I’ve been keeping my head down recently and trying to make less of meal of this current book than I did with the last one.  I was actually sitting here yesterday thinking I ought to update the blog but really had nothing to say as it’s just been tap, tap, tap at the keyboard, but just as I was girding my loins to embark on Chapter 7 this afternoon, the phone rang and a really lovely voice from Houston told me that Last-Minute Proposal had been short-listed for a RITA in the Contemporary Series category.  So now I’ve got no excuse not to update the blog!

I’m obviously really thrilled, and particularly because Last-Minute Proposal was my 50th book, and  special to me for lots of reasons.   

The last time I had a call from the RWA it to say that Christmas Eve Marriage had been short-listed for a Traditional RITA in 2005.  I’d only joined the RWA the year before and had no idea really what it all meant.  So ignorant was I that I misheard the nice lady (my hearing isn’t brilliant at the best of times and soft American accents are tricky for me) and carefully wrote ‘Reader finalist’ on the envelope when I sent off another five books for the final round, thinking it was for another contest entirely that I’d somehow ended up in.  Duh! 

It was only when Christmas Eve Marriage won that year that I realised quite what a big deal it was so this time am much more excited. Having judged the first round of the RITAs for a couple of years, too, I can see how much more difficult it is to get through to the final round.  So all in all, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself this afternoon, and delighted to have some good news after a spell when everything else seems to be going wrong. 

And as well as congratulating myself, I’d like to send special congratulations to Barbara Hannay, who is also on the short-list in the Contemporary Series category with her book (I gather through the jungle drums) Adopted: Outback Baby.  This was one of the books we talked about when we did a workshop on emotional tension in San Francisco last year with Barbara McMahon so it feels like an old friend.  Neither of the Barbaras had read Last-Minute Proposal, as it wasn’t out until November, but in the workshop they asked me questions about the characters and plot to demonstrate how both are used to create emotional tension in a romance.  That session seems to have been a lucky one for both of us!