No, no. Not this Rita. The RWA Ritas!

I’m writing this on Thursday evening, the day the Rita/Golden Heart calls went out. I didn’t final. If I had, this post would have been up hours ago and been filled with squealy joy.

Instead, I’m swallowing the bitter pill and admitting how sad I am that I didn’t final. I’m sure there are lots of sad writers out there tonight. But I really, really wanted it this year. I know, I know. A lot of people did. But in addition to feeling sad about not finaling, I’m also feeling a bit of sour grapes, because I feel like the contest hasn’t been entirely fair the last few years due to the number of entries in Contemporary Series category. I’m going to be writing a letter to RWA’s board, because I’m a firm believer in the idea that you can’t complain if you don’t voice your opinion to the people who can make a difference. But how do you say, “Hey, I didn’t final and I think this is wrong!”

(Btw, none of this is to say that I’m not thrilled for the people who did final. I just wish I was one of them!)

To make matters worse, I really needed to get a ton of work today. And, um … I didn’t. My parents were in town for lunch, and it was kindergarten round up at the elementary school (How could my daughter be old enough for kindergarten????). The highs and lows today were just too much. I broke out the lap top at four, wrote one sentence and decided my brain just wasn’t working. I just needed to take the afternoon off (even though it means I need to write like forty pages tomorrow … yeah, like that would be possible).

So I decided that instead of trying to work, I’d just spend some time with the book I’m reading, a really cute, funny YA. And I’m thinking of eating another serving of ice cream. Yeah, you heard me. Another. And you know what, in the spirit of spoiling myself, I’m not going back to work until I’m done with this book. Or tomorrow morning, whichever comes first.