While I was working on Ash’s copy edits and dealing with various real world problems—my new computer decided to stop working and something (not the computer) was producing an electrical burning smell—I got a phone call. Surprising Lord Ash is a finalist in the historical category of the New Jersey Romance Writers’ Golden Leaf contest. Yippee! I was already planning on going to their conference in October. I’m giving a workshop—and those New Jersey ladies know how to party.
Then, just a couple days ago, an email from Tara at Eye on Romance popped into my inbox with a link to a review of Jack’s book. I’ll confess I always cringe a bit when I click on review links, because I’m never sure what I’ll find at the other end. This time it was a lovely review! If you’d like to read it, it’s in the Historical Romance Writers section here.
Tuesday morning I handed in the edits for Loving Lord Ash, the final book in my Duchess of Love series, so I thought I’d take a moment to look back at my Naked series. I’m very excited to tell you that my two Naked novellas, “The Naked Laird” and “The Naked Prince,” will be released as separate e-novellas. So if you missed them when they came out in their respective anthologies or if you just want to complete your Naked collection on your e-reader, you’ll now be able to do that. Well, not quite now. The Naked Laird releases November 1; The Naked Prince will be out December 31. I'm pretty sure you can preorder them now, if you want to.
The Naked Laird first appeared in February 2009 in the anthology Lords of Desire. You can read an excerpt on my web site here. You’ll see the cover of the anthology which, if you’re already a Naked reader, may help you remember if you’ve read the story before.
The Laird was the first novella I ever wrote. (A novella is about a quarter of the length of one of my books.) It was a fun challenge. And being a glutton for challenges, at least sometimes, I set the story during a house party that occurs during The Naked Baron, so you’ll see a glimpse of the one story in the other.
The final day of the conference began with another quick trip to the gym and the Corner Bakery before the Kensington book signing. Kensington had provided a huge stack of Surprising Lord Jack for me to sign and give away, and I’d bought—at a deep discount—most of the books I had left over from the big book signing on Wednesday. I was able to give a book to everyone who stopped by—and I still had one left.
After the signing, I met one of my French editors...
...and then grabbed lunch with a couple of friends. I had to dash from lunch to the RITA rehearsals and then on to “Giving to Get: Creating Free Digital Content to Promote Your Print Book,” the workshop panel I was on with Kensington editors Alicia Condon and Audrey LaFehr as well as fellow authors Victoria Alexander and Donna Kauffman. My roomie snapped this shot:
After the panel, I scurried off to get dressed for the RITAs and then go to dinner with my agent and editors. (I just got a new editor; I met her for the first time at RWA.) I enjoyed the dinner, but I was a little on edge—at the RITA practice, they’d stressed being on time. One of my other “must haves” at conferences is my watch. I don’t wear it much at home, but I rely on it when I’m traveling to get me where I need to be when I need to be there. However, my watch is more utilitarian than elegant. It didn't go with my fancy dress, so I left it in my room. Fortunately my agent came through and made sure I wasn’t late. We even had time to take some pictures before things got underway. Here I am with my agent and editor.
I was afraid I might be nervous during the awards—my category wasn’t until close to the end—but I wasn’t. I even managed to get a picture of my “moment” in the sun when they announced the Duchess.
I didn’t bring home a RITA, but I had a fabulous time anyway. I was just so delighted to have the opportunity to go through the process again since I’d been so overwhelmed by everything when I’d been a Golden Heart finalist back in 2004. This was my chance to travel roughly the same path, but with some sense of the greater picture—and knowing so many more people!
I won’t lie to you. It would have been really, really cool to have won. Of course, then I would have had to give my lame acceptance speech. And, well, I've been around the block enough now to know that winning a RITA doesn’t mean you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career. Writing careers don’t seem to have pinnacles—they are more like amusement park rides, going up and down and sideways.
Years ago I happened to walk out of a RITA awards ceremony next to a woman who’d been a double finalist but who hadn’t won either category. She’d remarked to her companion that she felt like such a loser—and I had stick my nose into their conversation to point out that she was not a loser at all. I promised myself right then that if I was ever up for a RITA, I would not feel like I’d lost if I didn’t win. And I didn't. Especially when the lights came up and I looked at all the other finalists who weren't holding RITAs, I truly felt honored to be among such wonderful, amazing authors. And of course I love Eloisa James, who did win my category!
And I brought the RITA finalist flag home! It’s very cool, too. I put it up on the shelf in my office to remind me of all the fun I had in Atlanta.
After the gym, I met my pal Vanessa Kelly for breakfast. She’d found a new-to-her place about a block from the hotel: a Corner Bakery. We have Corner Bakeries in my neighborhood; Mr. M and I had breakfasted there while we were staying in a hotel, waiting for our wood floors to be done. I was so happy to have food I recognized, lol!
My agent took me out to lunch—sadly, I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was next door to the Corner Bakery—and one of the highlights of my conference occurred. Well, yes, I enjoy talking to my agent. and the food was excellent, but that wasn’t it. What made my day was the reaction the woman seating us had to my ensemble.
Some personal history here. I grew up with two older brothers—no sisters—and I was a bit of a tomboy. I attended Catholic schools, so I wore uniforms for twelve years, and then I went to basically an all male college—the University of Notre Dame the year it went coed. And then I was home with four sons and a husband who often wears clothing the Salvation Army wouldn’t accept. (He’s loyal though. He has a jeans jacket that he’s owned longer than he’s known me—and we met in 1976.) Now I work at home in my comfy clothes which I think (I hope) are presentable for a trip to the grocery store. So my fashion sense is a bit stunted. My mother was very stylish, but I’m afraid I didn’t inherit her panache. (One of my daughters-in-law just explained to me that it’s acceptable not to wear stockings in the summer. This is so liberating on so many levels!)
So I was feeling a little out of my comfort zone with what I was wearing to lunch. I’d seen a nifty, knit, long black skirt—longer in back than in the front—when I was doing my mad pre-conference shopping. (My pre-con shopping was especially bad this year because of the RITA dress hunt.) I somewhat hesitantly bought it and paired it with a sleeveless black knit tank that I already had as well as a white, glittery sweater thing (yes, I should be a fashion writer). And while I was buying the skirt, I saw a cool necklace on sale—well, it was so inexpensive, I had to buy it, even though it was bigger and flashier than I usually wear. (Who am I kidding? I don’t usually wear jewelry.)
So when the woman seating us said what an awesome dress I was wearing (okay, those weren’t her exact words, but that was definitely her meaning) and, somewhat sheepishly told my agent (who is far more stylish than I ) that her dress was nice, too, I just about floated to the table. And, no, sadly—or perhaps just as well—I did not think to get a picture.
Later that afternoon, at the RITA/Golden Heart reception, I got my finalist certificate.
Best of all, I got to hang out with friends, drink champagne, and nibble on cute little pastries. Here are RITA finalists Jade Lee (on left) and Angie Fox (right). The lovely lady in the middle is Terry McLaughlin, long time pal and RWA President-Elect.
Shortly after this gathering, I headed off to the National Readers Choice Awards—the Duchess of Love was a finalist in that contest as well. The novella didn’t win, but I enjoyed more champagne (I had to pace myself as I didn’t want another headache) and ice cream sundaes. Yum! I don’t think I ever had dinner, but having foreseen that possibility when I looked at my schedule in the morning, I ate enough at lunch to keep body and soul together. See? Eating is definitely tricky at these conferences.
