Quick links - romantic, funny or serious

The short list for the Romantic Novelists' Association awards has now been published.  Congratulations to all. I enjoyed Jan Jones's Fortunate Wager and Christina Courtenay's Trade Winds, and look forward to reading others. Besides the Romantic Novel of the Year, there are awards for Historical novels, Comedy and shorter Romance.
Over 200 books were submitted for the Romantic Novel of the Year. The shortlist of six titles have been selected by a panel of 85 readers from the general public. The winner will be chosen by three independent judges – Amanda Craig, author and book reviewer; Foyle’s War actor and contributor to the blog Vulpes Libris, Jay Benedict, and fiction buyer for Waterstone’s, Janine Cook. The shortlist, in alphabetical order by author name, is:

To Defy a King Elizabeth Chadwick, Sphere
The Golden Prince Rebecca Dean, HarperCollins
Kissing Mr Wrong Sarah Duncan, Headline Review
The Jewel of St. Petersburg Kate Furnivall, Sphere
Amazir Tom Gamble, Beautiful Books
The Last Letter From Your Lover JoJo Moyes Hodder & Stoughton

TV: Absolutely loved the One Ronnie and Harry Enfield sketch about the blackberry, apple and dongle. Laughed until tears ran down my face.  If you haven't seen it do watch.

On a serious note, here is a moving and inspiring clip about a man with no arms or legs who achieves amazing things.

Romantic Novel of the Year longlist

To Defy a King by Elizabeth Chadwick (Little, Brown - Sphere)
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped by Jenny Colgan (Little, Brown - Sphere)
The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean (HarperCollins)
Sons and Daughters by Margaret Dickinson (Pan MacMillan)
Kissing Mr. Wrong by Sarah Duncan (Headline)
A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde (Random House)
The Jewel of St. Petersburg by Kate Furnivall (Little, Brown - Sphere)
Amazir by Tom Gamble (Beautiful Books)
The Island by Elin Hilderbrand (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Queen of New Beginnings by Erica James (Orion)
The Way to a Woman’s Heart by Christina Jones (Little, Brown - Piatkus)
I Heart Paris by Lindsey Kelk (HarperCollins)
His Last Duchess by Gabrielle Kimm (Little, Brown - Sphere)
Christmas Eve at Friday Harbour by Lisa Kleypas (Little, Brown - Piatkus
The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes (Hodder & Stoughton)
Virgin Widow by Anne O’Brien (Mira)
Ten Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn (Little, Brown - Piatkus)
The Search by Nora Roberts (Little, Brown - Piatkus)
The Legacy by Katherine Webb (Orion)
Hope Against Hope by Sally Zigmond (Myrmidon

The winner will be named on Monday, March 7th 2011 at a champagne reception at The Royal Horseguards, Whitehall Place London, apparently.

The winner is usually announced at the RNA's annual lunch, so we'll see what happens. I enjoyed The Legacy by Katherine Webb, not read any of the others yet.

Romantic Novel Poll and Amelia

ROMANTIC NOVELISTS' ASSOCIATION Press Release
The Best Love Story of the Last 50 Years

'Linda Gillard's book Star Gazing topped a poll to find the most romantic novel of the last 50 years. She beat Barbara Taylor-Bradford's classic book, A Woman of Substance and Trisha Ashley's Every Woman for Herself, who were both runners-up. The poll was organised by Woman's Weekly in conjunction with the Romantic Novelists' Association and the awards were presented at a champagne breakfast by best-selling author and Chair of the RNA, Katie Fforde.'   Many congratulations, Linda.  Linda was a Transita author too so am basking at a distance in her reflected glory!

Here is the longlist: A Horseman Riding By, A Woman Of Substance, An Absolute Scandal - Penny Vincenzi, Bridget Jones' Diary, Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett, Chocolat, Consider The Lily Elizabeth Buchan, Every Woman For Herself Tricia Ashley, Light A Penny Candle, Miss M and Me Jemme Forte, Penmarric - Susan Howatch, Possession, Riders, Scarlet Ribbons - Emma Blair, Someday, Somewhere Eileeen Ramsay, Star Gazing - Linda Gillard , Tell It To The Skies Erica James

Far Pavilions, French Lieut's Woman, The Island, Labyrinth

The Nearness Of You - Mike Hutton, The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer

The Other Boleyn Girl, The Rector's Wife - J Trollope, The Shell Seekers, The Tamarind Seed - Evelyn Anthony, Tilly Trotter, Touch Not The Cat - Mary Stewart

Film

I order DVDs so far in avance from Love Film that when they actually arrive I've forgotten all about them. Sometime this is a good surprise, occasionally not.  But we did much enjoy Amelia, the life of Amelia Earhart starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere.  I remembered that Amelia was a pioneer of early flying, the first woman across the Atlantic etc, but fortunately I didn't remember much more, so this film was all the more gripping.  Hilary Swank actually looks rather like Amelia and is well cast.  Do watch it. I'm not giving any links as the less you know in advance the better.

