By Anna CampbellI've had a very exciting month and to cap it all off, I found out at the end of March that both of my books finaled in the RITA Award Best Regency Historical Romance category. The RITAs are like the romance Oscars and they're awarded every year by Romance Writers of America at a huge and very glamorous ceremony that marks the end of RWA's annual conference, which this year is in San Francisco.
Of course I'm going to be there and of course I haven't got a dress yet! When I was an unpublished author, I used to dream about one day maybe having a book in the running for a RITA - which was saying something as I had to cross the barrier to publication first and that seemed completely impossible at times! Now both CLAIMING THE COURTESAN and UNTOUCHED have been nominated. Pinch me! I don't believe it's real!
Congratulations and good luck to my fellow finalists and also to the unpublished writers who finaled in the Golden Heart, the world's most prestigious contest for unpublished romance manuscripts. You can find a complete list of RITA finalists here and a complete list of Golden Heart finalists here. I'm so looking forward to cheering for all these great writers in July!
This week, I got to celebrate the news with some local writer friends at the lovely Stamford Plaza Hotel right on the river in Brisbane. Here are a couple of photos. Photo one, me! Photo two clockwise from left: Allison Rushby, June Monks, Anna Campbell, Tina Clark, Amy Andrews, Rowena Cory Daniells, Sandy Curtis, Denise Rossetti.Apologies to all those people who tried to enter my Great Spring Cleaning Contest after my blog here last month. There was a hiccup (all my fault!) and details weren't yet up when I posted my piece on luck. The details are well and truly there now, so I hope you'll come over, answer a simple question and enter. It's a great prize this month - four signed books, Annie West's FOR THE SHEIKH'S PLEASURE, Marion Lennox's RESCUE AT CRADLE LAKE, Christine Wells's SCANDAL'S DAUGHTER and Stacey Kayne's BRIDE OF SHADOW CANYON. Good luck!
Have you had any wonderful news to celebrate lately? Let us know so we can celebrate with you!
24 comments:
Hi Anna
Yes it was a GREAT lunch - and thank you for letting us celebrate your RITA nominations with you - here is to many many more!!!
I don't have any significant good news to celebrate with you, other than I'm still healthy, got a great family and friends circle of support around me, and I'm able to do the thing I love doing in the world -continue to write - now that I think is worth celebrating... don't you?
Bye 4 now
Tina
Hi Anna,
Congrats on the nominations. No big news. We just found out that we don't owe that much in taxes, so that's something to celebrate. Tax time is usually very nerve-racking, so we'll be glad when we finally send in the tax forms, then I'll be able to enjoy the warm weather and read my books in the sunlight.
Tina, wasn't it a fun lunch? And isn't that a great venue, right on the river looking out of the cliffs at Kangaroo Point. I think what you're celebrating is well worth pointing out! I sometimes think we let the day to day stuff that supports us all the time rather than just on special occasions pass us by.
Jane, I hear you on the tax. I got good news this year too. It's my first year as a full-time writer and I didn't have a clue what I'd be up for! Believe me, that was DEFINITELY a celebration in my house!!! Thanks for the congrats!
Congrats Anna on the well deserved nominations+-.
My dd just read your books and while she said that while they were dark, and almost bordering on the gothic, she really enjoyed them and thought they were well written.
Congratulations, Anna! And how ab fab that you got to celebrate with your local writing mates. I can imagine that, with that group, a good time was had by all.
As for your question about celebrating -- last week I had my first city win as a racehorse owner. Still celebrating!
Bron
Hi Anna! Oh how I wish I could have joined you for lunch - I know- the invite got lost in the post, right? And you had a much nicer day than when we had lunch together in York and thought that the river might actually flood the tearooms if it rained any more.
So - first things first - many many congratulations on the RITA nominations - great news. Does this mean you'll be in San Francisco? See you there?!
Celebrations - I'm celebnrating right now as the first edition of my 12 Point Guide to Writng Romance sold out and they're publishing a 2nd edition this week - and I'm celebrating because. . . ooh, no. I'm not allowed to say just yet! I'll announce on my blog when I can
But congratulations once again. I have Untouched on my TBR pile - just need a little time to get to reading it.
Hope we'll get a chance to share lunch again soon
Kate
Hi Anna,
I just had to tell you congratulations. I had to order a copy of Claiming the Courtesan after I read one of the other authors on the blog bragging on it. I am awaiting my shipment from amazon now.
Hi Anna,
Congratulations on the RITA nominations. I hope you win at least one of those golden beauties! Your work deserves it.
My significant news is that I have finally lost 10 pounds...only 55 more to go. Hard work!
Congratulations, Anna!
Jasmine
http://www.skullybuzz.com
Big Congrats!!! Totally great news!
