New England Reader's Choice Contest

Judging contests is a great way to discover new authors or enjoy familiar ones for free. This contest, though, is one I can’t judge, because I’m a Published Author.

But what about you? You can get information, and find a place to sign up, by following this link.

Here are specifics, verbatim, from the New England Romance Writers:

JUDGE THE 2023 NEW ENGLAND READERS' CHOICE CONTEST!

Sign up here to serve as a judge for the 2024 New England Readers’ Choice Awards, a contest recognizing and celebrating excellence in published romance fiction. Our contest is one of the few judged exclusively by romance fans.

All judges must be romance readers, librarians, booksellers, and/or unpaid bloggers who are at least 18 years old. Published romance authors and paid reviewers and bloggers are not permitted to judge the contest.

Each judge must commit to judging at least 3 books in e-book or in print format (the majority of entries are e-book format) between January 1, 2024 and March 31, 2024. Judges must be located in the continental United States in order to receive print books, but may be located anywhere in the world to receive e-books. Judges may request additional books to judge after they have submitted scores for all previously received books, up to a ten book limit.

The books you judge are yours to keep.

Any questions? Contact the Contest Coordinator at contest@nerw.org.



Happy New Year!

© Victoria and Albert Museum

It’s hard to believe we’re starting a new one already. Some, but not all, will be glad to see the back of 2022. In my case, it had its ups and downs, but the unblocking of my writer’s block brightened my perspective considerably.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding and the very kind messages you’ve sent over the course of the year. I wish I’d been able to answer everybody, but that’s an unfulfilled wish for a number of reasons. Among other things, my author email ran amok, and the repair process had some unintended consequences. In short, things got lost.

Still, we can’t totally blame technical problems. Throughout the writer’s block I did continue writing, with a couple of breaks, and that was where my time went. It was very bad writing, but it seemed to me that the only way to get through it was to keep on doing it until the problem, whatever it was, got out of my system. That method seems to have worked. The Blackwoods have stopped being impossible. They’re still a bit out of sorts, and it’s still slow going, but at least it’s going and at least they’re making a real effort to cooperate. Fingers crossed we can get through this whole thing in the brand new year.

I wish you a beautiful 2023, filled with good friends, good times, good books, in whatever order you like.