Here's a version with all the highlights...in just sixty seconds. You can also see a great little post with highlight pictures at my sister's blog, thesublurbs.com.

 

I've feeling very dyspeptic over the whole Judy Mays brouhaha today (you can check out the whole trainwreck over at Smart Bitches). But my spirits were lifted by this little graphic courtesy of my l'il sis's blog, thesublurbs.com. It had my twelve-year-old Star Wars fanatic hyperventilating with happiness, and is good advice for us all:

....and freelance editors may just be the New Sheriffs in town!

We've got freelance editor Caroline Tolley on the Ruby blog today. She was an Executive Editor at Penguin for 15 years before striking out on her own, and she's got some interesting insights to share on the changing role of editors in today's topsy-turvy landscape. Join us at rubyslipperedsisterhood.com.

As unbelievable as it seems, my college class is about to celebrate its 25th reunion (I won't say what the college was, but let's just say it's old enough that my freshman dorm was used to store cannonballs during the Revolutionary War. And, no, that's not one of those "I used to ride a dinosaur to class" jokes. The place is really that old...and the floors of that room still slope from the weight of the artillery.  Oh, and Ralph Waldo Emerson had that room, about a century after the cannnonballs. There was a little plaque about it and everything. And, oh, the ghost stories on that campus!) 

Anyhow, today I received the Class Report book in the mail. Strange and amazing to look at--most people give quick blurbs about their lives in five years since the last Report, and this year there are PICTURES, both our graduation photo and a recent one we sent in. Oh, my goodness... How did all these Real Adults end up in my graduating class??

And guess what else? 

Last fall when I sent in my little blurb, I must have been either sleep-deprived or mildly drunk, because I officially came out of the closet as an aspiring romance writer. Eep!!

Well, if any members of the Class of 1986, welcome to my world! Glad you stopped by!  

 

Yup, my little sis has done it again: finaled in the Sheila!! (For those of you keeping track, she's done a neat trifecta of finaling in the Emily, the Marlene, and the Sheila in the past few months, and WON the Emily so far.)

She did have to change her pen-name, though, after realizing there's already an Eileen Ramsay publishing historical romances in Scotland. So now she'll be known as Eileen Emerson. Same great writing, though!

WOOT, Eileen!!!

Here's the announcement on the Valley Forge Romance Writer's website:


The Sheila Contest
 
The VFRW is pleased to announce the finalists in The Sheila Contest, 2011.

Best wishes as they head into the final round of judging!

Historical Finalists:
Secrets of a Wedding Night – Valerie Bowman
Starling – Virginia Taylor
Rebel’s Invasion – Lisa Chaplin
Saving Callie – Cindy Nord
A Whisper to the Wild – Eileen Emerson

If it's REALLY fairy-tale wedding, it should definitely look like this.

 

...and she's talking dirty! Actually, she's giving great advice about writing love scenes. But the conversation would make your grandma blush (unless she's as bawdy as my grandma was, in which case....invite her over for a beer and have fun). Join the fun at rubyslipperedsisterhood.com and leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of her upcoming MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION!! 

A fellow Ruby spotted this post about the money some fairly "regular" folks are saying they're making on self-pubbed ebook sales: check out this link.

After about sixty-five million straight days of teaching, it's finally Spring Break, and I've high-tailed it to Florida with my little guys to celebrate my dad's 75th. Warm summer air, palm trees, no papers to grade....it's loverly!

Plus we're hitting Harry Potter World on Tuesday. The life, she is beautiful.

This is it, folks! The final Dabwaha Showdown. As Sarah and Jane say, it's: "Contemporary v. Historical. West Coast v. Midwest. Lawyer v. Lawyer. We expect some quality trash talking ladies. Don’t leave anything on the field. Game on. Let the best pantsuit win."

Do we let Historical go down?? We do not.  Courtney Milan rules!! Get voting, tough guys!!

 

Dabwaha is down to its last two battles, and Courntey Milan's TRIAL BY DESIRE is still in the race!!  

Go vote!! Let's not let the remaining historical go down against a novella!!! 'Cause that would be just...wrong.