New England Readers' Choice Contest Now Open

A month ago, I invited readers to be judges in the New England Readers’ Choice Awards.

The contest is now open, and I’m inviting authors to enter their works.

Following is the invitation from the New England Romance Writers, of which organization I am a proud member and have been for many years.

~~~~~~~

Welcome to the 2024 New England Readers’ Choice Awards contest for published authors, recognizing excellence in published romance fiction. Sponsored by New England Romance Writers, the NERCA contest is one of the few judged exclusively by fans: librarians, booksellers, and devoted romance readers.

This year, the grand prize winner of the New England Readers’ Choice contest will receive admission to Write Better Faster 101, offered by Becca Syme and Better-Faster Academy! The first, second, and third place winners in each category will receive a web badge, as well as a printed award certificate. Winners will be announced on the NERW website and on NERW’s social media accounts. Questions? Please contact contest@nerw.org.

CONTEST CATEGORIES

  • Contemporary Romance: Long (above 80K words)

  • Contemporary Romance: Short (40K-80K words)

  • Erotic Romance

  • Historical Romance

  • Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Time Travel Romance

  • Romance Novella (20-40K words)

  • Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements

  • Romantic Suspense

To Enter: Please visit the the contest entry page.

For more information, please follow this link. Or, you can email the contest coordinator at contest@nerw.org.

Please feel free to share this information.

The Two Nerdy History Girls Return. Again.

Once more, Meena Jain, of the Ashland Public Library here in Massachusetts, has invited Susan Holloway Scott and me for a session of nerdy history. Susan and I retired from writing Two Nerdy History Girls blog posts a few years ago, but the blog is still there. Every so often, I pay a visit, to look up this or that.

Our Zoom event, though, offers us time to take questions from our readers. It’s fun for a number of reasons. We never know what subject will come up. Sometimes we get to debunk myths. Sometimes we find ourselves in that grey area of “it depends.” But being nerdy history girls, we love the challenge. In my case, it can get my brain out of the Work-in-Slow-Progress* and onto Something Completely Different. I hope you’ll join us. Here is some useful information:

Virtual - The Two Nerdy History Girls Ride Again!

Wednesday 10 January 2024 at 7pm ET

You’ll find event details here.

You can register here.

You can get in touch with Ashland Public Library via this email address.

One other Ashland Public Library note: Saturday 18 May 2024 brings Spring RomCon from 10-4pm. I will be there, along with a stellar cast of authors. If you think you’ll be in the area, you might want to mark your calendar. More info to come.

* Very nearly done!

A New Year begins

Bird on a leaf with Happy New Year greeting.

The Ornamental of Japan (edited). Image courtesy Sachsen.digital

Whether you see it in, maybe with fireworks or parties, or whether you wake up to find it arrived, I hope this new one turns out a good one. We’ll hope for peace, love, and understanding in the world. Yes, it’s a tall order, but is it too much to ask for a few steps in that direction?

May you find these things in your own life. May you have more reasons to smile than not.

In any case, you have an advantage in that regard, being readers.

So, yes, may you have books, wonderful books, and plenty of them!

Happy 2024!