There is clean laundry and groceries galore for the husband, as tomorrow I leave him to his own devices and head to the RWA National Conference in Washington DC. First I'm driving to my mum's, and then Tuesday morning I hop on a flight (or two) and voila! Me in a brand new city, attending my very first RWA conference.
I'm excited, nervous, tired, energized...you name it. I've left blank spots in my calendar on purpose, but already I'm meeting an agent, my senior editor, several authors for drinks/lunch/breakfast; participating in the literacy booksigning on Wednesday night, attending a few get togethers put on by my publisher, as well as hitting the legendary Harlequin party. Saturday night is the RITA Awards, and while I'm not a finalist, Jessica Hart has asked if I'll be her stand in. I said yes because, well, I adore Jessica (not to mention her books). And because this might be the closest I ever get to VIP seating. My writing "Mum", Kate Walker, is sitting with me. When Jessica asked me, I thanked GOD I'd gone shopping and splurged on a new outfit... and we're NOT going to talk about the shoes crammed into my suitcase...
ANYWAY, this is my last blog post for a while, but I AM of course taking Mr. Darceee with me to Washington. I am not sure if I'm going to post here or not, but one place you'll be able to find me for SURE is on the Pink Heart Society blog as I'll be posting there throughout the trip.
Until then...adios!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Vacay pics
Our friends flew out last night and in the 2 days I have to get ready for DC, I'm in a flurry of laundry and organizing.
First of all - long overdue is the announcement of my contest winner for June. This month's winner is Jan Vautard of Kentucky! Congrats Jan!
Contests are on hiatus for July - but will be back in August.
And the rest of my post is visual - a few pics of our week-plus. The weather was icky for the most part, though the rain held off it was overcast and chilly. Until yesterday.
Without further ado:
Seals during our whale watch tour
Lunenburg-from the boat
Lawrencetown Beach
And finally - in my backyard
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Reviews
Noveltalk has reviewed The Rancher's Runaway Princess - calling it "a page turner". You can read the whole review here.
And Romance Reviews Today has reviewed Hired: The Italian's Bride. My favourite line of the review is "Passionate romance and dark secrets from both Luca's and Mariella’s pasts line the pages of HIRED: THE ITALIAN’S BRIDE." The whole review is up here.
And I'm not sure if I posted this already - the days are all running together. But Cataromance also reviewed it and said "A dream locale, laughter, tears and passion are the perfect mix in this heartwarming story by Donna Alward."
Our guests are here until tomorrow night so we're cramming in as much fun as we can until that happens. Then it will be two days of washing and packing and looking forward to seeing everyone in DC.....
And Romance Reviews Today has reviewed Hired: The Italian's Bride. My favourite line of the review is "Passionate romance and dark secrets from both Luca's and Mariella’s pasts line the pages of HIRED: THE ITALIAN’S BRIDE." The whole review is up here.
And I'm not sure if I posted this already - the days are all running together. But Cataromance also reviewed it and said "A dream locale, laughter, tears and passion are the perfect mix in this heartwarming story by Donna Alward."
Our guests are here until tomorrow night so we're cramming in as much fun as we can until that happens. Then it will be two days of washing and packing and looking forward to seeing everyone in DC.....
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Movies and books
Reading hasn't been that great lately but I did finish A Weaver Wedding. I really enjoyed this book - at times the large family seemed unweildy and hard to keep track of. But it kept me turning the pages and I read like a reader, which is a good sign of an engaging read. Also, looking back when I finished I learned a lot about how to build a series. Because I TOTALLY want to read more of the Double C stories. I'm dying to know what the deal is with Ryan...
Now I'm reading Halifax at War. The tourism stuff I've been doing lately has piqued my interest and I'm loving learning more about the area 70 years ago....
And one thing I have been doing is watching a lot of movies. Brief reviews:
Tropic Thunder - a total concession to watch my husband's choice. Totally stupid and Tom Cruise is creepy. A few funny lines is all this movie had going for it IMO.
The Dark Knight - hello, Christian Bale. Good movie, creepy joker. Dark and with an ending I didn't predict. The only thing that drives me crazy is Bale's "Batman" voice.
Ironman - LOVED it. Robert Downey Jr. is so not my type but he is sex-ay in this movie. Great casting choice. I didn't realize Gwyneth Paltrow was in it either.
Ghost Town - Ricky Gervais is so funny. We enjoyed it a lot. Being a fan of Greg Kinnear, I laughed a lot. It's definitely worth a watch.
Passchendaele - I had really high hopes for this movie - it's written, directed and starred in by Paul Gross. Canadian productions can be total crap and I knew this one wasn't. It takes place on the WWI battlefield and in Calgary (and it looked like a lot of the filming was done at Heritage Park). It WASN'T disappointing until the end, and without spoiling it altogether I'll say it went for the "Oscar" ending and not the "Hollywood" ending which totally ruined it for me. I ranted for a good ten minutes.
