Wahoo, I'm a RITA Finalist!

For a romance author, a certain day late in March is often nail-biting time. That's when the phone calls go out to the finalists in the Romance Writers of America's RITA contest for excellence in romantic fiction.

This year? I so was not paying attention. I did have the date marked on my calendar, but when that certain Sunday rolled around, I was going about my Sunday stuff: laundry, groceries, etc., totally oblivious.

Then I got a call from Linda Howard. I mean, hey. It's way cool to get a call from Linda Howard under any circumstances. But even cooler when you learn she's calling to tell you you're up for the RITA in the Best Short Contemporary Romance Category. Whoopee!

Winners will be announced at the big RWA conference this July--it's in Dallas. I can drive there. Love that as it's easier to take a full-length evening dress for the gala night when the winners are announced. I will so be ready for my close-up.

This year, there's lots of controversy surrounding the RITAs. The amazing Barbara Samuel has put out the call to elevate the RITAs in the consciousness of the world-at-large. Certain high-profile online reader blogs are totally not impressed. I love controversy. Raises awareness and that's a good thing!

For all the snarkilicious scoop, go here: DearAuthor.com and here: Romancing the Blog.

Meanwhile, pardon me while I do the happy dance! Married in Haste has a chance at the RITA!

When the Author's Copies Arrive

It happened today. Right after lunch. I walked the DH out to his car as he headed back to work, paused to chat with a neighbor out on the front lawn. And the UPS truck drove up. My heart skipped a beat. I had that feeling...

And I was right. My author copies of my May Special Edition, FROM HERE TO PATERNITY had arrived.

I lugged the box inside, moved Tom the cat off it when he instantly insisted that it must be a new place for him to sit, got out my trusty utility knife and...zip, zip. I had it open and a copy in my hands.

There's a great moment for ya, even after 60-plus books: the day when you get to hold your finished book in your hot little hands. I cried the day I got my copies of my first book, a date so far back it's shrouded in the mists of time. I held that Harlequin Temptation in my hands and thought of all the people who might read it and the tears started flowing. I'd made my dream a reality at last. I was a published author.

No, I don't burst into tears any more when my author copies arrive. But I still feel that glow, to think of readers who will hold books just like it and turn the pages and enter a world of my creation.

I hope they will relish getting lost in that world. I hope they will laugh and cry and sigh. I hope they'll recapture the amazing feeling of falling in love.

Oh, and another really neat thing is that FROM HERE TO PATERNITY is number 19 in the Bravo Family Saga. And there are lots more to come. I mean, who knew when I started with the Bravos that they'd still be going strong a decade later?


I have the best job. No kidding. I truly do.

The Amazing Nigella

Okay, I'm a total fan of Nigella Lawson. Love to watch her cook. Love to watch her eat. Love to sit up in the bed and read her cookbooks. She has this amazing way of writing about food that's just so...fulfilling.




And she's gorgeous and she's not thin. She's all curves and woman and totally amazing.

She lost her mom and a sister and a husband to cancer. And kept on. Deliciously. Lushly. Amazingly.



Amazing. Oh, yeah. That would be the word.

And you? Amazing women you admire? I can always use more inspiration. I think we all can...

Oh, and congrats to Cherie and Principessa, winners of the adorable and delicious Frog Prince Chocolates.

Win Your Very Own Frog Prince

Comment here on my blog or on my guest post over at Love is an Exploding Cigar before 9 pm Sunday and have a chance to win a box of eight potential princes and His Royal Highness, your personal prince, who wears an edible gold crown.


Yes. Chocolate truffle frogs. Cute ones. Yum. You know you want them.

And you have two chances to win as I'm giving away one box here and one at Exploding Cigars.



So? Plans for the weekend??

I'll be signing Saturday at Borders on Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City, 11:30 to 12:30 if you're nearby....

In any case, have a great one and leave a comment to win your prince and his pals...

Booksigning Saturday and Chocolate Tomorrow

Plan to be in or around Oklahoma City this Saturday March 17th?

Drop by Borders Books on NW Expressway between 11:30 and 12:30 (yes, in the daytime) and say hi. I'll be signing with several other terrific Oklahoma Authors.

Click here for a Borders Discount Coupon....

And tomorrow, I'll be guest blogging at Love is an Exploding Cigar. Drop in there--and here, too--for a dual chance to win chocolate from moi!

Random Hunk Day

Waaa...my Eddie Izzard pictures went blank in my last post. At least they are from my computer. Blogger hatred moment. I loved THE RICHES and hope it lasts. It's more dark than funny and it's a premise that might not have legs. But hey. We'll see...

I'm deep in PR Bootcamp and starting a new book, so I need something restful to look at...

Meet top model Ian Lawless. He's my image for my hero in the new work-in-progress.

I'm liking Ian a lot, got him up on my bulletin board by my computer, along with some great pics of Amy Adams, who's the inspiration for my heroine.

