal pressure to be clever while I do feel a frequent societal push toward being The Nice Girl. Men compete in their own way, but with women, it's almost like sometimes there is a Niceness Sweepstakes we've all be told it is our feminine duty to win. And lately I've felt like I was losing that Sweepstakes. And for some reason, I cared.

I suppose the crux of it is: I want (pathologically and helplessly) for people to like me, but I don't want to have to compromise my own idea of virtue (i.e. be forced to be nice all the time) in order to do that. So... I'm going to have to accept not everyone is going to like me so that I can continue to like myself. Because I like snarky. I really do. And this whole last week (which sucked) of me feeling guilty for not being the nicest girl on the block and forgetting how it feels to be comfortable in my own skin because it feels like the universe is pushing me toward a kind of virtue that isn't me, let's not have any more of those weeks, okay?

And I'm way off topic. Moral of the story: And One Last Thing rocked. And celebrated finding the best part of yourself, even if it isn't the part that polite society might want to see at their Junior League Luncheons.

Golden Heart & Rita Day!

Today is a big day for the scribblers inhabiting Romancelandia. It's the Golden Heart & RITA finalist Call Day! Phones are ringing across the country (nay, the world!) in the homes of some of the best and brightest voices in romance.

Good luck to all who entered! Congratulations to all who finaled! (And fists shaken at the Fates for all the brilliant books that were robbed, I tell you! Robbed! this year... cuz there's always one that somehow doesn't make the list even though it rocked my ever-loving socks.)

And if you want to celebrate with the giddy finalists themselves as the calls go out, head on over to the Ruby blog where a collection of '09 Golden Heart finalists are hosting an online party to toast the newly anointed finalists!

Free First Line Contest!

Are you an aspiring writer? Are you planning on entering the Golden Heart this year? Think you have a killer opening? Then you are in luck, boys and girls, because the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood is hosting a contest for opening lines and the prize is a paid $50 entry fee to the Golden Heart!

Go here for details on how to enter (and win!). And enter quickly! This opportunity won't last. Only the first 100 entries will be considered and the contest ends Tuesday, Sept 21st at midnight EST. The clock is ticking, y'all, so enter, enter, enter!

And the RITA goes to...

Boys and girls! It's the big day! The day of the Romance Writers of America's RITA/Golden Heart ceremony. What's that, you ask? Only the biggest award out there in the romance writing industry. The Oscars of romance, if you will. The RITAs are for published books, while the Golden Heart represent the unpublished up-and-comers we hope to see on best seller lists in years to come.

And who won this year? Oh, baby. There's a lot of awesome in this group.

There's a link to the complete list of winners below, but I'm gonna gush about a few notables. On the Golden Heart side, two Rubies won this year! Mad congrats to CJ Eernisse Chase (Inspirational) and Elisa Beatty (Regency Rockstar Goddess of Epic Proprotions who also won two categories of the Royal Ascot Historical Romance competition this year, why the hell is this woman not published yet?). Yay, RUBIES!

And in my category, the Single Title Contemporary Golden Heart baton was passed to Lizbeth Selvig - who I met a couple years back at the Emerald City Writers Conference and who it is safe to say rocks some serious socks. Congrats, Lizbeth! (I wasn't able to be there to give out the Golden Heart, so they got Roxanne St. Claire to fill in. I'm sure Lizbeth didn't mind the substitution... given that it was Rocki-freaking-St.Claire. Dude.)

Roxanne St. Claire with RITA winner Kresley Cole.

On the RITA side, there was much "woot, woot"-ing at Casa Andrews as the announcements went out and some of my All Time Favorite Authors got the nod. (Oh, the awesome! I can hardly contain myself!)

Sherry Thomas won Historical for Not Quite a Husband (which I will confess I haven't read yet though it is on my TBR pile right now but I was lucky enough to crash a dinner with her at RT this year and I can vouch for the deep, deep awesomeness she possesses). Congrats, Sherry!

Then two of my hero-worship favs won back-to-back! Julia Quinn for What Happens in London (Oh-my-freaking-god, I loved that book) won the Regency Historical and joined the RWA Hall of Fame for winning her third RITA! And then Kresley Cole took home her second Paranormal Romance RITA for Kiss of a Demon King (which was that one with Sabine the deeply badass anti-heroine and I love to see the tough-girl heroines getting the RWA love).

Finish the night off with Kristan Higgins taking home the Single Title Contemporary RITA for Too Good to Be True (brilliant!) and... well, it's a pretty sweet line-up.

Mad congrats to all the RITA and Golden Heart winners and nominees! Enjoy every second of your most deserved recognition!

Golden Heart & RITA Finalists Announced!

This time each year, Romance Writers of America announce the finalists for their big awards - the RITA for published books & the Golden Heart for unpublished manuscripts. Last year I was one of the lucky honorees in the Golden Heart (for which I am now ineligible). The Golden Heart was a great experience, a fun ride, and now a new set of finalists get to take a spin.

Yesterday was a day of much frenzy and excitement for many a romance writer - aspiring & established alike. Don't believe me? Just check out the frantic activity at the Ruby blog yesterday as finalists cyber-toasted one another. Or swing on by the RWA official list to see if any of your favorite books from 2009 got the nod. I know some of mine did. Kresley Cole... Julia Quinn... Marjorie Liu...

I meant to be running about yesterday flinging congratulations far and wide, but things didn't quite turn out that way. For the last week I've been doing battle with local printers who "don't know why it isn't working" & screeching over insane shipping costs from online printers (Alaska is not in Antarctica for crying out loud!). I've been trying to get promo stuff lined up for the Romantic Times convention next month. And now, at long last, I finally have a plan that isn't going to force me to sell a kidney to cover the shipping costs and bookmarks & cover flats have officially been ordered. Woot!

So now I plunge myself back into the fun side of the writing world to say... HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all the RITA & Golden Heart finalists!

Enjoy your year! (And prepare a speech. Trust me, you'll kick yourself if you don't.)

Surrender Dorothy!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! I give you the launch of the group blog for the 2009 Golden Heart Finalists: The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood! (Try saying that five times fast.)

The 2010 RWA® Golden Heart Contest opens for entries TODAY, so if you'd like the skinny, the lowdown, and a few insider tips from the 2009 graduating class, be sure to drop by the RSS blog during our launch month. Beaucoup prizes will be given away, from mugs to manuscript critiques. Come on by! Comment early, comment often!

Click your heels together three times and repeat, "There's no place like the best-seller lists."