Me, ah. . .nothing going on here, which is arguably good because that means nothing bad's going on. . . but I am waiting for a package from Barnes and Noble with a few books. Guess to all of us here that's really big news. LOL :)
Lois
Hi Michelle! So glad your daughter enjoyed my books - I think they ARE gothics! It's certainly a strain of writing I find very appealing.
Hey, Bron, kewl bananas on the horse winning! That REALLY would be a thrill and I don't blame you for still celebrating. Congratulations! And thanks for your congrats too. Yes, a good time was had by all - hic!
Oh, Kate, I still think about that AWFUL day (weather-wise, anyway!) when we had lunch in York at Betty's. And I thought I was going to get stranded because they were cancelling all the trains! And then I got to Scotland and the weather was lovely! While you guys in the Midlands and the North were drowning in water, water everywhere.
Fantastic that you'll be in San Francisco. I was going anyway - it's practically in my backyard in comparison to Atlanta or Dallas. In fact, the place is going to be overrun with Aussies. Thanks so much for the congrats!
Wonderful news about the 12 Point Guide - although I'm not at all surprised. It's a fabulous resource for romance writers, pubbed and unpubbed. And oooh, the other announcement sounds mysterious and wonderful. I'll keep an eye out for when it's official, whatever it is!
Hi Gigi! Hey, thanks for ordering my book. I hope you like it! That was a wonderful wrap Jennie gave me here, wasn't it? I swear I only gave her $5 to do it LOL! And in the end, it was so good, I would have paid $10!!! Actually, it was a lovely surprise when I saw it, as you can imagine. Thanks also for the congratulations!
Karen, congratulations on the 10 pounds! Why, oh, why is it so easy to put it on and so hard to take it off? That seems to me a major design fault! Thanks for those lovely compliments and the good wishes.
Hey, thanks, Jasmine! Really enjoyed your post yesterday! And yes, my mind did immediately go to THAT sort of research ;-)
Lois, thanks for the congrats! Had to laugh. I absolutely understand! Do you know what I did to celebrate my RITA finals? I immediately got onto Amazon and cleaned out the wish list. I'm eagerly awaiting some parcels on the doorstep too. Buying good books is almost as much fun as reading good books, isn't it?
Anna,
Mega congratulations on the double RITA nomination. That's so exciting and so well deserved. Isn't it wonderful when something you dreamed of came true? It must have been a shcok (in a nice way) - did you pinch yourself?
We have cause to celebrate here as, after a few difficult months a number of family health issues seem to be resolving, which is wonderful. On a personal front, I'm chuffed to have 2 books out at the same time (talking of dreams coming true). My Billionaire's Bought Mistress is out in Britain now in an anthology and The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife is on sale on eHarlequin too. I suspect there may be some celebrating here over the weekend.
Best of luck with the final RITA decision. You're in great company with lots of wonderful authors on the finalists list.
Annie
Annie, thanks so much for dropping by. And thanks for the congrats - we have some celebrating to do next time we get together, haven't we?
TWO BOOKS OUT AT ONCE??!!! I should think you'd be celebrating. Congratulations to you too! And because I'm lucky and get to read your stories before most of the rest of the world, can I just let people know that they're both BRILLIANT?
Anna, you're making me blush. Hey, can I hire you as my publicist?
I hope you're planning lots more celebrations for your good news. I've become a believer in celebrating nice things. I think it's so important when there are so many not as nice things around.
Good luck to Claiming the Courtesan and especially to Untouched. They're both such wonderful reads. Hope the nomination garners you even more readers.
Annie
I'm a bit behind,will try to catch up with you! Yesterday, April 8, 2008, was our 47th anniversary and we are
on "Baby Watch." Our tenth grand-
child is due any day now! He will
join us and the rest of the family
here in Houston.
Pat& Ken Cochran
Thanks for the link to the 2008 RITA
finalists! I've printed out a copy,
it gives me a shopping list for my
next trip to the bookstore!
Congratulations on your nominations
and good luck in the competition!
Pat Cochran
Annie, wondered if me showering you with praise would winkle you out of the woodwork again. And it did. And as you know, the praise is sincere and heartfelt! Both those books of yours are fantastic, emotional and passionate and real.
Pat, congratulations on the wedding anniversary and wishing you all the very best with your new grandchild. You do indeed have a lot to celebrate.
Congraulations Anna. I don't really have that much to celebrate right now although my birthday is this much but I am getting to old to celebrate those anymore. I would just soon not have the birthday if you know what I mean.
Virginia, please don't groan, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! And thanks for the congrats. Still doing the happy dance down here in Oz!
Looks like you had a ball! Wish I'd been there. And congrats once again on your two Rita nominations, Anna. So proud of you!
Thanks, Christine! We missed you! You're always fun to drink champagne with!
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