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Sunday 20 May 2012

Cover your ears, I may shout a bit here... I WON THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR!! Well, my book did, but you know what I mean...

Yes, it's true!  Honestly.  Look...


And, oh, my little chucklebunnies, there was wine...and people...and balloons, and shoes and canapes.  And there was me, in the middle of all of this, giggling like a loon and giving the world's most improv speech which featured (so I am told, for I suffered from some kind of shock-induced memory lapse, and nothing whatsoever to do with the alcohol for I am not that kind of woman, no sirree) incontinence wear.  There is only one phrase to sum up how I feel about my speech, and it is the good old phrase beloved of anyone who has had to abbreviate their feelings on Facebook or Twitter.  And it goes like this..

< headdesk >

I started the evening like this...

...although a little mad-about-the-eyes, which I put down to trying to appear both intelligent and sensible.  Also wearing make-up which I apply in the same way as a monkey paints with a stick.  Anyway. I blame the balloons for what happened next, or it might have been the heels, because first they announced the winner of the Joan Hessayon award for first published novel, and it was won by Choc Lit's very own Evonne Wareham, so obviously I had to toast her in champagne.  Quite a few times, because it was a terrific win!  And then they announced the Romantic Novel of the Year, so I toasted the announcement, and was just about to toast the winner when they read out my name...

And when I stopped thinking I was going to faint, and made my way through the crowd, most of who thought I had come to read the meter, I had to do a speech.  And I fear...oh, here comes that headdesk again... that the only thing that would come to mind was to talk about how, if told ten years ago that I would win the Romantic Novel of the Year Award (no, it never gets tired, writing that) that I would have wet myself...and that I still might...

And people laughed.

Kay Burley presented me (well, she tried to, I kept giving it back - large glass objects and I do not mix.  I've already dropped one television, thank-you-very-much..) with a glass rosebowl.  It is soooooo beautiful that it will be as out of place in my house as an academic in Hollyoaks.  But once the cats have had a go at it, and the dust has accumulated, I am sure it will fit in perfectly.  And after that the evening started to look like this...
And I STILL don't believe it, despite my name being dropped absolutely everywhere, from the BBC Entertainment News website to the local newspaper, and I STILL wake up in the morning thinking that I've just had a particularly nice dream (no, not the one about Tony Robinson and the cream cake...although, thinking about it, that one must be due a revisit sometime soon) and then I open my eyes and IT'S ALL TRUE. And then I think about the others on the shortlist with me (including Choc Lit's own Christina Courtney) and I am convinced that there must have been a terrible mistake.

But I am prepared to fight to the death to keep the rosebowl.  Just, you know, not in heels or anything.

17 comments:

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Many congratulations to you. *cheers* A well-deserved win for a fantastic book. *claps hands* x

Louise said...

Many congratulations to you : )

Victoria Corby said...

Many congratulations - your book has been on my wish list for ages but I'm not allowed to buy any new books until I've made a sizeable dent in the To Read bookcase.

Jan Jones said...

Well, I hope it wasn't a mistake, Jane, because I'm going to get your name inscribed on the plinth this very week so you can be presented with it all over again at the Conference.

x x x Well done x x x

Sarah Tranter said...

Lovely post Jane - and a fabulous win! You Choc Lit girls are a very talented bunch. Worrying that :)

Linda Mitchelmore said...

Fandabbydozy post, Jane.....your star is in the ascendent/ascendent/on the rise (I, too, had too much win to celebrate your win and my internal Thesaurus has gone missing). Ought we to warn Exeter that they are going to be steamrollered by not one, not two, but three Choc Lit authors on 1st August. Advance warning notices on lamp-posts or something.
SErious, serious congratulations!!!!

Juliet said...

Wahay Jane! Lovely post - I love your enthusiasm and excitement.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Again. And Again. And Again. Like champagne, you can never have too much.

:) x

Jane Lovering said...

Thanks very much chaps! I am trying to come to terms with it all... and, yes Linda, I think Exeter should be warned. Possibly some kind of siren might be called for, so that parents can fetch their children in off the streets as we arrive...?

Chris Stovell said...

Absolutely berludy brilliant! *Punches air* Enjoy every moment of it, Jane! Congratulations!

Tracey said...

Yeyyyyy A well deserved win.. I loved this book.... good on ya girl xx

Jennifer (a fan) said...

One of my favourite books, so deserved. Can't wait for your next one (already pre-ordered)!!

Jude said...

Thrilled to bits for you. Congratulations!

Laura said...

Huge congratulations to you! Now- you gotta stop bouncing up and down otherwise that rosebowl is history :)

Seriously - lovely to meet you... and my other half saw you on the BBC - and then I realised that it was you over at Talli Roland's blog .
Off to snaffle your book
Laura x

Talli Roland said...

Yaaaaaayyyyyy! ! ! ! !

I was so thrilled when your name was announced! A very deserved win!

Jane Lovering said...

Thanks again to all of you - after all, without people reading the book there wouldn't be much point, would there? And here's to Conference this summer, where I shall see many of you. Probably in triplicate, once I hit the wine...xx

Unknown said...

Congrats, Jane, that's fantastic! :)

Wish I could have heard your acceptance speech -- bet it was hilarious!

Deirdra said...

You have a fabulous blog! I’m an author and illustrator and I made some awards to give to fellow bloggers whose sites I enjoy. I want to award you with one of my homemade awards: Best of Romance Blog Award. There are no pass along requirements. This is just to reward you for all the hard work you do!

Go to http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com/p/awards.html and pick up your award.
~Deirdra