Getting a RITA

I posted this in the comments trail, and then decided I would make it a post of its own. Because getting prizes is part of writing, and anyone who decides to be a writer should be prepared for What Happens in the Writing Life.

The RITA ceremony has about 3000 people there in a grand ballroom,
all of them sitting in rows and rows of chairs and looking down at this little stage in the far distance.

(How do they get 3000 people to come do this without giving them food? Though they give them food afterwards, of course.
But still ... would YOU come to hear thirty people get up on stage one after another to somewhat incoherently thank their editors and agents and families and stare like deer caught in the headlights?)

Since nobody can see the stage
the helpful technicians at RWA have set up huuuuuuge TV screens. Those puppies must be 40 feet high.

They show every pore on the faces of the RITA winners, (or Golden Heart winners,) when they get up to speak.
This is reality TV.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHH.

I do not say I would rather face a firing squad, because, of course, I would not.

I think.

But anyhow ... there I was and I had just found out I was NOT going to get a RITA for Spymaster's Lady, having lost out to the excellent and wonderful Pam Rosenthal whose work impresses me so much it is almost not like losing at all to lose to her ...
(though not quite,)
and I am now relieved because the ordeal is over and I am not going to have to mount the scaffold ...
ah ... podium ...
and can now relax,
and they say My Lord and Spymaster.

So I drop my glasses, without which I cannot see.
Anything.

And I drop my very short speech, which I have written in Big Letters on a piece of paper,
and which consisted of only five people to thank,
not because I am stingy but because I didn't think I was going to be able to say anything at all.

So they are gone somewhere in the darkness below my chair.
And I have to walk up on stage and make that set of acks.

I do not actually remember much that happened after this point. It was so horrible my mind has repressed it.

I do not AT ALL remember standing there and staring out at THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE and saying the right words, but I have been assured by people who wish me well that I did just that and that I did not make a fool of myself.

This is good.
This is very good.

I understand they played the theme from James Bond for the 'walkup'.
No memory of this.

So, anyhow, getting the RITA is like being beaten with long, flexible bamboo poles and at the same time being tossed in a blanket while someone plays La Traviata in your ear on a penny whistle. When you come to the other side you have this beautiful little gold statue sitting on the floor in front of your feet and you are sitting down again.

I am going to put the RITA on the shelf over my desk.

It's heavy, and the gold quill the lady holds is fragile. It would still be suitable for knocking burglars over the head with.

The RITA in the photos is not my RITA. It is the RITA of Jennifer Ashley who is here and who just wrote The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. Go. Read it.

I WON!

I won the RITA for Best Regency Romance of 2009.

A Spanish Excerpt from Spymaster's Lady

The first chapter of Spymaster's Lady in Spanish can be found here..


Desarmado por un baile
Joanna Bourne
Editorial : Valery
Precio: 16,95€….

You can order it here.

Por supuesto, ella estaba dispuesta a morir, pero no
había planeado hacerlo tan pronto o de un modo tan incómodo,
y que llevase tanto tiempo, o que lo haría en manos
de un compatriota.

Se desplomó contra la pared, que era de piedra y muy
sólida, como suelen ser los muros de las cárceles.

—No tengo los planes. Nunca los he tenido.

—Soy un hombre de poca paciencia. ¿Dónde están
los planes?

—Yo no los tengo…

El bofetón llegó sin previo aviso. Durante un instante,
sintió que estaba a punto de caer inconsciente, pero luego se
recuperó, en la oscuridad, dolorida y con Leblanc.

—Te lo has ganado —Él tocó su mejilla, en el punto
donde la había golpeado y la obligó a mirarlo. Lo hizo con delicadeza.
Tenía mucha práctica en hacer daño a las mujeres—.

Continuemos. Esta vez tendrás más ganas de ayudar.

—Por favor, lo estoy intentando.

—Me dirás dónde has escondido los planes, Annique.

—No son más que un sueño de locos, esos planes
Albión. Una quimera. Nunca los he visto —Incluso mientras lo
decía, podía visualizar claramente los planes Albión en su mente.
Había tenido en sus manos las múltiples páginas, los bordes
manoseados, los mapas cubiertos de manchas y huellas dactila-
res, las listas escritas en letra pequeña y cuidada. «No voy a
pensar en esto. Si lo recuerdo, lo verá en mi rostro».


. . . and the rest of the chapter follows on the link above.

Book Covers . . .

. . . just saying.

Book Signing -- Washington DC, July 15

I will be at the RWA Literacy Signing
in Washington , D.C.
on July 15,
Wednesday,
from 5:30 to 7:30,
at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
That is right next to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro.

