Putting on the Glitz!

There are a lot of pros and cons to being a writer. One of the pros is I don’t have to get out of my pajamas to go to work! That can also, by the way, be a con  :-)

But occasionally, I do get to frock up and go out and this weekend just gone in Sydney was such an occasion. ARRA (the Australian Romance Readers Association) held their annual awards and as I was up for a few - as were some other Love Cats - I decided to make a bit of a weekend of it.

You can just see the arch of the Syd Harbour Bridge in the distance

Firstly Shannon Curtis and I visited the Momentum offices and chatted with the lovely Joel Noaum and the gorgeous Tara Goedgjen who had worked on our Bold and Beautiful books. The lovely Patrick got us coffees. And then I insulted him by asking him how long he’d been the intern for. Ooops!  But now it’s a bit of a running joke which we all think is hilarious and he’s humouring us :-) He took this pic. 

Note to self - never piss off the guy who takes the pic! :-)

Then, in the evening, Shannon Curtis, Ainslie Paton and I were on a panel at Parramatta Library. I think a good time was had by all and we had a great Thai meal afterwards and were joined by the lovely Ingrid (a reader) who helped us brainstorm titles!

Shannon put me up at her house that night and, after a rather late night, I was treated to her sexy dish washing display in the morning.

And then we left for the hotel and had a sneak peak at the stunning room we’d all be partying in later – isn’t it gorgeous?

Then I bumped into fellow Love Cats – Annie West and Michelle Douglas, who were also up for awards and we did lunch.

In the evening, in keeping with 2014 being my Year Of Purple, I frocked up in a purple gown and wore my new purple earrings made for me by fab new medical author Amalie Berlin. They’re tatted and absolutely gorgeous! So many people complimented me on them, so thanks, Amalie!

Doncha just love soft focus? :-)

And then it was time to wine and dine and catch up with old friends and fabulous readers

Tina Clark

Rachael Johns and Cathryn Hein

Mel Scott and Kelly Hunter

Barbara and Lynne - two lovely readers. 

Dakota Harrison

Anna Valdinger from Harper Collins

And to cap it all off,  I won the best contemporary romance category for Holding Out For A Hero which was so exciting and thrilling and I even remembered to thank Patrick the intern :-) 

I’m still on a high! 

Joel Noaum from Momentum

In fact there were 3 winners at our table - Kelly Hunter and Kylie Griffin being the others.

Aren't they all pretty?

 Then there was a lot of posing with the gong ;-)

Shannon looking tres glam without her pink gloves!

Cathryn Hein

The oh so lovely and supportive Helen Sibbritt

Fab blogger Kaetrin

Joel from Momentum (who had a fabulous night with another of their authors the amazing Kylie Scott winning 2 awards as well!) took us out for celebratory drinks after so, consequently, it was a very late before Shannon and I got to bed but we couldn’t resist one last pic with my baby. 

I’d like to thank everyone in ARRA who made the night so amazing and to all the members who voted in the awards.  Am looking forward to frocking up again next year!

Heroism

So I was going to do this whole blog today on "what is a hero" so I could tie it all up in a nice neat bow for my new release Holding Out For A Hero. 

I was going to be witty and wise and have you all so impressed you’d rush out and download the book -I mean, come on, it’s only a lousy $3.99 :-) I even have this fab pic of  a hunky fireman rescuing a kitten from a tree and I was going to end it by saying you should buy this book cos it’s really, really good. 

And you should because it is ;-)

BUT. Then I saw this YouTube clip and realised how easily we bandy that word around when true heroism is something much much more.

So I’m going to let it speak for itself. Then go and hug my kids.

I Dedicate This Book To.....

This morning I woke to a lovely FB message from an author I don’t know about Driving Her Crazy. She scored it in a goody bag at a conference and freely admitted that as a staunch Presents reader, she never would have picked it up to read it otherwise. But she loved it! In fact she neglected her own writing that day because she just had to finish my book. It was so nice of her to take the time to write and tell me about it too – we authors have fragile egos and affirmation like this is such a pick-me-up. Like all the doubts and insecurities and hard slog of sitting down and writing 50+K words is all actually worth it!

She mentioned also how much she liked the dedication. Which gave me the idea for this blog. I too love dedications. It’s the first thing I turn to when I open a book to start reading it and if there’s not one I feel a little cheated. I feel like I get to know a little something about the author through dedications or acknowledgements.

I know they’re incredibly important to me as a writer. I spend a lot of time thinking about my dedications and they all mean something. Often they’re very deep and personal. For example, I dedicated How To Mend A Broken Heart - a book about the emotional fallout in a relationship after the death of a child - to a friend of mine who had lost a child. I dedicated The Devil and The Deep to my baby niece that none of us got to hold or know when she passed stillborn from this world during the writing of the book. Top-Notch Surgeon, Pregnant Nurse, which deals with adoption, was dedicated to my BFF who understands intimately the heartbreak and sacrifice of entrusting your brand new precious baby to a complete stranger. 

And then there’s the one from Driving Her Crazy mentioned above.

Anyone who’s been following my public Facebook weight loss saga will understand how personal it was for me.

And finally I thought I’d share this one from my Oct 1^st release from Momentum – Holding Out For A Hero 

“For my very own hero, Mark, who has never slayed a dragon, leapt a tall building in a single bound or caught a bullet in his teeth, but would if I asked him.”

What about you? Do you like dedications too? Ever read a really good one you’d like to share?