If you’ve been hearing high pitched excited squeals coming from the general direction of West London this week – well that was me.
On Thursday I got a call to tell me that Flight To Coorah Creek is a finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia Ruby Award (Romantic Book of the Year Award).
I am absolutely thrilled. And delighted. And excited and honoured … and all those other good things.
Of course, being me, the whole thing wasn’t quite that simple. It started with my mobile phone…
I hate my mobile phone. I hate all mobile phones really, but they are useful. Mine has chosen this week to be difficult. It keeps suddenly shutting down and restarting, accompanied by all sorts of beeping noises. On Thursday I turned it off, because I was busy writing the next Coorah Creek Book and the beeping was annoying me. The book is at a really exciting place, where…. No, that would be telling. You’ll have to wait for more on that.
At the end of the day, with another 1500 words done, I turned my mobile on. I saw I had a missed call, but as I didn’t recognise the number I didn’t call back. Several hours later, during a rare moment when my phone was behaving itself, it buzzed me to say I had a voice mail. It was from the RUBY organiser saying I was a finalist.
That’s when the squeals started. I should also admit there was a tear or two as well. A few hours later, it was on the RWA blog, and I knew it was real.
I am shortlisted in the Romantic Elements category which is defined as : novels of any length, tone, or style, set in any place or time, in which a romance plays a significant part in the story, though it is not necessarily the central plot. Other themes or elements take the plot beyond the traditional romance boundaries.
Now I am busy trying to find flights to Melbourne for the award ceremony in August. And I’m going to get a new phone!
I want to thank the organisers at the RWA for all the hard work that goes into something like this. And whoever the first round readers were who liked Flight to Coorah Creek. It’s an honour to be a finalist – to be included among so many great writers, some of whom I am pleased to call my friends.
August and Melbourne seem a very very long way away…
