Mills and Boon is holding a writing contest for Harlequin Presents Modern Heat. Contest rules and other useful information can be found on the I Heart Presents blog. Winners determined by September 30th, so get moving if you plan to enter. And good luck!

I can’t believe RITA and Golden Heart time has descended upon us already, if only in the form of Judging Sign-Up. 2008 was the first year I could enter RITA, and for some reason I can’t recall I signed up to join the Golden Heart. I love judging the Golden Heart, but I don’t have time to judge both contests in one year, so this year I signed up to judge the RITA for the First Time Ever. I’m looking forward to the different process and experience.

For RITA judging, I had to select a mimimum of three categories I would be willing to judge while not selecting a category I might also enter. I’m entering Novella again this year under my pen name, so I selected four categories to judge other than Novella. I could have selected more (there are 11 categories total), but I’d rather judge the categories with which I’m most familiar.

Monday night, I went to see Mamma Mia with my BFF, who was in town all summer (and just left today). I totally loved this movie! Might I be so bold as to announce that it’s one of my Favorite Movies of the Year? It’s very uplifting—just what I need right now. I laughed a ton. Yet a scene dealing with the Meryl Streep character’s 20-year-old daughter growing up too fast brought a tear to my eye, too. Next week, Youngest Son turns 18, but he’s sticking around. Eldest Son, on the other hand, will be attending an out-of-town university as of the September long weekend. I’m busy preparing for the birthday and the departure. My BFF is only 10 months younger than I am, but had her children late. Her youngest is five. I tried to explain how quickly the teen years pass for parents, far faster than the pre-teen years. And it doesn’t matter how often you try to stop and smell the roses that are your children, the teen years speed by regardless, I think because it’s a turmolic time for the parents as well as the teens! I’ve been looking forward to E.S. moving out of the house, not because I don’t love him and won’t miss him, but because that’s how young adults learn and grow. It’s a very positive experience for him, however, after watching Mamma Mia Monday night and now it’s sinking in that he has just two weeks remaining at home, my ol’ heartstrings are sobbing. Come September, I’ll pretty much be a mess. Consider this fair warning.

Well, I’m not profiling Kate St. James. But Candy Ready is. This week is Kate St. James Week at www.candyready.com. And seeing as Kate is not only a wonderful writer but a fantastically close friend, I’m passing along the news.

Candy is interviewing Kate today and tomorrow, then Wednesday will feature an excerpt from Kate’s first Secrets novella, Good Vibrations (out now, in Secrets Volume 21: PRIMAL HEAT, for those not in the know), and Thursday will feature an excerpt from Kate’s upcoming novella, Exes & Ahhs, appearing in Secrets Volume 26: BOUND BY PASSION, December 2008. Yes, that’s a long time to wait for the anthology, but Kate’s excerpt will wet your whistle! Caution, though, these excerpts are for Adult eyes only. If you’re under 18, Candy doesn’t want you visiting her website and Kate suggests you buy her books as soon as you reach your 18th birthday…and not one second sooner.

Friday features a giveaway! Kate will mail a free autographed copy of Secrets Volume 21: PRIMAL HEAT, which includes her novella, Good Vibrations, to one lucky commenter who comments this week on Candy Ready’s blog.

Over and out.

I’m very excited to announce that BORROWING ALEX took second place in the Romantic Comedy category of the More Than Magic contest. This is the contest where I was up against Vicki Lewis Thompson in the finals with her single title, OVER HEXED. ‘Natch, Vicki won. Congratulations, Vicki! I fully expected to beat your pants off. Yes, yes, I did. Uh-huh. We all believe me.

Maybe next time. Watch out! (heh, heh).

Two of them, actually.

1. The South Jersey MOM magazine Beach Read Giveaway contest ends May 31st. If you haven’t entered your name in the drawing to win a free trade paperback copy of BORROWING ALEX or a book from one of the other talented authors included in the contest, hop on over to South Jersey MOM now. Scroll down past the Giveaways on the top of the page until you see CHICK LIT’S BEACH READ GIVEAWAYS. Please remember that this contest is open to U.S. residents only.

2. Brenda Novak’s On-Line Auction for Diabetes Research also ends May 31st. It’s not too late to check out the awesome items and put in your bids!