The Literacy Signing is a wonderful cause.
Publishers donate their books to sell for the support of literacy programs.

My books are donated by Berkley Sensation/Penguin.


This year, the money goes to support ProLiteracy Worldwide.
Their website is here.

Some of the writers signing their latest books --

Shana Abe
Ann Aguirre
Victoria Alexander
Jo Beverley
Mary Blayney
Stephanie Bond
Celeste Bradley
Anna Campbell
Nicola Cornick
Jenny Crusie
Victoria Dahl
Claudia Dain
Jacquie D'Alessandro
Tessa Dare
Meredith Duran
Suzanne Enoch

Gaelen Foley
Susan Gable
Jenny Gardiner
Anne Gracie
Laura Lee Guhrke
Linda Howard
Elizabeth Hoyt
Madeline Hunter
Eloisa James
Sabrina Jeffries
Carolyn Jewel
Jayne Ann Krentz
Susan Krinard
Gennita Low
Donna MacMeans
Delilah Marvelle
Cathy Maxwell
Brenda Novak
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Andrea Pickens
Mary Jo Putney
Julia Quinn
Deanna Raybourn
Patricia Rice
Nora Roberts
Pam Rosenthal
Anne Stuart
Sherry Thomas
J.R. Ward
Christine Wells
Lauren Willig
C.L. Wilson

That's only a few of them. .
(Print the list out. Drop by those wonderful authors.)

The whole list is here.

If you have my books, come by anyway and say hello.
I will give you a bookplate for the books you already own, that I haven't signed.
Here's two of the bookplates in this post.

They're really pretty in person.

Oh. Oh. That second picture there. The girl. That's what Maggie looks like.

EDITED TO ADD: This is me at the booksigning.

RITA: The Interview

I'm getting more and more excited about the upcoming RWA National Conference.

The RITA awards.
I'm nominated.

Did I mention that?
(. . .more than about fifty thousand times?)

I did an interview on getting nominated for the RITA a while back, for my local chapter of RWA.
I'm reprinting it here, which is quick to do and will not prevent me from a hard morning of work on the manuscript of MAGGIE.

Leah: So. Why did you enter the contest?

Jo: The RITA? Oh, the RITA is the big time for all of us. I think every Romance writer dreams of entering the RITA.

Leah: What do you hope to achieve from being named a finalist and possible winner?

Jo: RITA finalists seem to get a good bit of publicity at the National Conference. Some folks, when they're looking for a good read, leaf through the RITA Finalists.

I've seen it on book covers -- 'RITA Finalist'. I gotta tell you, that looks good. Not as good as 'New York Times Bestseller' --- but pretty good.

Leah: Did you celebrate the notification of being a finalist in any particular way?

Jo: My husband took me out to lunch. A place with tablecloths.

It's sort of a funny story. I got an e-mail telling me about the RITA nomination for Spymaster's Lady in the morning.

"Oh, yipeee!!!" yips I, bouncing about the room.

I will admit, I spent a moment regretting not getting the nom for My Lord and Spymaster, which is a book dear to my heart and nobody likes it as much as Spymaster's Lady and I feel protective.

But I said to myself, "Do not be greedy," and I did not repine.

Then we came back from lunch and I opened up the e-mail and there was the nom for My Lord and Spymaster.

I was knocked over and amazed and excited by the first nom. You can imagine how I felt about getting two.

My agent sent me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. Oh my. Lovely.

Leah: What are your impressions of the competition? How does it differ from other contests you've entered (in terms of process, format)?

Jo: I don't think I've entered any other RWA Contests. I'm not much of a contest person, generally.
Entering the RITA isn't terribly complicated. You fill out a form online. That's straightforward.
The publisher was kind enough to send the books and pay the entry fee for me, so that part was dead easy.

When the Finalist nomination comes in, there's a flurry and a deadline and it all takes you by surprise. You have to get yet more books to RWA in Texas -- again, the publisher does that for you.

And you have to supply a publicity photo, (which I didn't have. I had my picture taken. This is an utterly daunting process,) and you have to dig up the 300 dpi files of your cover which have winkled themselves into a back corner of the computer.
This all has to be done in a mad rush.

You also have to buy a fancy dress, unless you are one of those folks who has a long black formal dress hanging in her closet at all times. There's another daunting prospect. Buying clothes.

Then all is serene sailing till you get to the National Conference. There, mysteries are performed and secret rites are held of which I know nothing. One may be sworn to secrecy at some point.

Leah: Will you be attending Nationals in D.C.? How will you celebrate if you are named winner?

Jo: I will be at National. There's a reception afterwards which is pretty celebratory. I'll be going to it to congratulate people in any case.