Now, back to work! (sounds of whips cracking here)

Completely Mad for Eddie Izzard

You know Eddie Izzard? If not, you are missing the ultimate in humor through history. His amazing 2001 standup video DRESS TO KILL will astound, delight, inspire and educate you. The language is R-rated, and the ROFLOL insights come rolling at you so fast, you'll have to go buy it if you rented it, just to watch and listen again and again.

I am totally gone on him. He's the...executive transvestite. Really.

Tonight his new series, THE RICHES, begins on FX--10 eastern time. If you get a chance, check it out. He plays the dad in a family of con artists who take over a dead guy's life to live the American Dream. Minnie Driver plays his wife.

I will so be watching!

Loving Insomnia

Okay, I said I wouldn't be blogging much. But here I am again. That's what happens when you're a blogging junkie. Is there a cure for blog addiction? Do I want one?

Oh, probably not.

Anyway. About insomnia. I get it. On occasion. I used to hate it. But now,well, I've kind of made peace with it. I've learned to love my insomnia.

You know how it happens. You go to sleep at your regular time. And then, somewhere in the darkest part of the night--you're awake. Used to be when that happened to me, I'd fight it. I'd try so hard to go back to sleep. And you know how it is when you put a lot of effort into an activity--no way do you then drift into peaceful slumber.

So enough with the trying. I have a fresh, new approach. I surrender to my insomnia. I go with the flow. I mean, if I'm going to be awake anyway, me and my mind are going to have a good time.

Thus, as I lie there, eyes staring wide, I ponder the mysteries of the universe. I fix every plot hole in my Work In Progress. I rehearse acceptance speeches for awards I've yet to win. I rewrite the endings of movies that didn't quite work for me. I let my insomnia have its way with me. I lie back and enjoy it.

Sometimes, after an hour or two of insomni-mania, I just fade back to sleep with a self-satisfied smirk on my face, having won the RITA at last and also found a way to end world hunger.

Last night? Not so much. I was awake for three hours, at least, when I should have been sleeping. So today, I've got a million things I want to accomplish and I'm starting out tired.

But it's all right. I did so much last night, after all, when the rest of the world was off in dreamland. I can't exactly recall all the things I worked out in my mind, but I know I did...work them out. I know all the solutions will come to me. Maybe when I'm not so tired.


How about you? Get insomnia now and then? How do you deal with it?

Ralphie News

Got Ralphie?

Now available for your: Sony Ereader

And to download to your computer or palm pilot: Diesel eBooks

Also, it's now out at Audible.com so you can listen to it in drivetime.

Do check out the audio version. You can hear the prologue as a sample. Kind of fun...

Okay, back to bootcamp! You civilians, drop and give me twenty!

I think I could get into being a drill sergeant. Lots of shouting and giving orders. Oh, yeah. I could go for that. There are those near and dear to me who say I already am a drill sergeant.

It's enthusiasm, I tell them. I know what needs doing and I'm only too glad to share my knowledge with those I love. Mwahaha....

Off at Boot Camp....

That would be me at left. Oh, yeah.

This goddess is at PR Bootcamp for the next three weeks, so my blogging may be somewhat curtailed.

Plan to learn a lot and take my PR efforts to the next level.

Stay fit, everyone--and, er, Boo-yah!

Nothing Like an Old Headshot

Yeah, I confess. That's moi. Way back when. The years do go by, now, don't they?

I'm doing a blog entry for Orange County Romance Writers of America's blog, A Slice of Orange, giving "advice to my newbie self." So I dug up this old headshot so I can show, like ya know, me, then.

Ah, then...

Well, first let me tell you, my hair never looked like that in real life. I went to one of those glamour photo studios for that one and had the "instant makeover" before they took my picture. I actually kind of like the makeup job. But the hair involved a lot of teasing and spraying, neither of which are--or were--the true me. I would call that an error in judgment. I mean, why have a publicity photo of yourself wearing someone else's hair? Goes under the heading, Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, I guess.

As to the dress and the, er, faux pearls. Well, I loved that dress and those fake pearls went with it just dandy. The dress was kind of a mauvy-purple color. It was a wrap dress and the hem of it flowed and lifted in such a way that it resembled the petals of a flower. Shoulder pads for days--a fashion must at the time, trust me.

Yeah. The dress and fake pearls and makeup are fine. I could live with them. It's the hair that ruined that shot. Made it so I never wanted to use the picture and rarely did. And my publisher didn't seem to like it much, either. Before I got the "professional" headshot above, I had sent them a snapshot of myself taken on the sidewalk outside my tiny California bungalow. They liked the snapshot better and used it often. I don't think they once used the one with someone else's hair. In retrospect, I like the snapshot better, too. Can't find it in my overflowing "old photo" drawer, but I know it was from this series...



Okay, a little self-absorbed looking. But hey. I was self-absorbed. Still am. Surprise, surprise. On the plus side, the badly-cut hair is natural and I look like someone at least semi-real.

Ah, the old days. I don't miss them. I like me now. I've worked hard to be...me. Now. But I do look back on them with a certain dreamy-eyed fondness...