Last week I got my 7 books to judge for the Rita contest. For those of you who don’t have any idea what the Ritas are, they are like the Emmy awards for Romance writers. It’s a BIG deal to get nominated, final, and especially to win. I didn’t enter the contest because I didn’t have a print book released in time last year to enter, and as of yet RWA doesn’t have an erotica category. In any case, I kind of figured it was my “civic” duty to volunteer to judge because I really don’t do squat for RWA otherwise.

I wasn’t planning on getting the books the week before I left for my cruise, but hey, what’s a little more stress?

I wanted to be VERY objective about the books I got. I looked at the covers, the back cover blurbs, and did my best to ignore the author names on the books. I really feel that RWA should strip the books of any identifying clues so you judge the book on the writing, not on the reputation of the author.

Judging the books has been much harder than I thought.

Three of the books were category books that I generally wouldn’t read if given the choice. I had to focus on the craft of the writer, how they managed to draw me into the story , was it emotionally satisfying? Did I like the characters, could I root for them to succeed? It ain’t easy writing a category romance, you have lots of parameters to work around. Just because I didn’t like the category didn’t mean I could penalize the author for it.

I think being a teacher helped a lot. I can’t grade according to how much I like or dislike a student, so I used that same mindset for my Rita books.

It has been a very enlightening experience for me. I’m still a newbie author, I have HUGE insecurities about my writing abilities. I never volunteered to judge before because I didn’t feel that I was qualified to judge people so much farther along in their careers. Although I’m by no means an expert, I am a HUGE reader so I can honestly say I did my best to judge the books on both their evidence of craft and on reader appeal.

I’m just glad there are other folks reading the books too. I’d love to know how my scores compared to other people’s scores. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.

For all of you who entered the Rita who may or may not be reading this blog, kudos to you! It takes a lot of moxie to put yourself on the line like that and I congratulate every one of you for having the guts to do it.

Maybe someday I’ll find the same nerve and enter myself. . .
or maybe not!

It is 7:09 in the morning and I’m wide awake. I’ve been up since at least 5:00, fighting to go back to sleep. My girls don’t have school today which means I could sleep in, but NOOOOOOOOOO I’m completely awake. I’ve started a load of laundry, fed the cat, fed the dog, and did the left over dishes from last night.

Did I mention that everyone else is still sleeping? So here it is, 7:00 and I’m on the computer, typing quietly with only a muted desk lamp on to keep me from going blind. My youngest daughter–part of the reason I’m up so darn early–is asleep on the couch behind me so I can’t do too much more without waking her up.

The internet is indeed the savior of insomniacs. . .

Oh, I want to shout out a HUGE THANK YOU to Cheyenne McCray for her AWESOMENESS!!! If anyone besides me reads the comments section you’ll notice Chey pops in quite regularly. This woman is so busy she makes me look like a slacker. She is also one of the most genuinely nice people I’ve ever met. She took time out of her damn busy schedule to read my book BEHIND THE ENCHANTED DOOR that comes out on Wednesday and give me an advanced quote. I can’t tell you how much that means to a newbie like myself.

In the great sea of books out there, consumers have millions of books to choose from so getting them to pick yours takes a lot of work. Hey, I understand that, money is hard to come by and why would you want to waste it on someone you don’t know? Lots of people know Cheyenne McCray, especially after her FABULOUS book FORBIDDEN MAGIC came out. That sucker is HOT! And I’m not just talking about the sex scenes. I read that book in one sitting and wanted MORE MORE MORE. (Luckily there’s a sequel coming out! Yay!)
Sorry, went off on a tangent there. . . Anyway, the point I’m trying to make in my little sleep deprived way is that I appreciate the help of the authors who have gone before me and paved the way for my success. I really, really hope that as I grow as an author I too can help others.

THANKS CHEY!