It’s very rainy in my part of the world. No big surprise, because yesterday was our May long weekend (Victoria Day). It seems it always rains on the two big camping weekends of the summer, the other being the July 1st (Canada Day) long weekend (if it falls on a weekend). What’s Memorial Day like in the States? Is it the start of camping season like it is for those of us up north foolish enough to enjoy camping (I can take it or leave it…usually leave it, but I know people who adore camping). Do you have plans for the upcoming Memorial Day long weekend?

Because it was Eldest Son’s birthday on Friday and then a long weekend, my writing ground to a halt. However, a lot of overdue cleaning was accomplished. So, my only bit of writing-related news this week is that I received my first ever scores back from the RITA contest. I’m pleased to report that BORROWING ALEX received one 9 (the top score possible for those not in the know) and also an 8. However, it also received one upper-middling score and two “lower-middling enough that there’s no way this entry will make it into the finals” scores. However, that the book received such differing scores didn’t bother me. This was the first year that an author with a book published by a micro-press (I picked up that description from Natalie Damschroder) like Amber Quill could even enter the RITA, and, frankly, there wasn’t really an appropriate category for my entry. I did the best I could with my choices, which were to either enter a short book in Single Title, where it would have competed against books twice its length, or to enter it in Series Contemporary, which is really for category romance novels published in a series (Harlequin/Silhouette). However, the definition for this category is loose enough (employing words like “usually” quite frequently) that I felt it was the best place for my story. So, in actuality, I was very pleased that BORROWING ALEX snagged that 9!

Lastly, the managing editor of the Casablanca line for Sourcebooks, Deb Werksman, is taking questions today on the new Casablanca Authors blog. I’ve spoken to Deb on the phone, and she is very enthusiastic. This is an excellent opportunity to pick her brain, so don’t miss it. And, yep, I asked a question myself.

A little birdie told me that the finalists of the Red Sage writing contest will be announced tonight, at the monthly Red Sage chat at Writerspace. Nine p.m. EST. Be there or be…well, uninformed, I guess.

Also, this recently in from the Red Sage blog:

Meet a Red Sage Editor!  

Will you be attending RWA’s national conference in San Francisco?

Would you like to pitch your work in person to a Red Sage editor?

If so, email your name and email address to eredsage@gmail.com and you will be scheduled for a short, one-on-one pitch appointment! Most pitches will be held on Thursday, July 31, 2008, though some may be held on Friday, August 1, 2008.

These are “bonus” appointments. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already scheduled pitch appointments through RWA. You can still get one of these special pitch meetings! All you have to do is email your name and email address to eredsage@gmail.com.

Pitch appointments will be scheduled on a first come, first served basis. Don’t delay! The schedule is filling fast!

Red Sage Publisher Alexandria Kendall, managing editor Theresa Stevens, and senior editor Alicia Rasley will be taking the pitches.

The latest from the Red Sage blog:

Bonus appointments for RWA nationals are filling fast. We will make every effort to accommodate all requests, and are seeking alternate room arrangements to handle the overflow. If you’ve already requested an appointment, you should be receiving an email confirmation within the next few days. If you haven’t already requested an appointment and would like one, please email your name and contact email address to:
eredsage@gmail.com

All appointments are on a first-come, first-served basis, but we really do want to hear pitches from everyone who requests appointments. Details of time and location will follow just as soon as we can provide them.

You heard it here first! (Or second, or third…depending on how blog-hoppy you are).

The good news I hinted at yesterday? BORROWING ALEX is a finalist in the Romantic Comedy category of the More than Magic writing contest! The finalist names aren’t announced on the More than Magic website yet, however I noticed that the Romantic Comedy winner from last year was none than other than Vicki Lewis Thompson. Am I thrilled that my book is even sharing “former finalist slot space” with a writer of Vicki’s caliber? You bet!

Of course the coordinator needed the 2 books for the final rounds delivered in two days—a difficult task when shipping from Canada unless you want to pay mega, mega-bucks. But the coordinator came up with the great idea for me to order my 2 copies off Amazon and have them shipped to her house. I hadn’t thought of this option, because neither BORROWING ALEX nor HEAD OVER HEELS are available on Canadian Amazon (although Canadians can order them from U.S. Amazon—hint, hint). What a wise and helpful contest coordinator, huh?

What made the news about my final even more wonderful is that I logged on to one of my email loops yesterday morning to learn that my good friend, the talented Diana Cosby, is also a More than Magic finalist with her November historical romance, HIS CAPTIVE. I’ve read HIS CAPTIVE, and it’s a fantastic debut from Kensington. Congratulations, Diana, my friend.