RITA reading with Ruby

I have been sent books to read and judge for the Romance Writers of America   Awards.  I have a selection of different romance genres  and authors. some I know of already, some that are new to me.

I finished one of the books last night. I'm not allowed to say which book or which author  or what I thought of it - but I can tell you that Ruby the cat thought it was a book she really   could get her teeth into.

And this is only the outside back cover.

She really enjoyed the rest of the novel!

Missing . . .

Well  that was a hectic couple of weeks.  I  was travelling here there and everywhere and giving talks, running courses . ..  In the end something had to go  and this blog had to be it.   I just couldn't keep up.

But now I'm back - for a few days - heading for another talk in Bridlington library on Friday -  so I'll try to catch up. A bit.

But while I sort through a  ton of laundry, a zillion emails, innumerable answer machine messages, here's a bit to keep you reading.

As you know I was at the Romantic Novelists'  Association conference in Penrith   which is where I gave a talk on putting Emotion into your writing. There are a couple of reports of tbhis that you can find:

Here on the RNA blog where with other speakers I talk about  the 'behind the scenes' of my talk.
and

Here in the Conference reports on the same site - there are reports of other talks too if you are interested.

Now I have a date with a washing machine . . .again!

Oh  - but I can't finish without sending huge  congratulations to the brilliant Sarah Morgan who won  the Short Contemporary RITA award at the Romance Writers' of America conference this weekend with her  fabulous Modern Romance/Harlequin Presents title  Doukakis's Apprentice. 

Congratulations Sarah!

RITAs

Yesterday the Romance Writers of America announced the line-up of finalists in all the categories for the RITA and Golden Heart awards for 2010.

I was thrilled to see that M&B Modern/Harlequin Presents authors were well representedin the Contemporary Series Romance Category, with nominations for:

The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas (November 2009)
One-Night Mistress…Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister (November 2009)

Duty, Desire, and the Desert King by Jane Porter (December 2009)

Kelly Hunter, whose books are published as Modern Heat was also nominated for her title Revealed: a Prince and a Pregnancy

There are several other M&B published authors on the list - for example

Michelle Willingham with Taming Her Irish Warrior in the Historical category

and

Elizabeth Rolls for Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride in the Regency Historical category.

Many congratulations to all the nominees - but I'm sure no one will be surprised if I save some very special cheers and congratulations for my dear friend and wonderful write Anne McAllister whose nominated book was the prize in our joint Here Come the Grooms Contest just a few weeks ago. Congratulations, Anne (and Christo!) !

You can read the full list of the finalists here.

The winners will be announced at the RWA National Conference in Nashville in July.

RITA Nominees

Yesterday was the day that the finalists in the RWA's RITA contest were notified - always an exciting day in the romance writing world. And I was specially thrilled to discover that three of my friends were nominated in the Short Contemporary Category for the Rita this year.

Two were Harlequin Romances - Both Jessica Hart and Barbara Hannay are former winners in the Traditional Category. And there was Medical from Lilian Darcy in the line-up, too

But if I'm allowed to be a little bit partial, my special cheer was for Anne McAllister. It's no secret to anyone who reads this blog that Anne is a very special friend of mine, and so I was thrilled to see one of her fabulous Antonides books on the list too. A book that you'll remember from the Here Come the Grooms Contest way back in January.

Antonides' Forbidden Wife was Anne's book in the now traditional contest that she, Liz Fielding and I have run for the past 3 years. I said then that it was a really good book and I'm so happy to learn that the RITA judges agreed with me.

I wrote about this book on January 20th - and I think I might as well copy here what I said then - so I can then say -'Can I pick 'em?' And also because it says something important about writing romance - whichever line you're aiming for.

. . . And what I had planned was to write about the book I've just been reading - and enjoying. And that's Anne McAllister's contribution to the Here Come The Grooms Contest, Antonides' Forbidden Wife.

Lovely book. I really enjoyed this one - an Anne McAllister classic. I'd say it was a keeper but then all of Anne's books are keepers for me. In much the same way that she's a keeper as a friend. But the best thing about this book is the important lessons that it has for would be writers.

Let me go back a couple of steps. I recently had an interesting conversation on a separate loop with some not yet published authors who were discussing the way of writing for Presents. And some of these writers had, as many of the would-be Modern/Presents writers I talk to have - strong opinions on what a Presents novel 'should be. As many of you know, I read for the Romantic Novelists' Association's New Writers' Scheme (have I got all those apostrophes in the right place? I hope so). Anyway, many of those writers too have the very definite opinions on what a Modern Romance writer should write. They tend to be fixated on the wham bang impact of the novels - and I do NOT just mean sex here - they look at title buzzwords like revenge and forced and blackmail and unwilling and focus on the flash and anger and explosions of some of the stories. And the sex.

