RWA 2013 and a Facebook Party

I wrote this blog post as I returned from the Romance Writers of America conference in Atlanta where some 2100 romance writers and publishing professionals gathered for four days of workshops, networking, and the awards ceremony that is––I kid you not––on par with the Oscars

RWA was founded in 1980. I had the honor to serve on the Board of Directors for five years, two of which were as RWA’s President. There are so many wonderful people who I am privileged to call “friends” because of RWA. (Photo at right is of me and RWA’s first president and co-founder, Rita Clay Estrada.)

The Golden Heart Award is highly prized recognition for unpublished writers, and the RITA Award (named for Rita Clay Estrada) is the highest honor awarded to published romance novels.

This year, I was thrilled to have my book, Betrayal, as a finalist in the Inspirational category of the RITAs. This is my ninth finalist book. Two of my novels have been awarded the RITA: Patterns of Love and The Shepherd’s Voice. But I must add this: Winning or losing awards should never be a yard stick by which we authors value ourselves or the books we write. Good thing I’ve learned that lesson because I didn’t bring the RITA Award home this year.

Now without further adieu, allow me to share the 2013 Golden Heart and RITA Award winners. And huge congratulations to them and to all of the other finalists.

Here is a photo of the Inspirational Romance finalists who were at the conference (and what a treat it was to spend time with these awesome women):

Now to something different: The authors of A Bride for All Seasons are having a Facebook party. Prizes, fun, and laughter galore. If you have a Facebook profile, I hope you can come. Just sign up to attend on the Event page. The party is tomorrow, Tuesday, July 22, at 7 PM CDT. It will last about an hour and fifteen minutes. (Hopefully I’ll be caught up on my sleep by then.)

~robin