01.26.09
‘Tis the Season
The contest season, that is. For romance novels published in 2008, the time is now (or even a bit past), to be entering the contests sponsored by local Romance Writers of America chapters. Since Wedding Belle Blues was published in January 2008, it is eligible for contests which allow electronically published books, and I have entered it in three: The HOLT from the Virginia Romance Writers; the National Readers’ Choice Award from the Oklahoma RWA; and More than Magic from Romance Writers Ink, again in OK. I won the HOLT for Short Contemporary with A Suite Deal in 2003, so I’ve a bit of excitement over that one.
These are reader-judged contests. What a wonderful way to get your work in front of the romance-loving public.
The Grandmother of the contests is the RITA, sponsored by the RWA and judged by its published members. I was a finalist in the non-published contest, the Golden Heart, in 1997 for what became Lyla’s Song. I didn’t win, but it made the RWA conference in Orlando much more exciting that July.
I’ll keep you posted.