Three disparate subjects it would seem, but they do share a common link. Competition. I'm not sure how or why competition fits into pursuits such as writing and singing. I know there's no definitive: this book is better than that book, or this singer is better than that. It all depends on who is reading or listening and in the case of competition, who is judging.

My mixed feelings don't stop me hanging out for the announcement of RITA finalists each year. These are the books which gained the highest scores from the fellow RWA members who read them in first-round judging. That's five readers, five opinions, five scores. But because it's a peer-judged contest, we authors do love RITA.

I entered books from 2002-2006, got some truly horrendous scores and then in 2006 I was the world's luckiest writer and a triple finalist. I decided it could never get any better and so I haven't entered since. Yet yesterday, when the calls to finalists went out, I had the jitters something fierce. Probably on behalf of all my mates who'd entered. Congratulations to all the finalists, with a special Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi-oi-oi shout-out to Kelly Hunter, Anne Gracie and Anna Campbell, and to Golden Heart finalists Tracey O'Hara and Helene Young.

Have you checked the finalists? Any books you read there that you read and loved last year?

This week I've been glued to the nightly coverage of the Australian swim championships, also our Olympic trials. We have top swimmers, no question, but they've been swimming Very Fast Indeed this week in their high-tech swimsuits. Apparently they were partially designed by NASA. Apparently they cost $600 each. Apparently in the past 39 days, 13 world records have been broken, 12 by swimmers wearing them. My husband says they should be banned. I say they should be made available to all swimmers, not just the countries that can afford them, so in Beijing everyone is on the same playing field...or pool.

Between RITA and the swimming, I almost forgot about Idol last night. I missed Ramiele but caught the rest. Loved Michael's Queen tribute but then loved David Cook's interpretation of Billie Jean even more. He's not my favourite personality but props to him for crafting the old classics into contemporary versions.

I'm worried that Carly might go. Really did not like her last night, horrid song at the best of times and she looked soooo tense that I couldn't watch her. Worryworryworried about her surviving. Do I look as tense as she did?

Labels: Australian life, Idol, RITAs, sport

I haven't exactly been searching out discussions, but it seems from my distant corner of the world that there's not been as much discussion on the changes to RITA categories as I'd expected. Possibly because writers are generally happy to embrace the changes. Possibly because they see them as positive. Possibly because their concerns/complaints were voiced back when the proposed changes were mooted. Or maybe all the heat was reserved for the changes to publisher recognition, PAN-eligibility and vanity/subsidy press definition.

Anyway, I've been thinking about the changes to the short contemporary category -- the one my books are eligible for -- and wondering if I'll enter the new category. In the past I was competing against other short category books: books published under Harlequin series lines such as Presents, Romance, Desire, Blaze, Medicals. Short books, limited by publisher word count. The longer series lines -- Superromance, Special Edition, Intimate Moments -- were eligible for the Long Contemporary category. And there was a category for Best Traditional Romance, which the sweet, non-explicit series book could enter.

But the publisher word counts changed, lowered, making the majority of the lines eligible under the old "short" guidelines. Hence this year's anomoly of seeing books from the same series lines final as both "short" and "long" contemporary romances. Confusing, much. Change was necessary and the change approved and to be implemented for next year's RITAs pits the majority of category/series books in one honking big category: Best Contemporary Series Romance.

There is a second category, Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure. This is brilliant for authors of Sihouette Romantic Suspense, Harlequin Intrigue, suspense titles within SuperRomance and Blaze and the adventure/action segment of Mills & Boon Medicals. But as far as I can see, the rest of the Harlequin lines -- Presents, Romance, Modern Extra, Desire, Special Edition, American, most Medicals, Blazes and SuperRomances -- will all compete for the one RITA. The Traditional category has been deleted altogether.

