I'm blogging on the eHarlequin 2007 RNA Romance Prize blog this month.  Here's my post from today in case you don't make it over there:

Hello, everyone! My turn to blog today, and I'm very chuffed to see a photograph of my mantelpiece on display on eHarlequin! That is indeed the much-coveted Betty Neels Rose Bowl that I won last April, full of the gorgeous roses that Harlequin Mills & Boon sent me after I got home. I've put other flowers in the bowl over the course of the year, but none have been as lovely as those original roses. It was a real honour to have the rose bowl to admire on my mantelpiece all year, and I've got to admit that I'm really missing it now! My sitting room has been looking a bit empty since I handed back to the RNA to have this year's winner's name inscribed, but I gave it good farewell polish so it should be suitably gleaming for whoever is lucky enough to take it home on 27th April!

It's hard to believe now that I dithered about going to the lunch at the Savoy when I was shortlisted last year. I'm totally pathetic about big social events like that, and it's not just that being half deaf makes hearing very difficult. Basically, I am a big drip who thinks no one will talk to me/no one will like me/I'll spend my whole time in a corner on my own (a hangover from awful, awful experiences as a wallflower at teenage discos ... remember them???)

As things turned out, everyone was charming, of course, and I sat between the lovely Fiona Harper (nominated TWICE for a RITA this year with her first book - how fantastic is that?!!) and Kim Young, who heads up the Romance line (and as my one time editor is also lovely!) Kate Hardy and Gill Sanderson were also on my table, so there were plenty of friendly faces.

There were a LOT of people in the ballroom, it was very hot and the noise was tremendous. It calmed down a bit for the announcement of the Romantic Novel of the Year award, which is for mainstream books, and then it was our turn ... The head of the judging panel described each of the books short-listed for the Romance Prize, and I thought her comments were very generous and thoughtful, so much so that it was impossible to tell which book had won. It was only when she started to talk about how the judges had come to their decision and to mention that they had all felt able to identify with the heroine (Lou is 45) that I began to think 'Hang on, I think she's talking about MY book ...'

And sure enough, it was. I got to do that whole Oscar thing of kissing everybody within reach, weaving my through the tables, beaming in a very uncool way, and stumbling up the steps to collect my cheque and do more kissing. To be honest, it's all a bit of a blur now. I know I had to say a few words and all I remember is staring out over that crowded ballrom and wishing I'd prepared something. I would like to have made a brief, witty speech but suspect it all came out very garbled and rambling ... rather like this blog, in fact. I don't do concise very well, as you've probably gathered!

I think it's probably time for me to shut up. Just to say that it's fantastic to be on the shortlist again and to be part of such a great line up (Catherine George wrote the book that inspired me to start writing for HMB 20 years ago now, so it's a real honour to be on the same list as her!) We all know how subjective judging is, and it's almost impossible to compare such different books, so just getting to the final is thrill enough ... but I've got to say that winning is HUGE fun!