But the whole point about a romance is that it is about the emotional journey. It's the story of two people finding each other - and finding themselves along the way. And the word is EMOTION. Not revenge. Not anger. Not sex. Not even passion - unless as a passion. One of many passions. The range of Modern Romance - of all romance - is (and in the cases where it's not, it definitely should be) bigger and wider than the 'angry' emotions and the melodramatic moments that sometimes seem to dominate the stories - they certainly seem to dominate the stories that I get to read and critique.

Melodrama isn't emotion. Passion - sexual passion - isn't an emotion. It's what that creates or what the passion creates that is the emotion. The things, the responses it triggers off inside the mind of the hero or heroine. An alpha hero - we've been here before - isn't a bad, cruel, hard wicked man who has to be 'redeemed' by the discovery of love. He is a strong, powerful, hard, man who is sometimes driven by circumstances, by mistakes, by events, to make the wrong judgements and maybe even be cruel as a result. But he is above all a man of honour. A man who is capable of love (even if, like Santos in Cordero's Forced Bride, he doesn't actually believe it himself). He just needs to learn the way to get past the obstacles that keep him from recognising/believing in/expressing the love that is already there in him.

On Michelle Styles' blog today, (that post was on January 20th too)she makes an interesting point about putting emotion into a novel:
It is the old 10 percent rule -- the vast majority of readers will only get 10 % of the emotion you put in the book.

It's my experience that the emotions most readers do get are of the flashing lighting and banging thunder sort. Sometimes these drown out the softer, deeper, gentler - but infinitely powerful emotions that are what really make a romance what it should be - a love story and a relationship story. An EMOTIONAL story.

Which is where, to come back to the point of this posting, I would want to say to would-be writers - read Anne McAllister. Because it's in those emotions that Anne's writing excels. She creates wonderful strong, powerful, loving human beings in her heroes in particular. She doesn't write much - if at all - about revenge or blackmail or anger - but the emotions her heroes feel are strong and deep and very very masculine, very alpha, all the same. She creates honourable, strong (that word again) emotional men who are in conflict with themselves often as much as with their heroines. And the emotional reasons why they can't come right out and declare their love are as deep and important and powerful as any other more dramatic events.

Because very often the thing that keeps them quiet and hold them back is love itself.

Antonides' Forbidden Wife is a perfect example of this. You might start off wondering why on earth PJ ever let the past happen - but as the story goes on you begin to see exactly why he did. Exactly what his motives were. And you see that, just as conflict or strength sometimes shows itself in the quiet, deeper things rather than the storming thunder and lightning, so too love can show itself in a deep moment of silence, of giving that is stronger than passion.

I wish more of the would-be writers of Presents would study Anne McAllister's books and see the reasons why she's published in Presents and what her characters and stories add to the lione. A little more of that and little less clash and anger would add a great deal more emotion - and as the editor once said -

There are three things that sell - emotion, emotion, emotion.

Thanks for a great read Anne.

And congratulations again on this special nomination. I'll be cheering you on in Washington.

Here's the full list of nominees

A Mother’s Wish by Karen Templeton

Harlequin Enterprises, Silhouette Special Edition (ISBN: 9780373249169)

Gail Chasan, editor

Adopted: Outback Baby by Barbara Hannay
Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin Romance (ISBN: 0-373-17526-4)
Meg Lewis, editor

Antonides’ Forbidden Wife by Anne McAllister

Harlequin Enterprises, Mills and Boon Modern (ISBN: 978-0-263-86478-6)

Jenny Hutton, editor

Falling for the Lone Wolf by Crystal Green

Harlequin Enterprises, Silhouette Special Edition (ISBN: 978-0-373-24932-9)

Susan Litman, editor

Last-Minute Proposal by Jessica Hart

Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin Romance (ISBN: 13-978-0-373-17544-4)

Maddie Rowe, editor

Texas Heir by Linda Warren

Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin American Romance (ISBN: 978-0-373-75230-0)

Kathleen Scheibling, editor

The Children’s Doctor and the Single Mum by Lilian Darcy
Harlequin Enterprises, Medical Romance (ISBN: 0-373-71454-8)

Bryony Green, editor

The Cowboy’s Christmas Miracle by RaeAnne Thayne

Harlequin Enterprises, Silhouette Special Edition (ISBN: 0-373-24933-0)

Gail Chasan, editor

The Right Mr. Wrong by Cindi Myers

Harlequin Enterprises, Harlequin American Romance (ISBN: 0373752032)

Wanda Ottewell, editor

For the rest of this year's nominations, go to the RWA site here

Congratulations to all the nominees

79,999 and counting

When I checked my blog this morning the total of visitors was 79,999 - that's quite some total! Those are visitors from 129 differrent countries. And it made me think how fantastic it is to be able to chat with so many people from so many places and know that you're all out there, reading this and, hopefully reading my books too.

