The Long and Short of It gave THE MAKING OF A DUCHESS a great review this week, and they also entered the book in a contest. If you have a moment, click over and vote. It’s so easy. The contest ends today.

I write about romance and love in the nineteenth century, and sometimes I feel like I actually live there. I can be slow to change or try new things. But this week I figured I had better jump on the 21st century bandwagon and join Facebook.

It was actually a lot easier than I thought, and it’s been fun keeping up with authors and fans. There are still some confusing elements. For example, I don’t know how to give you a URL to go to my Facebook page. But if you do a search for “Shana Galen” I think you’ll find me.

Some of the fun things I have on my page are pictures of me with other writers and photos of all my covers, including all the foreign editions I have covers for. I also have some early art work for the cover of No Man’s Bride posted.

The other cool thing about Facebook is that it will let me keep in touch with fans so they know when one of my books is out or when my website finally gets that much-needed redesign (November 1st!).

Anyway, if you’re on Facebook, friend me. I’d love to see you there!

Anne (a reader not the JQ) is the winner of Tera Lynn Childs’s books Oh. My. Gods. and Goodess Bootcamp!

Anne, email Tera at tlc@teralynnchilds.com with your mailing address and how you’d like the books signed. Congrats!

Thanks to all who offered money-saving tips. I need to clip more coupons. The winner of the signed copy of Blackthorne’s Bride is Quilt Lady. Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address and who you’d like the book signed to. I’ll have it in the mail to you later this week!

Chey, you are the winner of TJ’s new book The Promise. Please email Shana Galen (shana@shanagalen.com) with your address and full name, and the book will be on its way!’

Congrats! 

The winner of the copy of Would-Be Witch is Fedora! Fedora, contact Kimberly Frost at frost_fic@yahoo.com with your name and address and how you’d like the book signed.

Congrats!

I’m sure by now you’ve seen something on the news about Hurricane Ike. Here in Houston, it’s more than news—it’s daily life.

The hurricane hit on Saturday, September 13, and we finally got power on Friday, September 19. I have friends who are still in the dark. The electric company says they’ll get their power back “after Monday.”

I still don’t have cable or Internet service, so I’m writing this from Starbuck’s. Hopefully, I’ll have service soon, but if I’m not able to check comments today, I’ll check them soon.

There’s a lot to be thankful for in the aftermath of a hurricane. Our house didn’t flood or suffer any major damage. USF and I live across from a bayou, so we evacuated to another city. The bayou didn’t overflow its banks, and we were safe.

I’m also thankful for things I never thought much about before—ice, hot showers, peanut butter, batteries, and water pressure.

Things I am not thankful for include dead cell phones, long lines at gas stations, creeping humidity, dead traffic lights treated as four-way stops, and my neighbors a few streets down who had power last Monday.

So be thankful when you turn on your bathroom light, make hot coffee, or read this blog. None of it would be possible without electricity.

The winner of a signed copy of one of my books is Teresa W.! Teresa, email me at sophie@sophiejordan.net with the title you’d like and your address.

Thanks to all who entered,
Sophie

Hello! It’s me, Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire with all the news from San Francisco. Just think of me like one of those embedded reporters going out on a patrol with the troops in Iraq. Except I infiltrated the Romance Writers of America conference. And let me tell you, that’s no day in a desert mine field.

I would have posted something sooner, but there was a situation where I got a little too embedded in a box full of copies of Blackthorne’s Porcupine. It was a tasty read—I chewed my way through several copies in an effort to escape.

And now! Finally, I’m here and can give you the scoop.

And the scoop is…there are big happenings in the world of romance. Deals were made, contracts signed, agents secured.

And the Jaunty Quills have big news of their own—no, Shana did not win the Rita for Blackthorne’s Porcupine. That honor went to Julia Quinn for The Secret Diaries of Miss Miniver Porcupine. A few tears were shed, but there’s always next year. And with so many talented Jaunty Quills, one of them will surely be nominated.

No, the big news is that—wait! I went to a workshop at the conference and the speaker kept talking about this thing called “show not tell.” So that’s exactly what I’m going to let the Jaunties do—show. So keep checking back. In the next few months you’re going to see some exciting changes.

Guest author TJ Bennett blogs with us tomorrow. She asked me to let everyone know that she’s having a contest whereby anyone who posts a comment on at least two of the blogs she’s touring will get a chance at a free book and a $40 gift certificate to either B&N or GermanDeli.com (a German foods importer).

Check out her blog tomorrow for more information.