Yes, I know. I NEVER post on this blog. Yes, I’m busy all the time. Yes, my day job keeps me working round the clock, but yes, I’m here today with some EXCITING news…

As promised, I entered SIX writing competitions (I know I mentioned seven but then I realised my novel didn’t fit into the categories offered in the final competition. Of the six, I received feedback on three to date. Did not place in the first two, but last night I discovered I am a FINALIST in the Golden Acorn contest in the Mainstream fiction category. I’m SOOO excited!

This means that my entry (along with the four other finalists’ will be judged by Susan Litman, the special editions editor at Harlequin. Oh my gosh! I’m so excited about THAT! I was asked what do I get if I win the contest? I have NO idea (is that bad? should I go check what the site says?), but I so do NOT care. The purpose of my entering competitions was exactly this – to have my work read by agents and editors and avoid the “slush pile.” No matter the outcome of the contest Susan will read my entry no matter what. And THAT makes me sooo happy.

This couldn’t have come at a better time because I’m heading to RWA National Conference tomorrow morning in Atlanta. I can’t wait! Last year I was overwhelmed with the 2000 writers under one roof. This year I plan to be a little less gobsmacked (hopefully) and get to attend the Women’s Fiction retreat (go RWA-WF!) and the PRO retreat (Yay PRO!). And no, PRO is not some smutty salacious group – you become a member of PRO when you have completed a novel and submitted to to an agent (I have a rejection letter to prove it!). So I’m excited to not be a newbie at RWA13 this year and thrilled to head to Atlanta where I’ve never been before.

First, though I must pack, and finish my “day job” work. Sigh.

Also, I received so much great feedback from the A-Z blogging challenge I had THREE people nominate me for blogger awards and I finally picked them up today. Whoa, I need to stay on top of this stuff. But I’m glad to say that my slacking off blogging has been because I’ve been busy working (day job) AND entering competitions and working on my novel.

So a very belated thank you to Tonette de la Luna – tonettedelaluna.wordpress.com – D.L. Shackleford  – dlshackleford.com  – and Expat Brazil – expatbrazil.co.uk – for nominating me  for the Liebster Blogging Award. Be sure to check out their fantastic sites, too. I’ll be putting up another blog post today about those awards. Very exciting.

And that is that for now. I will be live tweeting #RWA13 from Atlanta and will try to blog each night – if I’m not in the hotel pool, at the bar or schmoozing with other conference attendees. Watch this space…