July 06, 2006

OKRWA July 2006 Newsletter



From the Prez, Deborah Behrens:

Well, this has been quite a month for blogging. Since our June program, I decided to take the blog-thing more seriously and so have a lot of our members. Some of you have been doing it for a long time and I’m glad I’ve been taking the time recently to surf through them. I really am enjoying them. Each and every one of them has a unique style and voice. Guess we must all be writers! I thought my biggest problem would be finding time to update it, but when something crazy happens during the day it just seems natural now to post it. Maybe not everyday, but I’m trying.

Enough about that. July is the month we all look forward to, RWA has their National Conference. I’m so excited that I actually get to go this year. I’ve only been once before, in 2004, when the conference was in Dallas. It was my first time. I was a total conference virgin and I had a total blast. Jenny Crusie was one of the keynote speakers. Boy that woman sure can make me laugh. The electricity generated with all those writers in one place was amazing and being in the same room with Nora Roberts made me stutter.

Even though I went to a lot of the workshops alone, I never felt the slightest bit lonely. My fellow chapter members were usually around for lunch or dinner or whatever. If they weren’t, there were a lot of other writers to mingle with. I got to match up a lot of names and faces. You know the ones that pop up on the various RWA loops all the time. We even went to Medieval Times Friday night and, of course, our knight won. We’ll be sure to get something together for Friday night in Atlanta too.

To those of you who are going to Atlanta this year—I can’t wait to see you there. To those of you who can’t attend—I will miss you. My only hope is that everyone’s experience this year is as awesome as mine was in Dallas!

Deb

July 2006 Program:
For those not going to the National RWA Conference, Julia Mozingo is hosting a Plotting Party at her Quartz Mountain lake house. If you plan to attend, please email her for directions. It's approximately 2 hrs. 15 min. from OKC area.

Saturday, July 15th
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

First Sale Announcement!!!

Cyn Marolt sold a 3-book deal to Avon with estimated release dates for the summer of 2008 on all three, tentatively under Suspense/General Fiction!

Acquiring editor Lucia Macro is planning a marketing effort behind the releases. Best selling author Sharon Sala generously opened some very big doors for Cyn after she read No One Heard Her Scream as part of the OK RWA Finish the Book Incentives. Sharon is an amazing woman.

And another shining star, literary agent Meredith Bernstein, walked through Sharon's open door. With Meredith's super human powers, she can leap tall buildings in a single bound wearing Manolo Blahnik shoes and Prada. A very nice deal!

No One Heard Her Scream

Crossing The Line (Her Golden Heart Finalist Entry 2005)

In the Shadow of Redemption (sequel to Crossing The Line)

New Releases:

Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter

A fiercely individualist Goth girl wakes up to discover that the whole world has gone Goth and she’s just one of the crowd…

Jade Leigh is a nonconformist who values individuality above all else. She has a small group of like-minded Goth friends who wear black, dabble in the dark arts, and thrive outside the norm. They’re considered the “freaks” of their high school. But when Jade’s smart mouth lands her in trouble – again – her principal decides to teach her a lesson she’ll never forget.

Taken to a remote location where she is strapped down and sedated, Jade wakes up in an alternate universe where she rules the school. But her best friends won’t talk to her, and the people she used to hate are all Goth. Only Clarik, the mysterious new boy in town, operates outside all the cliques. And only Mercedes, the Barbie clone Jade loathes, believes that Jade’s stuck in a virtual reality game—because she’s stuck there, too, now living the life of a “freak.” Together, they realize they might never get back to reality. . .and that even if they do, things might never be the same.

Mysteria by P.C. Cast , Gena Showalter , MaryJanice Davidson and Susan Grant

Meet the women of Mysteria and the creatures they fall for in four all-new stories of paranormal passion by MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, PC Cast, and Gena Showalter

Hunky werewolves, delicious demons, and drop-dead sexy witches all have the same address....Mysteria
Hundreds of years ago, in the mountains of Colorado (just close enough to Denver for great shoe shopping), the small town of Mysteria was "accidentally" founded by a random act of demonic kindness. Over time, it has become a veritable magnet for the supernatural -- a place where magic has quietly coexisted with the mundane world.

It's a town like any other town, where the high school's Fighting Fairies give fans something to cheer about, where everyone knows your name -- if not exactly what you are -- at the local bar, and where the wishing well actually lives up to its name.

