The 2004 RWA National Conference is over for another year. Although we had 3 finalists for 2004 RITA award, sadly, none of our authors won this year. But hey! There’s always next year and the year after that . . . and . . . and. To me, all of our authors are definitely winners!

Take Debbie Macomber’s THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET – I’m an avid crafter (and knitter too) and I’m seeing wonderful reviews even in my craft magazines! OK, how many of you knitters actually knitted the baby blanket in the book?

Or MISS PRUITT’S PRIVATE LIFE? Hmmmm. I think I would sneak off for Evan Carter too. Way to go Barbara McCauley. Your characters are terrific and the book well worth reading.

Then there is HEAT WAVE by Jill Marie Landis’ - family, love, loss, second chance . . . this one has it all! What a storyteller Jill is. This book will hit you right smack dab in the heart.

And Deborah Smith’s DIARY OF A RADICAL MERMAID - I laughed till I cried over the antics of the socialite of the century, Juna Lee Poinfax.

And there’s the books to look forward to, like Sharon Sala’s THE AMEN TRAIL, The second book of the trilogy coming in August. And Debbie Macomber’s 44 CRANBERRY POINT, the 4th in her Cedar Cove Series.

Hmmmmm. I think its time I knocked off and curled up with a GOOD book. See you next month.

Kristen Price
kristen@romanceauthorspage.com

 

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 Hello to everyone from hot, hot, hot, Oklahoma.

Did I mention that it's been hot? Is going to stay hot? Will be hot for some time to come? If I didn't, then I'm telling you now. IT'S HOT OUTSIDE.

I spent a week in Dallas at the national convention for Romance Writers of America. It was a good convention but as always, busy, busy. I was behind on a deadline, so I took my laptop and worked a good deal of the time in my room. I hate when I have to do that because that annual convention is, quite often, the only time all year that I see good friends and colleagues. At any rate, I went, had a good time, and was glad to come home.

Bobby was glad to see me come home, too, and here's where I'm smiling. The day I left, there was a water leak under the house, the dishwasher had stopped working, and the crew that was cleaning the right of way for the new fence we were putting in front of our property had cut the phone lines... for the second time.... in one week. My hero to the rescue. He kissed me goodbye, waved long and hard, and began to deal with the problems. Had them all fixed in two days. Boy, do I like a man who takes charge of problems.

I had a book come out in July called WHIPPOORWILL. it was a re-issue from Harlequin Historicals of a book that came out last year in trade-size from Loveland Press. The second book of the trilogy, THE AMEN TRAIL, will be out in August from Loveland Press. I'm anxiously awaiting it's release. Got a LOT of good feedback from readers about it at the
conference. I love it when a book connects the way I meant for it to do.

My Auntie, who I've mentioned before, is undergoing her fourth round of chemo. She's been battling cancer for more than four years now. She's a true heroine of mine, even though she's 80 years old. Doesn't quit. Doesn't give up. Doesn't complain. I so admire and love her.

My Mother, who lives next door, and who is 84, is doing great, still drives, walks a mile every day and pretty much rules us all. She is, however, like the rest of us, so sorry and down about her sister's continuing battle and the illnesses and horrible things she has to deal with in order to combat such a terrible disease. It makes us all very thankful for the small pleasures.

One day I called my Auntie, who was too sick at the time to go out, and told her I was bringing her a snow cone and asked her which flavor she would like. She giggled like a little kid, said, "Oh goody, I want Strawberry," and anxiously awaited the treat when I came driving up to her house. Did I mention that snow cones melt very rapidly in really, really, hot weather?

The new house and our move is still going great. Little by little things are coming together. I now have about a quarter of a mile of a very beautiful, white, three-rail fence in front of the property along the road. We have gutters on the house. I have shrubs in the front yard that
I water every day. The 120 acres of overgrown pasture and woods that I bought last fall is beginning to look like a real home. All we have left to do is put in a cellar and a pool. The cellar is a necessity in Oklahoma, the pool is not. But I figure I deserve one real luxury at this
time in my life, and that pool is going to be it. I'm shooting for having it put in this fall so that it will be ready next spring, but that remains to be seen. The cellar will definitely be in place when storm season rolls around next year. Can't take chances without a hidey-hole in
Oklahoma. Too many tornadoes.

So.... as I have rambled on and on about what's going on in my world, I hope that you have had a wonderful summer. I see families already shopping for school clothes for their children, so I suspect the same is going on for many of you, as well.

Goodbye for now.
We'll talk again soon.

Sharon Sala
aka
Dinah McCall
 

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44 Cranberry Point MIRA Books September 2004 Paperback ISBN: 0-7783-2073-1 $7.50 U.S. $8.99 CAN. Read an excerpt