Time to Brag on My Wife

Yesterday's post was about romance novels. Guess what! Today's post is too.

Movies have Oscar and the Academy Awards. Television has the Emmys. Music has the Grammys. Mystery Novels have the Edgars. Science Fiction has the Hugos. And Romance Novels have...

...The Ritas!

The Rita Awards are presented annually by the Romance Writers of America (RWA). Just as in January, when Hollywood is abuzz over the announcement of the Oscar nominees, the end of March brings anticipation and butterflies to stomachs all over the Romance writing industry. Yesterday the calls went out and my wife Leslie got one! Her book "She's No Angel" is a finalist for Best Contemporary Romance of 2007.

She's been a finalist twice before and here's hoping that the third time is a charm. The award ceremony is a black tie affair that is held at RWA's annual conference. This year that will be in San Francisco and I have until Saturday August 2 to get in shape to squeeze into a tux. Good thing we just joined a gym.

Congratulations to all the finalists!

Leslie, you're amazing. I could not be more proud of you nor could I possibly be more in love with you.

My Wife...And a Dead Guy in a Pear Tree

I know I've mentioned the fact that I'm married before. And that we have a great relationship and I'm an extraordinarily lucky man. I'm extraordinarily lucky for reasons too numerous to list. Today I shall list one. My wife is...are you ready?...A Writer. A writer as in a professional, published writer. But it gets better. To be more specific my wife is a Romance Writer. That is to say, she writes romance novels for a living. She's a multi-published, award winning, real-life romance novelist. And she's all mine. Cool huh?

I though I'd mention this today as an introduction to the fact that I want to give her a little promotional consideration. As it happens, now through the end of the month you have the opportunity to sample some of her work absolutely free. Harlequin, her publisher, is featuring one of her complete stories as their daily online read at their website eHarlequin. It will be posted one chapter each weekday through the end of the month. It started this past Monday so there are already five chapters available. It's called "And a Dead Guy in a Pear Tree" and yes, it's Christmas themed. Can't you tell?

Her next book "One Wild Wedding Night" will be released next month.

You can read a description and an excerpt on her website. Then you can go buy it. Then look for all the books on her backlist. And buy them too. Hey, we have a kid in college and two more behind her. And I want to retire into the lap of luxury. But besides that she's a great writer and you'll love her. She's my favorite author and I couldn't be more proud of her.

I told you I was a lucky guy.