Strange occurrences happen every day, but now the ladies of Mysteria are about to unleash a tempest of seduction that will have tongues wagging for centuries to come...

Here is what Publishers Weekly has to say about Mysteria!
Splitting the difference between Desperate Housewives and The X-Files, this paranormal romance brings magic and monsters to the steamy suburbs in four satisfying novellas about the town of Mysteria. Bestseller Grant kicks off the volume with the story of the demon responsible for leading a group of supernatural settlers to establish Mysteria, a Colorado haven for the paranormal. Centuries after his "random act of demonic kindness," Satan casts the demon out of Hell, naked and mortal, to be discovered, sheltered and eventually loved by the town's female pastor. Gena Showalter's contribution is the most lusty of the bunch, following a hunky psychic who has visions that the witch he's desperately in love with will be the death of him. In P.C. Cast's novella, a frustrated high school teacher, descendant of the only nonmagical founder of Mysteria ("Her magic worked like her marriages. Not at all"), is pursued by a young werewolf she used to teach. Bestseller MaryJanice Davidson follows another werewolf, this one in the market for a house—which turns out to be haunted by a sarcastic ghost—in an enjoyable but underdeveloped episode. There's magic, heat and lots of laughs in these loosely conjoined stories, and it's obvious the authors had a great time putting the book together; the growing audience for paranormal romance should have nearly as good a time reading it. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

To Catch A Husband by Laura Marie Altom

Charity's Faith And Love

US Marshal Charity Caldwell has been in love with Adam Logue for what seems like forever, but the fellow marshal sees her as nothing more than a friend. Scarred by the shooting of his first love, Adam doesn't think he's capable of being in a serious relationship ever again.

Charity has faith that one day she'll get married and have the children she so desperately wants. The problem is, she doesn't want to spend her life with anyone but Adam. So with the help of his matchmaking family, she launches a plan to help Adam think of her as more than a friend, and even more than a woman--it's a plan to make him see she'll be the perfect wife!

Note: This book does have a lovely cover that Blogger will not let me load, so do click on the title or Christine's name and take a look at it.

The Reluctant Cinderella by Christine Rimmer
Welcome to Danbury Way, where nothing is as it seems…

THE “OTHER WOMAN”?

Plain Jane Megan Schumacher was the most dependable person on Danbury way, the sleek suburban cul-de-sac where she lived over her sister’s garage. Certainly not the kind of girl who would rock anyone’s boat—until she fell for the (barely) ex-husband of her best friend and neighbor!

Greg Banning planned to hire Megan to redo his marketing plan, but he counted the minutes until each of their meetings. As their romance heated up, Greg realized she was everything he wanted in a woman, and his thoughts began straying to marriage. But would their new love spell happiness for both of them—or would the scandal tear them apart?


Member News:

Donnell Epperson's Contemporary paranormal won the Laurie contest and was requested by Mary Theresa Hussey.

Gena Showalter and P.C. Cast along with Susan Grant and MaryJanice Davidson have a big book launch party in Atlanta on Thursday, July 27th, 7:00-9:00 at the Buckhead Borders.

Merline Lovelace has agreed to do an epic for Harlequin Everlasting that traces two love stories, one set in the present, one in France during WWI.

Laura Marie Altom would like to announce two new contracts for Harlequin American--one is for a new book and the other is for an anthology titled, Born on the Fourth of July.

Alice Clarey's manuscript, Nothing To Fear, finaled in the Sheila contest in the romantic suspense category.

Deb Cowan would like to announce that two of her books finaled in the Booksellers' Best Awards. Her June 2005 Intimate Moments, Melting Point , finaled in the Long Contemporary Category and her January 2005 Harlequin Historical, Whirlwind Groom is a finalist in the Short Historical category.

Cyn Marolt's paranormal manuscript - Lifeless in Seattle - won the Best Bite Contest contemporary category hosted by the Grand Rapids Region Romance Writers of America. Editor judge Patience Smith of Harlequin/Silhouette requested the full manuscript.

Editor's Note:

I would love to see all member news! Contest finals, wins, contracts, new releases, finished manuscripts,etc... If you have an article to share, it is more than welcome. Please email me by the 1st of the month to get it into the newsletter. RElliott4@aol.com

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