And so it turns out...

... I'm sensitive to pseudoephedrine. Unfortunately I learnt this at about 3.30am this morning when still totally wide awake - and I never have trouble sleeping - I read the fine text on my over the counter cold and flu tablets. And there it was: sleeplessness may also occur in individuals sensitive to pseudoephedrine. That must be me.

So, when my conference roomie's alarm went off I was still wide awake. I didn't sleep all night! Excellent start to the conference!!!

I felt scarily fine, so went to the first half of Deb Dixon's workshop. It was brilliant, but i need to get some sleep so I can still go to the cocktail party tonight. Housekeeping is finishing cleaning our room now, and then I'm going to have a nap.

I'm writing this on my iPhone so apologies if it makes little sense.

Right. Sleep time!!

Good news, conference countdown and costumes!

Linley (on right) and I at Sydney 2007

This time next week I'll be at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Sydney. I absolutely adore the RWA conferences, and am very excited. This will be my fourth conference, and one of my favourite parts of each conference is the Harlequin Cocktail Party, which is on the Friday night. Each year I've had great fun coming up with a costume, urged on by my costume queen room mate, Linley Maroney. At my first conference in 2007, the cocktail party theme was Venetian Carnivale.  My costume involved a $29 wedding dress (bargain of the century), a brocade doona cover, some ribbon, lace and my fabulous mum's sewing skills. Linley's dress was absolutely spectacular, as you can see!

Paula Roe and I in 2008

In 2008 we were in Melbourne, and for the One Enchanted Century theme (for 100 years of Mills & Boon) I made a dress that consisted of laminated Mills & Boon covers, both present day and very old. I loved how it turned out, and I even won a prize :) (books, yay!). The photo is of me and Paula Roe (with her fabulous mermaid costume).

Last year the theme was Arabian Nights. I had a costume made while I was in Vietnam a few months earlier, so went in an I Dream of Jeannie costume. The photo (below) is of me and Paula, again - believe it or not! The photo is of Saddam and I recreating the classic "climbing the man tree" romance novel cover pose :)  However, as much as I liked that costume, about half of the party-goers had the same idea. This year I'm determined to have a "different" costume, and as I type this, I'm surrounded by the finishing touches of my costume. This year the theme is "Fantasy Island", but I'll keep my costume a surprise for now ;)

And now... for the good news!

Climbing the man tree, 2009

I woke up this morning to an email from The Golden Acorn Contest coordinator. I won my category!! This was a massive shock after my 5th placing, and no request, for The Great Beginnings contest.

And... the best bit (by far), is that this Harlequin editor's feedback was just lovely, and she has requested my partial. Hurrah!!!!!! Favourite bit of feedback: "We felt there was real promise in this voice".


Yippee!


So I guess what I've learnt from this is that even if one editor doesn't like my manuscript enough to request it (like with the Great Beginnings), it isn't necessarily the death of the manuscript.

Which is a relief :)