Congratulations!

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Bron

Huge congratulations to all the Romance Writers of America RITA and Golden Heart Award finalists, announced yesterday.

A special shout-out and extra WOOO-HOOO to the Down-Under contingent:
In the RITAs: Lilian Darcy, andBarbara Hannay in the Contemporary Series Romance category; Christine Wells in Regency Historical Romance; the amazing Stephanie Laurens finalling three times in different categories; and NZ’s Nalini Singh in the Paranormal Romance section. And in the Golden Heart, the contest for unpublished manuscripts, Vanessa Barneveld has finaled in the Young Adult category.

I think it’s fantastic that, despite our relatively small population, Australian (and NZ!) authors continue to do so well in these awards – the major international awards for the genre.

The RITA and Golden Heart winners will be announced at a gala event at the conclusion of the Romance Writers of America national conference in Washington, DC, in July.

I’ll be cheering on the Aussies in spirit at least, if not in person. I’m not sure just yet whether I’m going to DC or not this year – since my workshop proposal wasn’t accepted, and since As Darkness Falls didn’t make it to the RITA finals, I’ll need to decide whether I want to spend several thousand dollars to go to the conference. Okay, I do want to – no doubt about that – but I’ll have to work out whether that’s best use of the funds at this point, and whether it’s the most important thing to fit into an already busy year. I’m definitely going to the Australian conference in Brisbane in August, though!

Posted in Romance genre | 5 Comments

Updating

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Bron

I’ve just spent a few hours updating the web site a little – installing the new version of WordPress, revising the website home page, adding a separate page for each book, and (therefore) revising the ‘Books’ page. I’ve still got a little tweaking to do, but hopefully won’t crash the whole lot!

In the meantime, if you see any broken links or there’s something that doesn’t work (or which you think is crap), please let me know.

When I’ve got all this sorted out, there’s going to be a new contest – so stay tuned in the next few days!

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Confessions of a Bookaholic

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Bron

One of the problems with being flat-out busy for the last three months or so, is that I haven’t done much reading. And one of the ‘problems’ about spending time on reading blogs and communities is that you hear about so many good books – books that are easy to either buy online, or pick up in the local bookshop. And one of the ‘problems’ of going to conferences is that you get free books.

This is the result – my TBR piles and shelves:

TBR shelf 1

TBR shelf 1

TBR shelf 2

TBR shelf 2

TBR shelf 3

TBR shelf 4

TBR shelf 4

What you can’t see, in those photos, is the pile of books behind the pile on shelf 2. Or the five or so books sent home from ARRC last month that are still in my car. And we won’t talk about the box of old Mills and Boons (acquired for thesis research) that have been in the boot of my car for months, or the stacks of them behind the stacks of read books on the bookshelves.

Now, I know I’m not as bad addicted dedicated to reading and books as some people. However, I did a count last night, and there’s about 105 books (not counting the M&Bs) that are waiting to be read.

I’m definitely going to have to make time to curl up and read some more 🙂 Oh, and maybe not buy any many books for a while!

Posted in General, Life | 4 Comments

Little Lizard

Posted on March 14, 2009 by Bron

This lizard lives around the rocks and timber that have been in the garden awaiting use in the landscaping we plan to do – this year! (We’ve only been in this house for eight years…..)

It’s a great lizard playground, and I see her/him often, but rarely when I have a camera handy. Today s/he posed quite nicely for a minute or so – keeping a wary eye on me – before dashing away. I love it’s colouring, and the way it blends with the rocks and the lichen.

Lizard

Lizard

(And aren’t those toes just gorgeous?)

Posted in Landscape, Photos | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Second edition

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Bron

My first copy of the B-format paperback of As Darkness Falls arrived a day or so ago. It’s beautiful! Here are the two editions side by side, the trade pb and the B format:

The B format will be out on the shelves in April, so I’m looking forward to seeing it out and about! It’s quite a thrill having a second edition 🙂

The revisions for Dark Country are now finished, and in to Bernadette, my wonderful publisher, so now there’s just the copy edits to go in a few weeks, and the final proofs after that. I haven’t started writing book 3 yet, but I’m definitely thinking about it, and hope to start it soon.

After all the rush of the past couple of months – finishing the book, uni work, and the revisions, the worst of the pressure is now off. I’ve still got a fair amount of work to do for the uni course I’m teaching, but it’s doable. So, tomorrow, I’m planning to have a holiday! I’m going to do some weaving, and some knitting, and maybe read a book or watch a movie, or both. I might do a little tidying up, but I’m not going to stress about anything – the focus will be on relaxing and enjoying some fun activities. I think I can remember how 🙂

Posted in Book news, Life | 3 Comments