So...

I didn't win the Valerie Parv Award. Piqued at the post by Kylie Short who came first AND third and my lovely CP Melissa Smith who came second.

Congrats to both of you!!! I came fourth btw (out of six), which is the same I came in this same contest in 2007! I'm determined to climb that ladder next year :)

Also want to shout a HUGE congrats to my lovely CP Becca J Heath for coming a BRILLIANT second in the RWA Emerald (full mss) Award. Both of us are eagerly awaiting the final judges comments.

Thanks to everyone who left me good luck wishes!!

Tonight's the night...

I'm in the mood!! Mood for drinking wine and hanging out on email/Twitter to follow the Romance Writers of Australia Awards night.

I'm up for the Valerie Parv Award (of which the prize is a year's mentorship with bestselling author of romance, STs and how-to craft books) and one of my dear writing buddies Bec is up for the Emerald (which is a full manuscript contest).

I kinda feel like I've been nominated for a Logie or an Oscar and can't be there to almost wet my pants with fear/nerves/excitment as I await the annoucement. The competition is VERY tough and I may not even place (there are six finalists) but hey, I'm stoked whatever happens cos the mss that finalled is close to my heart!!!

So... what are you doing tonight?

GOOD LUCK Bec!! And good luck to my other CP Melissa Smith, who although not in blogland is also a contender for the VPA. If I don't win... she better :)

Remember me?

Yep - I've been slightly absent in blogland this last couple of weeks. Been trying to force my current mss (OHHN) into submission.

A lovely writing buddy (Hi Cath) pointed out that although written in quite a lovely style, it had NIL conflict. That's right my lovelies... NADA, ZILCH, NOT A SINGLE SMIDGE of good reason why my gorgeous hero and his delightful leading lady shouldn't buy a house with a white picket fence and live happily ever after.

So I've been brainstorming ways to torture them a little more. I've hopefully given them pasts and present probs that make falling into love and HEA not quite a simple as boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy and they say 'I do.'

It's meant that I've done a lot of rewriting, adding and deleting. Gosh it's painful when the wordcount goes up and then rapidly down again, but I'm sure it'll mean a stronger mss in the long run.

In the meantime... I'm still WAITING to hear from M&B about the partial I sent in May! I'm at the stage, where I sort of wouldn't mind an R cos at least I'd know where I stand. I thought being able to send straight to an editor's desk would mean the process was quicker - but apparently that's a fantasy. Oh well... I've started thinking about my Maverick and his Christmas Fairy's conflict so that I can enter the new contest if I still haven't heard on my partial by then!!

Right... thanks for listening to my rambles. Hope you are all well and happy and that next time I'll either have meatier news or an interesting craft thing to discuss!

For all those off to the Aussie conf this weekend - have a BLAST! Am sooooooooooo jealous I won't be there. Especially since I'm up for an Award Sat night. Who wants to drink cyber wine with me and hang out on Twitter to see how I go?!

Contemplating Naughty Naughty Things...

So it appears I have a voice suited to Modern Heat but I haven't yet cracked the whole character-driven-plot-emotional-conflict thing.

So... I'm contemplating ditching both the current wips and starting on a new story for the iheartpresents contest. I'm doing a 5k challenge next week with the lovely ladies I did a Bootcamp with earlier this year *waving to those of you who read this* and I'm contemplating the idea of writing something totally new!!

So far.. I've got:

*Christmas Eve

*A Maverick Self-Made Millionairre

*Santa's Little Helper

*And a broken down Voltswagon Beetle!!!

It's not much... but it's a start!

NB. I AM thinking about their conflicts too!! And I plan to make the Maverick and the Elf have LOADS of internal stuff going on!

I placed BUT...

Well... the fabulous news is that I came third in the RWNZ Great Beginnings contest. The finalists were judged by Kimberley Young of M&B and she gave me some comments on my first chap and synopsis.

Overall she said they loved my voice but I need to be careful of forcing humour; the hero is strong and the heroine's emotional conflicts progress well BUT there could be MORE between them AND although they loved the set-up (a road-trip) part of the conflict feels plot-driven and is therefore CONTRIVED!!!

ARGH!!! Can you hear me screaming?

I have two things bothering me now a) what the hell does contrived mean exactly, cos I've read so many category romances that are fabulous but seem far more contrived than mine and b) if the mss wasn't requested from the contest, what chance have I got that the full of the partial (currently with the editor working with me) will be requested.

So... while I'm pondering what moves I should make next with regards to rewrites, totally new stories or just waiting it out to see what happens, I'd love to hear your opinion on what exactly a contrived plot is!! Any ideas...

Recharge, Re-coup and eEditors!

After a crazy couple of weeks, I needed a few days down time before throwing myself back into writing. Funny that the downtime actually included catching up on housework and washing (although I'll never completely catch up me thinks) but doing so made me feel better and put me in a better zone to get back into writing. I also read a bit and critted chapters of my friends and CPs.

Now I'm slowly easing myself back into writing OHHN and hope to have it finished by the end of August... that's unless I hear from M&B about the partial I subbed to them earlier in the year.

I finally emailed the eEditor address to find out what's going on with this partial, so hopefully I'll hear something soon. Best case scenario would be a full request - so fingers crossed please!

Will keep you updated...

A minor epiphany!

While reading Kandy Shepherd's debut book 'Love is a Four-Legged Word' yesterday, I had a minor epiphany about writing romance.

There's always so much focus (in blogs, workshops, editor interviews, etc) on making sure there's something MAJOR and IMPORTANT keeping the hero and heroine apart (INTERNAL CONFLICT)!! This seems to be the reason many wannabee authors (including myself) get rejected on mss, which are otherwise considered quite noice, so it's right we focus on such things. But... I sometimes wonder if in the HUGE strive to achieve the perfect internal conflicts between our lovely characters, we forget that there needs to be a MAJOR reason, if not reasons, why they should be together as well.

In Kandy's book, the hero and heroine get chatting (at a funeral as it happens) about their love for animated Disney films. Not only does this show they have something in common but it gives the heroine insight into the hero's more 'human' side and she begins to fall for more than his stunningly sexy good looks. I'm only at the beginning of this book and so I'm sure there's many more reasons why the hero and heroine go so well together, but it made me think about my own wips and wonder if I've given good reasons why my h&Hs are PERFECT and therefore will make the reader root for their HEA!

In my 'Feel The Heat' entry, Matt and Libby are instantly attracted to each other but quite aside from the physical, Matt likes Libby's gumption and attitude and Libby likes Matt's humour and passion for his cars. Yet... in terms of what they've got in common, I can't think of anything concrete. They both have issues with their parents, but is that enough? Me thinks not.

In my current MH wip, Sebastian and Martha find each other attractive immediately but have pre-conceptions about deeper issues of personality that stop them acting on this attraction. So far the only thing I can think of that they have in common is their love for younger siblings and the fact they both work with their hands. Is this enough? Somehow... I think I have to work on more!

So... I'm now gonna think about WHY my hero and heroines should be together as much as why they shouldn't. Hopefully... this helps bring my mss' up to publication standard.

Would love to hear your thoughts...