What It All Means...

In general, I'm a very private person. I like to blog about the value of romance novels and about what it takes to be a writer, but I resist detailed blogging about my personal life. However, today I'm going to make an exception. I won the Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance on Saturday night and the experience has completely rocked me.

For those of you who don't know, I finaled in the GH once before, back in 2005. Amazed and honored, I delighted in the fairytale ride of being a finalist at the silver anniversary of the RWA National Conference. It was an experience I'll never forget. But that final turned out to be the start of a rather dry period in my successes as a writer. I entered contests and got no where. I submitted to agents and garnered nothing but polite no-thank-yous. I suffered a bout of severe self-doubt and stumbled in my pursuit of publication.

Not surprising, perhaps, in light of what was going on in other parts of my life.

Six months after my 2005 GH final, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and although I kept writing, those moments were sandwiched between caring for her and trying to support my blind father. My mom passed away in August of 2006, leaving a very large gap in our lives. Sadly, the bad news did not end there. That same year, my sister, the mother of two young girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer – just before Christmas. She underwent aggressive treatment, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Today, she's healthy and doing well, thank heaven. But our family received more bad news in February of 2008 – my father was called back from a winter vacation because tests done just before he left showed his prostate cancer had metastasized.

Although I was thrilled to receive a call in March telling me that I was once again a GH finalist, my excitement was naturally tempered by my father's condition. Difficult as it was, I made the decision not to attend the RWA National Conference so I could stay home with my dad. I don't regret that decision, even though I wish with all my heart I could have thanked the judges and met some of my co-finalists in person.

This past year, many things have gone well with my writing – I finaled in all three contests I entered, I had a record number of requests for full manuscripts, I signed with a terrific agent, and now, I’m a Golden Heart winner. To say I'm happy doesn't remotely capture how much this all means to me.

All I know is that I couldn't have come this far without the support of some terrific people:
– my daughter Taylor, whose faith in me has never wavered
– my very good friend Sylvia Day, who has been nothing short of incredible
– my chapter mates in ORWA
– my fellow 2005 GH finalists, the Wild Cards
– my fellow 2008 GH finalists, the Pixie Chicks (even though I've been MIA on our loop, I read every message)
– and more recently, my agent Laurie, who has amazed me with how much she 'gets' my writing

So, I'm writing this to tell you that clouds really do have silver linings. In fact, as you can see, sometimes they're gold.

Incredible!

Wow. I got a call about a half hour ago from San Francisco, where the RWA National conference is wrapping up. It was my pal, Sylvia Day--who was up for a RITA for her wonderful novella Mischief and the Marquess--calling to tell me my manuscript, Soul Provider, won the Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance! How absolutely cool is that? It's the middle of the night here, and I'm dancing. Wow.

September Medieval Releases

Yay! The world is back to normal. There are at least six medieval and renaissance romances releasing in September:

Border Lass, Amanda Scott, Forever (med. Scotland)
Dark Embrace, Brenda Joyce, HQN (ren. Scotland)*
Leading Her to Heaven, Kayleigh Jamison, Tease (ren. Scotland)
Templar Knight, Forbidden Bride, Lynna Banning, Harlequin (med. Spain)
The Highlander, Heather Grothaus, Zebra (med. Scotland)
Secrets of the Knight, Julia Latham, Avon (med. England)

Enjoy!

* denotes a Time Travel

Inspiring

A while back someone sent me the link to this video--the 2008 Harvard Commencement address given in June by the incredible J.K. Rowling. I watched it then and got a hefty dose of inspiration, but didn't consider how other people might perceive it until last night. I had some of my family over and my brother stumbled across the link while playing with my computer. He played it and my entire family listened. They loved it--found it funny, emotional and inspiring. And they're not writers. Some of them have never read the Harry Potter books.

So, I thought maybe I should do my part: Make sure a few more people heard her terrific words.

Enjoy!

Happily Ever After

A lady on one of my loops directed me to this terrific series of videos that examine the value of romantic fiction. Produced by the BBC, the series has a decidedly English flavor, but the information is still relevant and informative for us over here in North America. I enjoyed watching; perhaps you will, too.

Happily Ever After - Part 1



There are six parts, which you can find in the sidebar at YouTube or here:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

If you're really keen, there's a follow up series on Heroes and one on Heroines.

I thought these pieces were well done and gave some wonderful insights on the genre, especially for people who don't read or write in it. If you know someone who could appreciate an unbiased look at the romantic fiction business, send them the link.