Greenwich Conference

Fantastic action-packed weekend at the RNA Conference at the former Royal Naval College, Greenwich, see reports on the RNA blog.  All the numerous talks I attended were inspiring, including a bracing one by Joanna Trollope who disapproves of pink girly book covers. I dare say a lot of us do, but They who pay the piper call the tune. Fun to gossip with writing friends in such lovely surroundings (the conferences are held annually at uni campuses - not often quite that glamorous.)

Taking an break from intellectual pursuits, I decided to walk to the Royal Observatory, bit daunting as the afternoon was very hot, the path crowded and, it turned out, uphill.  Too many tourists around to have space to take a photo apart from the first above which looks more or less North along the 0 degrees meridian of longitude.  On the horizon, you can see the 02 millennium dome to the right and the office towers of Canary Wharf to the left, with the historic white naval college buildings just beyond the dry grass of the park. I'll definitely go back at a less hot, less crowded time of year.

From Waterloo station, I arrived via the macho modern Canary Wharf and the slightly quaint Docklands Light Railway, but decided to take the scenic hydrofoil taxi along the Thames on the return - hence the photo of the Tower of London all wrapped up.

Feel very happy now back in peaceful rural Hampshire.

Pure Passion Awards Lunch

Just recovered from a great party - a wonderful lunch, just like the Oscars only less longwinded.  Here's an extract from the Press Release:  'The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) marked their 50th Anniversary by honouring two of the world's best-selling and much-loved authors, Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope, with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their contributions to this ever popular genre. The winners were announced yesterday at the RNA's Pure Passion Awards lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel, hosted by critic and TV personality Barry Norman, with RNA Chairman, Katie Fforde (above).

The RNA's Romantic Novel of the Year and Love Story of the Year awards, highly respected within the publishing industry, were also presented. In honour of the 50th Anniversary, several new awards were introduced this year, including the Romantic Film of the Year, The Romantic Comedy Award and The People's Choice Award.

Winner of The Romantic Novel of the Year 2010, which recognises the best of the year's novels exploring the "deep mysteries of the human heart", is Lucy Dillon's Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. The perfect story for our nation of dog lovers, the story focuses on the romantic sequence of events that occurs when abandoned strays are matched with new owners, whose lives become interwoven.

The RNA Romantic Film of the Year, celebrating the finest adaptation from a romantic novel to a film released in the UK during 2009, was selected by the public via www.lovereading.co.uk. The winner was An Education, by Lynn Barber (above, with Barry Norman). The film was scripted by Nick Hornby.'

More about the awards here.  Photos by Kate Hardy.  The shoe below was worn by Bex Leith. In case you think it might have become a worrying sort of party, I should add she only put it on the table at the request of the photographer, Stella Sykes. 

Pure Passion at the RNA

The shortlist for the Romantic Novel of the Year has now been announced. 
• Passion, Louise Bagshawe,
• Fairytale of New York, Miranda Dickinson,
• Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, Lucy Dillon,
• A Glimpse at Happiness, Jean Fullerton
• The Glass Painter’s Daughter, Rachel Hore,
• The Italian Matchmaker, Santa Montefiore
See more on the new RNA website here (and click on link to RNA blog on right of this page) where you will also see the shortlisters for the Rom Com of the Year and the Love Story of the Year, and more. 
Jan Jones's Fair Deception is shortlisted for the latter.  I've recently read her Fortunate Wager, a cracking read.  It's a modern Regency, kind of Jane Austen meets Dick Francis with a bit more passion - properly suppressed, of course.  Really good fun.
I'm looking forward to attending the 50th Anniversary RNA lunch where all the winners will be announced.
(The pic shows my latest orchids - the small white ones are hard to capture in a photo as they're so delicately pretty.  One of my old ones has now been flowering for six months.)

RNA party, buns, books, cooking, and lawn shock

Up to London on Thursday for the RNA Summer party, all good fun as usual. Liz Fenwick and Janet Gover have blogged some good pictures - I was going to post a not too scary one of self from another member's site but it has gone amok this morning - the site not me, I mean. (top photo by Chloe Vereker, taken from the London Eye)

Currently have a convalescing house guest who was presented with this huge basket of buns from a smart bakery in Primrose Hill. Delicious or what, but v. bad for what's left of my waistline.

