PARTY TIME!

This week, the Romantic Novelists' Association celebrated its fiftieth birthday with the launch of a book of recollections, memoirs and gossip from fifty years of being at the heart of women's fiction in the UK.

I missed the lunch due to pressure of life - finishing the book, selling the house - but if you're writing or reading romance you won't want to miss FABULOUS AT FIFTY which is available here direct from the RNA, but not at Amazon.  And if you haven't already got a copy of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, it's not too late.

If you want to see what I missed at the party, there are photographs here on the RNA BLOG

PUTTING MY FEET UP...

... and having the best fun. My author copy of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT -- the anthology from the Romantic Novelists' Association written by its members to celebrate 50 glorious years of romance -- was delivered while I was away and in those little moments of peace and quiet I've been dipping into it.

That's the joy of short stories. They are like those gorgeous little miniature cakes I became addicted to in Italy. Exactly like the big ones, but just a mouthful.

These are stories by favourite authors, a roll call of some of the great names -- Joanna Trollope, Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews, Jill Mansell, Christina Jones, Anna Jacobs. Their voice, but in a bite-sized chunk.

I shed a tear at a story by Sue Moorcroft, shrieked with delight when Victoria Connelly introduced "Ginger" (a favourite and very ancient inhabitant of the British Museum) in her story and just drooled with pleasure at Sophie Weston's wonderful Cinderella Revisited.

Published by Mira, this is a book you'll want in your own Christmas stocking and will want to tuck under the tree of every romance reader you love. It's not cheap, but honestly when you see what you get it's a real bargain -- 40 stories, nearly 600 pages. You'll find a direct link to Amazon, UK on my sidebar. It's also on sale in the US or you can buy it from The Book Depository (also on the sidebar) for the same price as Amazon UK, but they won't charge you postage no matter where you are in the world.

Oh, and there's a little taster from my own contribution on my website.

RNA CELEBRATES

The Romantic Novelists' Association is very nearly 50 years old. It was founded in 1960 by Alex Stuart, with an initial membership of 115 published authors, with the declared aim of raising the profile of the genre and garnering respect to match its huge popularity, and sales that made publishers rich and the cash tills ring in bookshops throughout the world.

That it has made huge strides in this aim, is a credit to a lot of very dedicated writers, many of them household names, who spare time from writing to appear on television, the radio and spend hours with journalists to press home the message and to organise the prestigious Romantic Novel of the Year, won by many great writers, and more recently, the Romance Prize which recognises the very different challenge of writing short romance fiction. There is also the fabulous New Writers Scheme, which nurtures and encourages the new talent which keeps the genre vibrant, fresh and the biggest selling section of the book market.

The celebrations will kick off later this year with the publication of LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, a collection of short stories by members and here's a sneak peek at the cover. Edited by Katie Fforde and Sue Moorcroft and published by MIRA, the anthology contains stories by Joanna Trollope, Adele Parks, Maureen Lee, Elizabeth Chadwick, Anna Jacobs and a host of other well known authors. And me. I'm in there, too with a short story called The Partnership Deal.

You can check out the full list of authors at the RNA website. And when you've done that, make a note in your diary to add the hardback edition to your Christmas shopping list later this year. Your mother, your sister, your aunts and your best friends will be so pleased that you did. A paperback edition will be published in 2010.