I see the rationale, mostly. All books entered in this section have the romantic relationship at their core...although I don't agree with this statement from the Board's explanation of the new guidelines: "With the shrinking word counts at Harlequin/Silhouette, there is no longer an appreciable difference between the length of individual lines." I do think 20-30K is an appreciable difference (50K compared with 70-80K) and I don't believe the gap has shrunk, it has just slid down the scale. When I started writing for Desire, I was turning in 240+ page mss. Now that's shrunk to 200.

I see a huge number of eligible entries for this category -- both the short and long contemporary categories have seen maximum number of finalists in recent years, indicating a high number of entries. I also see that the list of "short" finalists this year is largely weighted toward the longer end of the spectrum. Maybe that was just this year. Maybe next year will be different and judges will find brilliance in the concise storytelling and quick pace of 50K books. I know that more words, more pages, do not necessary make a better book. But I also know those extra words allow for fuller characterisation and complementary layering and parallel subplot, more showing and less telling, more exploration of theme, more setting and descriptive detail.

Although maybe this category won't attract that honking huge number of entries I predict because other authors, like me, won't enter every eligible book. They will enter the pick of the litter, the one they are most proud of, and leave the rest. I dunno. *shrug* Perhaps it's only me who sees it this way.

So, anyway, that's what I've been wondering about this weekend. On the silver-lining side, if I don't enter I will save myself the entry fee and the postage. RITA is not a cheap contest. And I will be able to judge this category -- my favourite kind of reads -- as I did this year.

Labels: RITAs, weekend wondering

The finalists in Romance Writers' of America's 2007 RITA Awards were announced this week. There's been an amount of blog talk recently (and not so recently) about the relevance of the RITAs to readers. Apparently most readers couldn't care less, but to the authors this is meaningful, a thrill, an honour, so congratulations to all listed finalists with a special shout-out to my Aussie friends Barbara Hannay and Sara McKenzie and RITA goddess Marion Lennox, already a two-time RITA winner and is a double-finalist again this year.

I'm also thrilled to see my friends and fellow Desirables, the mega-talented Kristi Gold and Emilie Rose and Cindy Gerard and Roxanne St Claire amongst the finalists. (Readers, anyone on the list whose books you love and adore???)

If you've taken the time to pore over the list of finalists, you may have noticed what appears to be an oddity. Like, why are books from the same Harlequin/Silhouette series finalists in both Short and Long Contemporary categories? What gives? What is the difference?

The difference between the two categories comes down to word count or length of the books. Books of 70,000 words or less are eligible for Best Short Contemporary. This covers series such as Silhouette Desire, Harlequin Presents, M&B Modern Extra, the Harlequin Romance and Medical titles with premises and/or sensuality that don't fit the Best Traditional Romance guidelines. Category romances of more than 70,000 words go in the Best Long Contemporary Romance section. In the past this included Harlequin SuperRomance, Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Intimate Moments and Harlequin Intrigue (although some authors choose to enter Best Romantic Suspense.) Harlequin Blaze has always straddled the two categories, with finalists in previous years in both long and short categories. Harlequin American -- I'm not sure.

But last year there was a shortening in word count requirements for many (all?) of the longer series lines. So, some books published late in 2006 became eligible for the "short" category, while longer books from the same line published earlier in the year were over 70K and so "long" contenders. Hence, finalists from Special Edition and Intimate Moments--as well as Blaze--appear in both long and short categories, and the list of eight short category finalists includes just three books from what used to be considered "short" lines. All clear as mud? No? I don't blame you.

An RWA committee is currently looking into the contest and the relevance of all categories. I'm hoping they don't combine all category romances into one section, although that is a possibility. I'd love to see both short and long contemporary categories retained, but with a cut-off that doesn't straddle any series word count...which isn't an easy ask given the range within any one line. Looking at the current guidelines, I'd say the cutoff should be 55-56K. But then I write for one of the shorter of the short lines and so I might just be a wee bit biased...not to mention rather glad I didn't enter this year.

Labels: awards, RITAs, RWAmerica