INTRODUCTION: The RITAs® are coming, the RITAs® are coming (to IMHO, that is)!

It's almost here!

For the month of July, IMHO is changing things up a bit. As many of you who are lovers of romance novels know, the Romance Writers of America® hosts their annual conference in July, and the culmination is the Golden Heart/RITA® awards ceremony on the final night of the conference. The RITAs® are the romance industry’s version of the Oscars and represent the best of published romantic fiction (the Golden Heart represents the best of unpublished romantic fiction). This year’s conference takes place in Washington, D.C. from July 14 – 18.

Sadly, I am unable to attend this year, but I had an idea a couple of months ago. What if I asked the RITA® nominees if they'd be willing to bring a little of the celebration to IMHO? I did, and they were. An astounding number graciously said yes, and as a result, almost fifty RITA®-nominated authors have donated autographed copies of their books (in some cases, two!) and many responded to this question: "What does being nominated for the RITA® this year mean to you?"

So, as a result of their generosity (and a few sleepless nights getting everything ready for you, my wonderful readers), beginning July 1 and culminating on July 17, 2009 (the night before the awards ceremony), I will be giving away ten tote bags stuffed (stuffed, I say!) with autographed RITA®-nominated books to readers of this blog. And, in addition, I’ll even throw in a complimentary copy of one of my own critically acclaimed historical romances with each tote, either The Legacy (my debut novel) or The Promise!

REVISED 6/30/09: To be eligible to win the featured tote, all you have to do is leave a comment each week on any of the posts (the more posts you comment on, the more chance you have of winning). Comment period ends July 18th. You can comment on any and all posts, but you can only win once. I’ll pull the contest winners’ names from all eligible comments (once you’ve won a tote, you are no longer eligible to win prizes for July). I'll announce the tote bag winners every Sunday during the contest period. The winners will have a deadline by which to respond or I’ll have to award the tote to someone else. More details of how to win will be up on my contest page in July. It will be an exciting month, and you never know who might stop in to say hello, so be sure to check in daily to see what's up at IMHO in July.

Just to whet your appetite, here's a picture of the RITA® books in the staging area (a box on the floor of my home office).

I've already got a bunch of tote bags ready to go, and a lot of books ready to fill up the rest of them. So be sure to get yours by leaving your comments and by giving a shout out to all the amazing, incredible, munificent, and of course, astonishingly attractive authors who so generously donated their books!

So come back this Wednesday, July 1, 2009, and we will get this party started!

(Note: This contest is neither endorsed, affiliated with, nor sponsored by Romance Writers of America®)