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*
Press Release:
April 9, 2007
Portland Author Up for Prestigious Writing Award
(Portland, OR) – Romance Writers of America (RWA) is a professional trade association for aspiring and published romance fiction authors, with over 9,500 members nationwide, who are major contributors to the publishing industry with book sales totaling over $1.2 billion dollars a year. Adding to this prominent industry is Portland resident Diana Duncan, a finalist for this year’s most prestigious and recognized RITA Award.
The RITA Award is sponsored and presented by Romance Writers of America – and is the highest award of excellence in the romance novel industry. The award itself is a golden statuette, but the industry-wide prestige and promotional opportunities that come with winning a RITA are the real prizes. The RITA Award ceremony is the final event of RWA’s 27th Annual National Conference, which will be held in Dallas, TX the week of July 9th.
Duncan, a former banker, has been writing for nine years with four published novels. She hopes her novel, Heat of the Moment, will bring her ultimate validation in winning a RITA because this award is judged by her writing peers. She credits much of her success as a writer to her incredibly supportive husband, who worked hundreds of hours of overtime so she could focus solely on writing.
“Heat of the Moment is set in Las Vegas” says Duncan. “I chose this setting because the ‘city that never sleeps’ is an exciting, vibrant canvas for the non-stop action of a book that plays out in its entirety in twenty-four hours.
Duncan says the RITA judges probably gave Heat of the Moment high marks for the same reason readers have told her they enjoyed the book: it’s a story where the reader can cheer on the SWAT hero and handicapped heroine as they face – and overcome – their personal issues in order to be together. Murphy, the hero’s bomb-sniffing K-9 German Shepherd, is also immensely popular with readers.
Readers enjoy Duncan’s Heat of the Moment because it juxtaposes heart-stopping action with powerful emotional punch. Reviewers have praised the book as a thrilling combination of Die Hard, SWAT and 24, and it was Romantic Times Magazine’s Top Pick for September 2007.
Duncan tried to make her novel a story that will move readers, a story they can’t put down, with realistic characters that they’ll remember long after they finish the book.
Hopefully, Duncan will have a night she will always remember after the 2007 RITA Awards are announced.