That being said, the writing and plotting was really well done. In places there could have been holes but Gross's writing filled them so that there were NO gaps in motivation. With an alternate ending this WOULD have been one of my favourites of the year.
I think that's it...this afternoon the girls and I are going shopping for a few hours as shoes are on the necessary list, as are the makings for kung pao chicken for supper...
Now I'm reading Halifax at War. The tourism stuff I've been doing lately has piqued my interest and I'm loving learning more about the area 70 years ago....
And one thing I have been doing is watching a lot of movies. Brief reviews:
Tropic Thunder - a total concession to watch my husband's choice. Totally stupid and Tom Cruise is creepy. A few funny lines is all this movie had going for it IMO.
The Dark Knight - hello, Christian Bale. Good movie, creepy joker. Dark and with an ending I didn't predict. The only thing that drives me crazy is Bale's "Batman" voice.
Ironman - LOVED it. Robert Downey Jr. is so not my type but he is sex-ay in this movie. Great casting choice. I didn't realize Gwyneth Paltrow was in it either.
Ghost Town - Ricky Gervais is so funny. We enjoyed it a lot. Being a fan of Greg Kinnear, I laughed a lot. It's definitely worth a watch.
Passchendaele - I had really high hopes for this movie - it's written, directed and starred in by Paul Gross. Canadian productions can be total crap and I knew this one wasn't. It takes place on the WWI battlefield and in Calgary (and it looked like a lot of the filming was done at Heritage Park). It WASN'T disappointing until the end, and without spoiling it altogether I'll say it went for the "Oscar" ending and not the "Hollywood" ending which totally ruined it for me. I ranted for a good ten minutes.
That being said, the writing and plotting was really well done. In places there could have been holes but Gross's writing filled them so that there were NO gaps in motivation. With an alternate ending this WOULD have been one of my favourites of the year.
I think that's it...this afternoon the girls and I are going shopping for a few hours as shoes are on the necessary list, as are the makings for kung pao chicken for supper...
Monday, July 06, 2009
Checking in...
I'm checking in since I haven't been here since Thursday. We have been having a blast with company. Saturday we drove to a very wet Peggy's Cove in the morning, stopped for a picnic in Mahone Bay along with a trip to Amos Pewter, and then on to Lunenburg for Whale Watching in the afternoon. The rain held off for us and the swells were small. We almost missed it though. Seriously it was almost a comedy of errors. First we changed our day due to the forecast (which we could have left, it's been nothing but overcast and showery no matter what the day). Then there was a screw up with the rental vehicle that had my blood pressure sky high. Finally, my husband took a wrong turn going to Lunenburg.
The one time we needed to actually be somewhere at a specific time.
The problem was with what he'd typed into the GPS, and the fact that I saw the sign with the arrow in the opposite direction was met with an order to be quiet. However when we hit another sign that said Welcome to Bridgewater he conceded I had been right. We made it by the skin of our teeth. The tour operator as a joke said she didn't have our party booked in. I must have looked like a crazy woman on the edge since she quickly admitted she was funning me.
No one got seasick. I love being on the water so it was great. And while the group before us only saw seals and puffins, we saw a pair of minke whales who were feeding and put on a nice show. The kids were leaning on the railings having a great time. When we finished, we had supper at a little hole in the wall diner. Yum.
Yesterday we went to Lawrencetown Beach and played in the surf before heading to Eastern Passage for lunch. Their fish and chips is lovely and my friend had a seafood linguine that she said was fantastic. Our rental car needed to go back last night so today we spent close to home - walking the neighbourhood, reading, and I made lasagna for supper.
My latest author alterations came last week as well, so I grabbed snatches of time to read through. I have finished and now have to type up my changes. So much for my determination to NOT work over vacation. It couldn't be helped.
We have a few more days with our friends here and then I have to get ready for Nationals. I am looking forward to it but any of you who are mums know how hard it is to go on a trip when you have to make sure everyone else is taken care of during your absence.
Before I know it it will be September and we will be wondering where the summer went..
Now I'm off for bed as tomorrow is another day....
The one time we needed to actually be somewhere at a specific time.
The problem was with what he'd typed into the GPS, and the fact that I saw the sign with the arrow in the opposite direction was met with an order to be quiet. However when we hit another sign that said Welcome to Bridgewater he conceded I had been right. We made it by the skin of our teeth. The tour operator as a joke said she didn't have our party booked in. I must have looked like a crazy woman on the edge since she quickly admitted she was funning me.
No one got seasick. I love being on the water so it was great. And while the group before us only saw seals and puffins, we saw a pair of minke whales who were feeding and put on a nice show. The kids were leaning on the railings having a great time. When we finished, we had supper at a little hole in the wall diner. Yum.
Yesterday we went to Lawrencetown Beach and played in the surf before heading to Eastern Passage for lunch. Their fish and chips is lovely and my friend had a seafood linguine that she said was fantastic. Our rental car needed to go back last night so today we spent close to home - walking the neighbourhood, reading, and I made lasagna for supper.