So I just wanted to say a special thank you to you all for being there. I wish I could know just who would be visitor 80,000 but it doesn't really matter. You're all important!

Today I'm still fighting my recalcitrant Spaniard but I'm hoping that the end is in sight. So I'm not staying around long - but I do want to have a small celebration of a friend's good news.

A couple of times on this blog I've mentioned a fabulous writer - and a lovely friend - Natasha Oakley. Last year was not a fun year for Natasha, fate seemed to have decided to throw everything it could at her, and how. It was a year I'm sure she wants to forget.

But luckily 2008 has been a better one so far and yesterday she had some fabulous news. She learned that her book The Tycoon's Princess Bride is a finalist in the Contemporary Series Category in the RITA awards contest run by the Romance Writers of America.

And quite frankly I'm not surprised. I read this book when it first came out and I loved it. It has Natasha's trademark deep emotion, believable, sympathetic characters, great dialogue and that extra special tug-at -the -heartstrings touch she has in every book. I blogged about this book when I read it, I was so impressed by it. I'm thrilled by the book's success and so happy for Natasha that she's getting the reputation she deserves.

And I'm extra specially happy because right at the beginning of her career, before she was ever published, I had a tiny part in helping her along the road towards that success. When she submitted a book to the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme, back in 2001, I was the reader who was sent that manuscript to read. ( I blogged about this when Natasha was one of the authors whose books were in my Christmas Stocking contest in 2006.) And I'm proud to be able to say that I spotted the strong potential in her writing then. It's a wonderful feeling to have been there at the beginning for someone and to see them grow and flower in this fabulous way.

CONGRATULATIONS Natasha! Many, many of them.

A Kate Bit - RITAs , Readers and Rejoicing

First and most important - the RWA's RITA Awards were announced in Dallas last night. Congratulations to all the winners but specially to HMB's own Barbara Hannay for her win in Best Traditional Romance.

Congratulations Barbara!

If you want to know the rest of the results, take yourself over to the Pink Heart Society blog where Trish and Jenna have all the news for you.

Readers - I have had so many wonderful messages from readers since I started celebrating the 50th and I want to thank every one of you who have written to me. I can;t quote them all but as an example, this morning I received a wonderful letter from Eva - a reader who has been with me for a long time. I can't quite remember when I first had a note from Eva, but I know she was one of the very first to sign up for my newsletter. Eva won a prize in the Romance Junkies celebration and here's what she had to say:

Thanks very much for letting us share your special celebration.

And I have to tell you Kate, your 50th is a 50 carat gem! I absolutely loved Vito and Emily and could not put down the book until the end, and of course the same is true for Guido and Amber!

Here's to your 100th! :)

I've been smiling ever since I read that. It's messages like this that make my day. Knowing that I've connected with my readers and given them a book that they really enjoy - that's my personal RITA award. Thank you so much Eva - I'm thrilled that you enjoyed The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge - and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.

And Rejoicing -

Well, that's the blog party itself - it has been bigger and brighter and more of a success than I could ever have dreamed. And for that I must thank all of the wonderful authors and friends who have given their time to write blogs, to come in and chat - and given away their prizes too.

In the comments section on Wednesday, Lidia said -

I can't believe that we are still partying here.

And in another note I receieved from Dena, Liz Fielding's Winner from Thursday July 5th, she wrote :

Your big party celebration is so much fun. It's been a lot of fun reading all the guest blogs along with your own. This is the best party ever given by any writer ever!

Lidia and Dena - I'm so happy that you're enjoying the party and believe me it's not over yet! Yesterday I was checking out the blogs I've received and still have to post up here - and the party is going to keep on going for at least another two weeks. If I'm lucky we will actually make the total I aimed for of 50 Guest Bloggers.

And there are still some of the really big names in Romance writing and in Romantic Fiction in general. - So keep coming back - and see who is yet to post!

And while I'm talking about rejoicing - I forgot to mention that yesterday was the Babe Magnet and my 34th wedding anniversary . (I was a child bride - honest!) So Happy HappyAnniversary Babe Magnet - here's to many more.