Alison Kent

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I really don’t think anything surprises me any longer.
Feel the need to be liberated?

I’m always thinking of things to add to my sidebar and decided today to add a new menu item. Auto-Buy Authors.

These are the authors I will pre-order at Amazon, whether in hardcover, trade, or mass-market, the minute the books are available. Now, this does NOT mean I’ll read them immediately! It just means that I have these comfort reads within reach when I need one! And I got two of them in the mail today!

I started with fifteen. I figure that will give you an idea of what I read. And, if you’ll notice, these are primarily hardback authors and the majority write suspense. Plus, there’s only one man in the lot!

While looking through all their sites, I found one that’s been updated since my last visit, so made it my current featured site! One thing I love on her site is the progression of her publicity photos! She’s also the author of one of the romantic heroes who have made me swoon!

I have several more auto-buy authors to add, but I decided to start with the ones who cost me the most - and usually give me the most enjoyment!! *gg*

And one of them made me think about my daily schedule when she said this: “I get up at 5:30 AM and go walking with a girlfriend - that’s the only time of day I have to exercise, but I really do it for the gossip. By 7 AM I’m back home, helping to get the kids ready for school. They’re 12, 10, and 8, now. My husband, who is a stay-at-home-dad, is fully responsible for making my life run smoothly - whether that means carpooling the kids, packing their lunches, or being the sole parent when I’m off for months at a time on tour. Oh, and he brings me coffee and lunch. (Yes, you all should be quite jealous!) I answer my emails for about 1 hour in the morning. Then I write, research, or edit until around 4 PM.”

Other than the girlfriend gossip part and the part about having kids to deal with, this sounds like a plan! Well, I’d have to convince the dh about the coffee and lunch part . . .

We recently canceled one of our two remaining phone lines, having started with three when we moved here seven years ago. At the time, there was the main line, the kids line, and the computer line. The computer line went out the door with the arrival of cable internet. And for some unknown reason, we’ve kept the kids line active though only two still live here and both get all their calls on their cells. We also canceled call waiting (We don’t get enough calls to justify it!) call blocking (The demented boyfriend has moved back to Wyoming after a two year stint in prison!) and call notes and opted for a new combo caller i.d. phone and answering machine. I’m in love. Only two phone calls today. One from my daughter’s place of employment. Picked that one right up. The second said “Clthing Dnation”. Yes! Well worth the cost of the cool new 5.8GHz portable phone to be saved from listening to begging and pleading! (I regularly give away used clothing on my own - I don’t need a reminder!)

Why, visit THE SHORTS STORE!

This is just . . . just . . . there are no words . . .

And then there’s this and this and this and this. Sigh. Is nothing sacred? And then there is just the ewwwwww.

Why are there so few, or am I just missing them? There are copious literary blogs and publishing news blogs, but I write romance and want to read of the goings-on in the romance industry. Unfortunately, I’m not as “plugged in” as I would need to be to keep up - I do have deadlines out the wazoo! - so if you find a romance related blog whether owned by an author, a reader, whoever, pass it along! If it doesn’t irk me *g*, I’ll add it to my list.

Interesting, this.

Getting info straight would be a good idea before posting things like this: “Did you know that usually only hard cover book are reviewed? I didn’t until recently. Some people think that first-time authors should come out in trade paperback, the reasoning being that book buyers are more likely to risk $14 on a new author than $25. But if you come out in trade paperback, you don’t get reviewed by Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal.

Lessee . . .

The Cinderella Rules was reviewed by both PW and Booklist.

The Solomon Sisters Wise Up was reviewed by Booklist.

Coffee & Kung Fu was reviewed by Booklist and Kirkus.

The Dominant Blonde was reviewed in PW.

The Accidental Virgin was reviewed in Kirkus and Booklist.

I could research many more, but I need to write on my OWN trade paperback now . . . oh, unless the author of the comments above was excluding the romance genre from her statement?

A reader has written to ask me if I would’ve entered THE SWEETEST TABOO in the RITAs if I had, indeed, turned the manuscript in at 278 pages, i.e., 69,500 words. (278 x 250 = 69,500)

Yes.

I would have entered it in the Long Contemporary Series category where Blazes belong as defined by their writing guidelines to be novels between 70K - 75K words. But it wasn’t 70K words, you argue. No. The *manuscript* was not. But, people, please. *g* The RITA is not about *manuscripts*!!! It’s a peer contest for published books. And Blaze *books* are long contemporary by Harlequin’s definition.

If RWA wants the RITA to be based on the length of the manuscript from which the book was published, then the rules need to be written thusly.

Please remember. This is my forum for spouting my nonsense. Nothing here is anything but my opinion and my feelings on matters near and dear and, at times, far *g* from me. That said, the following will probably not be popular, but it’s an issue that has bothered me now for two years. And that’s the administration of the RWA RITA guidelines for the Short Contemporary Series Romance and Long Contemporary Series Romance categories.

Let’s look at the guidelines, shall we? From the RWA website’s 2004 Contest Menu.

Best Long Contemporary Romance - Romantic novels in which sensuality may constitute a strong element in the romance. The word count for these novels is over 70,000 words.

Best Short Contemporary Romance - Romantic novels in which sensuality may constitute a strong element in the romance. The word count for these novels is 40,000 - 70,000 words.

(Please note that nowhere in these guidelines for published works is the word “manuscript” written, nor are manuscript lengths referred to. The RITA is about published works. Not about manuscripts.)

Now, let’s look at the guidelines for Harlequin Blaze from eHarlequin’s writing guidelines . . .

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