Recent reading. Much enjoyed Zoe Heller's The Believers. She's an original writer - this time her subject is a leftist US family, and a pretty dysfunctional family they are.

I also raced through one of the Shopaholic books which I found in a charity shop. Made me laugh aloud, even though I'm a reluctant shopper these days. The best kind of chick lit.

Cooking. Delicious lunch in John Lewis the other day - tagliatelli with rosemary oil, butternut squash, and fetta. Using fresh pasta plus some cooked chicken, I reproduced this dish at home and it went down a storm. My local Tesco's didn't run to rosemary oil so I just chopped up some fresh rosemary.

Last night I roasted a pork loin on a bed of roasted veg - red onions, butternut squash again and courgettes. Plus, towards the end of the cooking time, I quartered a couple of apples and stuck them into the roasting dish. All turned out pretty well. Glad I still have the odd domesticated moment.

Garden. Shock horror, the best back lawn has been attacked by animals (foxes?) who've dug about thirty small shallow holes. Not a pretty sight. Any ideas? The holes are too big to have been made by birds and don't look like rabbit scuffs - as for squirrels surely they only bury nuts in autumn.

Found the party pic(credit Nina Harrington). L to r, Liz Fenwick, self, Fiona Harper.

Romantic Lunch

Great fun, excitement and buzz on Tuesday at the Romantic Novel of the Year Lunch. This year the major award was won by East of the Sun by Julia Gregson and has already been sold as a TV series apparently. Here is a BBC report. I reviewed it last year.

The prize for shorter category romances went to India Grey (left) for her novel: Mistress: Hired for the Billionaire's Pleasure(!) By the way, I gather that the M&B authors don't get to choose the titles.

The RNA also presented Judy Piatkus (right) a Lifetime Award for her verve and flair as a publisher. She told us that when she first met her husband-to-be she didn't like to admit she was a successful businesswoman so she merely informed him she read romantic fiction for a living. When he took this in his stride, she realised he was the man for her.

The food was as good as the company: here is the elegant starter. Good effort by the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.

For novelists at all stages

A flavour of the RNA conference, photo by Mark of Mostly Books. For comprehensive and useful writerly reports on his talk and others see blogs by Ray-Anne and Debs and Liz
See Mark's blog too, of course, but ignore his phrase 'fierce drinking'!
Here are hints from the excellent talk by Literary Agent Caroline Sheldon - her 10 pet hates:
-single spaced manuscripts in tiny fancy fonts (should be double spaced)
-lacklustre submission letters with little information
-proposals for 'fictional novels' - what other sort are there?
-non-consecutive chapters - always send the first three
-invitations to 'peruse' a manuscript
-humorous submissions that aren't funny
-rusty paperclips, treasury tags, too much sellotape
-undersized envelopes, unstamped envelopes, international reply coupons
-absence of contact information and undated letters
-submission letters that say your mum loved it

Chichester Conference

Exhausted. Just back from the RNA conference in Chichester, lovely small city with theatre and cathedral (photo credit ChichesterCC). The conference was so action-packed with talks and workshops that we didn't have time to go into town, but I've been there before and recommend it.
The Romantic Novelists Association covers a large variety of women's commercial fiction from, say, Joanna Trollope to vampire fantasy - see link on the right for more info on the RNA. The annual conference, held at a difference university campus each year, is always tremendous fun with a great atmosphere. RNs certainly know how to party. This year's speakers included Jill Mansell, Katie Fforde, Kate Harrison, Mark Thornton of Mostly Books and the amazing 87-year-old prolific writer Claire Lorrimer, daughter of Denise Robins, one of the founders of the RNA. Amusing, articulate, full of life and fun, so encouraging. She wears spiky heels too, though nothing like as high as Kate's and Julie Cohen's blockbusters which were worthy of Sex and the City. Am I jealous? - only in a nostalgic kind of way. Claire L said her mother was great friends with Barbara Cartland but felt she was often a little overdressed. 'My readers expect it,' said Dame B. Ever energetic, Claire L has just finished her latest thriller and has also published an autobiography about her rather grand life which sounds a perfect present.
(Jill Mansell said she's been visiting this blog and loves my garden - had to admit I only photograph the best bits, but at least now I can claim that the weedy overgrown areas have been deliberately set aside to encourage wild life - photo credit Rory Vereker) I think I'll go for a rest now - all that concentration and partying was too much for me. Plus I was back just in time to watch the last two sets of that fantastic Wimbledon final - no wonder I'm shattered.