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-- Lord Thomas Dewar

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Check back to see what new and exciting things are happening with CRW members.

Coming in June 2006 from Judi McCoy!

The Sweetest Taboo is Yolonda Greggs newest release. It comes out November 2005.

  Dawn Groszek finaled in Indiana's Golden Opportunity Contest with her manuscript, Love's Duet.

Felicia Mason finaled in the 2005 RITA competition for Best Inspirational Romance with her book, Gabriel's Discovery.

Kristen Painter finaled in the 2005 Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance with her manuscript, Heart of Fire.

Cheryl A. Wilson-Bonner won the Heart and Soul Contest for Aspiring Writers at this year's 2005 Romance Slam Jam in Dallas, Texas.

Felicia Mason has been nominated by Romantic Times Magazine for their 2004 CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD in the Multicultural Romance category. Way to go, Felicia!

CRW's own Laura Bacchi did a double take this week with not one, but two contest wins. Her sci-fi romantica short, Chella's Quest, was a winner in Amber Quill's 2005 Amber Heat Wave Contest. Out of approximately 150 entries, 19 titles were selected for this honor and will be published during AQP's Amber Heat Wave Celebration in June 2005. Lori also took the Phaze One Challenge which asked romantic erotica writers to combine a UFO, chocolate chips, and handcuffs in a story of 5,000 words or more. Her resulting work, The Heart of a Hunter, won second place and will be published later this year. Phaze.com is a new e-publisher of ultra-sensual fiction and will be sponsoring another contest in late February.

During a week of lectures about romance writing and romantic movies Professor Bill Ruehlmann (Mass Communications) invited CRW Publicity Chairman Phyllis Johnson to speak to one of his college classes at Virginia Wesleyan College on romance writing and CRW. Phyllis was happy to share the knowledge she has gleaned about the craft during the year and a half she has been a member of CRW and RWA. She covered topics such as why women read romance novels, RWA stats, the mechanics of writing, creating believable characters, using the five senses to color their writing, and talked about the sub and sub- sub genres of romance writing. She also discussed dealing with agents and editors and what they are looking for in a query and a synopsis. Being an outliner or a pantser was another topic approached. Pages from the CRW website were shared as well. An overhead projector was a great place for showing off CRW published authors' headshots and book jackets, increasing interest in the latest book offerings. She also showed a few items that help inspire such a genre.. for instance a few magazine shots of hunks such as George Clooney and Hugh Grant, which illicited some sighs and giggles from the mostly female students. Surely the students left the class armed with the names of new novels to pursue and perhaps the dream of writing one of the lusty tomes themselves. Great fun for everyone involved. This talk was followed by watching the movie, Romancing the Stone. Great movie, by the way, for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Emilee Hines announces her first sale! Love's Agent is a historical romance, set in London and Williamsburg in 1774-75. Amelia pretends to be the bride Richard has sent for and accompanies Geoffrey to Virginia, falling in love with him on the way. It's the first of a two-book deal with Warner Books, editor is Michele Bidelspach and agent is Mary Sue Seymour, whom Emilee met at CRW conference in Nov. 2003. Love's Agent is scheduled for publication in May 2006. Emilee began it 14 years ago, when she first joined what became CRW. Her second book is due July 1.



Crystal Bright-Hollomon, yet-to-be published author, has made it to the third round of the Romantic Times BOOKclub Magazine's "American Title" contest with her manuscript, GRAY'S ANATOMY. The winner of this contest will receive a book contract with Dorchester Publishing. Two finalists are eliminated each month based on the number of votes. The winner will be announced at the Romantic Times conference in April 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri. Keep your fingers crossed that she makes it all the way to the top!



Yolonda Greggs announces that on March 6th,  Honor's Destiny goes on sale. On March 10th - 13th, Yolonda will be participating in her first book signing for Honor's Destiny at the Romance Slam Jam Conference in Dallas, TX. And on May 9th at 6:30 p.m., Yolonda will present Logical Scenes and Competent Structure at Thunder & Roses Chat Community. Then in November 2005,  Sweetest Taboo goes on sale.