My latest author alterations came last week as well, so I grabbed snatches of time to read through. I have finished and now have to type up my changes. So much for my determination to NOT work over vacation. It couldn't be helped.
We have a few more days with our friends here and then I have to get ready for Nationals. I am looking forward to it but any of you who are mums know how hard it is to go on a trip when you have to make sure everyone else is taken care of during your absence.
Before I know it it will be September and we will be wondering where the summer went..
Now I'm off for bed as tomorrow is another day....
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Setting my teeth on edge....
In my rwa enotes that came today, there was a link to a news story in the Rapid City journal about the popularity of the romance genre. Romance has experienced some great press this year so I forgot to go in with my "realistic" hat on.
The whole thing set my teeth on edge.
We start out quite promising: "She knew she shouldn’t be so drawn, but she couldn’t help herself. It was just so easy to do; the attraction was undeniable. She didn’t think she could bring herself to let go of the addiction. It always made her feel so good.
Even if it was just a trashy romance novel.Whether you favor a racy bodice-ripper with cover art of a half-naked woman in the arms of a shirtless lover, or a dive into the paranormal world of vampires and demons who interfere in the world of mortals, romance novels are seeing an increase in readership during these tough economic times."
I've seen this before - the cheeky, sensational opening followed by a strong article of numbers and support. But not this time. No, this wasn't done tongue in cheek at all. I couldn't believe a bookstore manager would call it "mindless reading" - shame on you Ms Barrows, for you've just insulted the millions of readers who support your business.
Not to mention Clare Hafferman, who used to work in a bookstore and was even more insulting by saying “I think a lot of the romance novels are drivel,...I was amazed at the number of romances that we sold.”Hafferman is a fan of mysteries herself, because “I like a plot.”“I wouldn’t waste my time,” Hafferman said.
Not only are millions of my readers wasting their time reading plotless stories, but I am clearly wasting my time by writing drivel. And horror of horrors, I'm making a living at it! Shame on me for selling out.
Newsflash, Ms. Hafferman. Mysteries are genre fiction, just like Romance. Just because you don't like the romance genre doesn't mean they aren't well written, at times thought provoking, inspiring, and entertaining.
I don't often get on my soapbox about this kind of thing and maybe it's a reaction to enjoying the GOOD press the genre has had recently. But the whole thing smacks of literary snobbism and totally made me grit my teeth (and just ask my dentist, I'm not supposed to do that).
Now, I'm going to go enjoy my company and vacation while plotting out my next book. And I'll thank my most lovely readers for keeping me employed in a job I adore.
The whole thing set my teeth on edge.
We start out quite promising: "She knew she shouldn’t be so drawn, but she couldn’t help herself. It was just so easy to do; the attraction was undeniable. She didn’t think she could bring herself to let go of the addiction. It always made her feel so good.
Even if it was just a trashy romance novel.Whether you favor a racy bodice-ripper with cover art of a half-naked woman in the arms of a shirtless lover, or a dive into the paranormal world of vampires and demons who interfere in the world of mortals, romance novels are seeing an increase in readership during these tough economic times."
I've seen this before - the cheeky, sensational opening followed by a strong article of numbers and support. But not this time. No, this wasn't done tongue in cheek at all. I couldn't believe a bookstore manager would call it "mindless reading" - shame on you Ms Barrows, for you've just insulted the millions of readers who support your business.
Not to mention Clare Hafferman, who used to work in a bookstore and was even more insulting by saying “I think a lot of the romance novels are drivel,...I was amazed at the number of romances that we sold.”Hafferman is a fan of mysteries herself, because “I like a plot.”“I wouldn’t waste my time,” Hafferman said.
Not only are millions of my readers wasting their time reading plotless stories, but I am clearly wasting my time by writing drivel. And horror of horrors, I'm making a living at it! Shame on me for selling out.
Newsflash, Ms. Hafferman. Mysteries are genre fiction, just like Romance. Just because you don't like the romance genre doesn't mean they aren't well written, at times thought provoking, inspiring, and entertaining.
I don't often get on my soapbox about this kind of thing and maybe it's a reaction to enjoying the GOOD press the genre has had recently. But the whole thing smacks of literary snobbism and totally made me grit my teeth (and just ask my dentist, I'm not supposed to do that).
Now, I'm going to go enjoy my company and vacation while plotting out my next book. And I'll thank my most lovely readers for keeping me employed in a job I adore.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Happy Canada Day
Happy Canada Day! We're celebrating by having friends over for a barbeque - rain or shine. We're hoping for no rain - even cloudy would be good as the humidity would require a dip in the pool. There isn't a breath of air, I swear. Plus there will be 10 of us - the deck will be the best place to be! Not to mention fireworks. So please weather be good to us!
I'm not hanging out long but I did get a review for HIRED: THE ITALIAN'S BRIDE from Cataromance. It starts off with a bang: A dream locale, laughter, tears and passion are the perfect mix in this heartwarming story by Donna Alward. You can read the rest of the review HERE.
I'll try to pop in later in the week, but with company and vacation type goings on, It'll be erratic.
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