Jeri Smith-Ready: Rita update

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Rita update

Um...I finaled.

Twice.

Cool.

UPDATE 3/26/07: Here's the Official List of Rita finalists. I finaled in Best First Book and Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements. Yipes, heavy competition in both categories. Good thing I'm not planning to win. But I am planning to ~~milk this as much as I can~~ enjoy the honor of the nomination.

What the heck is Strong Romantic Elements*, you ask?

It's the Best Non-Romance with a Damn Good Love Story. It's sometimes just called "Mainstream." Among this year's finalists in the category are chick-lit novels, mysteries, and historical fiction novels. And, er, mine. So it's a wide variety, which makes it even more of a subjective crapshoot than other categories, because the judges might not have a taste for your kind of work.

However, whenever I judge a contest, I always choose Strong Romantic Elephants, because I enjoy an esoteric mix of reading material. So anyone looking for a full-blooded, wait-until-the-last-page-to-say-I-love-you romance probably wouldn't choose to judge that category. But it's a subjective crapshoot nonetheless, and I wouldn't have felt bad if I didn't final.

I could have entered Eyes of Crow in the Paranormal Romance category, but I felt that it was a fantasy/coming-of-age story first, and a romance second.

The awards will be announced on July 14 at a big hoop-dee-doo wrapping up the Romance Writers of America Conference in Dallas.

Which I somehow have to find a way to afford. Does anyone need their house cleaned? Dog groomed? Shower recaulked? I'm an excellent driver.

*which I've decided to start calling Strong Romantic Elephants, and if anyone would like to draw me a picture to represent that, I'll start a gallery here and maybe take it with me to Dallas. Works in all media, including crayon, will be accepted.

Labels: awards, Eyes of Crow

posted by Jeri @ 3:56 PM
9 comments

9 Comments:

Congratulations!

Posted by: Rob S. at 3/25/2007 5:56 PM

This is wonderful!

Cecilia

Posted by: Anonymous at 3/25/2007 8:55 PM

Congratulations, Jeri! A double-final is amazing and I hope you celebrate from now until July (when you win and then start celebrating even more!).

Posted by: Cynthia Eden at 3/26/2007 12:17 PM

Congrats!

Posted by: Andrew at 3/26/2007 6:45 PM

I was so happy to see your name on the list twice, and I'll have my fingers double-crossed for you. Eyes of Crow is an excellent read!

P.S. Strong romantic elephants--love it!

Posted by: Gabrielle at 3/27/2007 6:15 AM

FABULOUS, FABULOUS, JERI! And Linnea Sinclair will be there to hand you the RITA, and she's a sweetie! She was up for Best First Book and Best Paranormal Romance last year, and won Best Paranormal. I wouldn't be surprised if you won both. Welcome to the club.

Robin

Posted by: Robin D Owens at 3/27/2007 9:42 AM

Thanks, everyone, for the warm wishes. In hearing from other authors, I'm starting to realize what a big deal it is. I've only been a member of RWA for a year-and-a-half, so I haven't "grown up" dreaming of a Rita.

It's nice to be honored by fellow authors, but in the end it's the readers' opinions that count, and most of them, frankly, don't give a hoot about awards.

Not that I'm downplaying the achievement (well, I do have a bit of a Groucho Marx complex), but it's good to keep these things in perspective.

Posted by: Jeri at 3/27/2007 11:44 AM

Yahooo! Dallas here you come!!! I have a zillion fancy dresses that you could borrow, or just plain have given my new job, which really doesn't require me to wear ball gowns anymore. Unless of course Gabriel and I decide to have a dress up day around the house....

Posted by: Adrian at 3/27/2007 10:19 PM

Age, welcome to the blog!

Somehow the phrase "Dallas here I come!" has an odd ring to it. I had a better feeling about "Austin Baaaybeee!"

I'll take you up on the dress offer. I can brag that it's been to Carnegie Hall. And Gabriel can have one of my dresses in return. Soon he'll be tall enough for them.

Posted by: Jeri at 3/28/2007 6:03 PM