The romance industry morns the passing of one of our leaders last week. Editor Kate Duffy was a force to be reckoned with. She had a huge  impact on the changing face of romance. She will be missed. Ms. Duffy lost a battle with cancer at age 56. Her obituary runs today in the New York Times, which you can read here.

I was lucky to have met Kate at the 2008 RWA National Conference in San Francisco. As a shy, newby writer, I had little knowledge of the editing side of the industry, but I had heard tales of the great Kate Duffy. She was a dragon lady, or so I’d heard, and a born and bred New Yorker. When I sat down at the hotel bar next to, what I assumed was, a fellow single conference goer and struck up a conversation, the last thing I expected was to meet an editor, let alone The Kate Duffy. I blogged a tongue-in-cheek version of the evening, but the upshot was that Kate made an impression on me that night. She was very kind and generous. I had a realization: Editors are people too, not fire-breathing dragons or mythical giants.

Kate will be missed. Her legacy lives on, and her impact on this little author will not be forgotten.

Meeting Kate Duffy, the Editorial Director for Kensington, was one of the high points of my RWA conference experience. She was very nice, and I’m glad I didn’t know who she was when I sat down and started chatting. I would never have worked up the nerve to talk to her otherwise!

Ms. Duffy writes in her interview with the Fog City Divas that if she could do it all over again, “I’d figure out what gave me the reputation of being “scary”. And that is a word I see a lot out there. I wouldn’t change it, mind you, I’d just like to know what it is ’cause it certainly doesn’t work in the office.” Haha. It was only her name that was scary – THE Kate Duffy.

Author Lori Foster interviewed her for All About Romance, where Ms. Duffy said “Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot write. The trick is in pulling it off. But to not even try? That’s crazy talk.” She also shared a story where she ran into Russell Crowe in New York, and had the same OMG squee moment that I did when meeting her. She also advised, “You do not need an agent to submit material of any kind to me. If you have a completed manuscript, it is best to send the whole thing.”

In an interview on the Title Wave blog, Ms. Duffy said, “You’d better be good. You’d better be great. Because the people we currently publish are. Don’t worry about promo, meeting the right people or contests.”

Author Barbara Webb shared her notes from a 2007 RWA conference workshop with Ms. Duffy, in which she said “Get off the Internet and write books!!”

Barbara Vey asked her about romance novels in this YouTube clip:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty04pG_kutI]

…and doesn’t see anyone she knows. Well, she sees an author, but Authors are intimidating, so she sits down next to an unknown woman eating alone at the bar and strikes up a conversation. The award ceremony starts in an hour, so no one is wearing name tags and everyone is dressed to the nines. The girl asks what the woman is eating, and orders a cheese plate, rambling on about being a vegetarian and how this is her first conference and how exciting it all is. Strangers, dontcha know, being so much less intimidating than Authors. The woman is very nice and asks who the girl was most excited to meet at the conference. Joanna Bourne being the answer, the two share a glowing moment gushing about Ms. Bourne and how they would give their left foot to read the next book, now. Then the woman asks where the girl is from, and they chat about the Emerald City and how nice the romance writers are there.

“So where are you from?” says our not-so-intrepid and rather clueless heroine.

The woman pauses, “Well, I’m an editor…” – Alarm bells start ringing in the girl’s head – “so I live in Manhattan.”

An Editor, dontcha know, is ever so much more intimidating than an Author.

“What is your name?” asks the girl in a very small voice, feeling like she’s nearing a very large cliff.

“Kate Duffy.”

“Oohhhh.” Not just An Editor: The Editor who, in Brenda Novak’s recent auction, fetched a whopping $3,500 to peek at a manuscript by some lucky (and now very poor) aspiring author. The girl gulps her drink, feeling rather faint. “So very pleased to meet you.”

In case you missed my up-to-the-minute coverage of the 2008 RWA award ceremony for the Golden Heart and the RITAs, you can find the final award winners by clicking here. These were some of the highlights:

Seattle RWA member Joleen Wieser won the Golden Heart for Best Contemporary Series Romance for her book Under a Harvest Moon. CONGRATS!

Seattle author Julia Quinn won the RITA for Best Regency Historical Romance for The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, which I lurved. She let me take my picture with her and her RITA (see above) and will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Emerald City Writer’s Conference in October. Julia wins the award for Most Creative Save for her sister’s use of a conference sticker to fix Julia’s award dress.

Jennifer Greene won the RITA for Best Romance Novella for “Born in My Heart” in Like Mother, Like Daughter. She wins the award for Best Tearjerker Speech for telling the story about how her novella came out last year for Mother’s Day and was dedicated to her 87-year-old mother. Her mother asked her to read it out loud, and two weeks later her mother passed away. I doubt there was a dry-eye in the entire room.

Debut author Deanna Raybourn won the RITA for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements for Silent in the Grave. She wins the award for Most Teary Speech, and it was lovely to see someone so incredibly overcome. She told the audience that her friend had asked “Did you write a speech?” and she responded, laughing, “No, I’m up against Nora Roberts!” Kensington editor Hilary Sares (who is NOT Deanna’s publisher) was pimping her book big time in the Selling Historicals workshop that I attended. The Lusty Wenches Book Club has Silent in the Grave on the To-Read list for upcoming months.

J.D. Ward won the RITA for Best Paranormal Romance for Lover Revealed, and her critique partner (and fellow awesome paranormal author) Jessica Andersen accepted it on her behalf. Ward wins the award for Funniest Speech, thanking everyone who helped bring Butch “out” and the letter V (a la Sesame Street).

Kristan Higgins won the RITA for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance for Catch of the Day. She wins Best Thank You Speech, saying “Thanks to my husband for great sex.”

La Nora presented the 2008 Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award to Vicki Lewis Thompson, who thanked “Nora ‘I don’t need no stinkin name tag’ Roberts” and shared the secret to her success with the audience: It’s all about having three names.

There were beautiful dresses galore and fancy deserts at the reception after the award ceremony. Kensington editor Kate Duffy warned me many people get diabetes just looking at the chocolate offerings.

Forget the beefcake, this news makes me drool fo’ reals. Author Brenda Novak is hosting an auction to raise money for diabetes research, and the prizes are to die for. I’m hyperventilating here. If you are a reader or know a reader of Romance novels (YOU KNOW ME!!!), you must check this out. (There’s non-romance stuff too.) There are hundreds of autographed copies of books, including Advanced Reading Copies (ARC), and opportunities to get your name published in a book. Even have a character named after you! If you are an aspiring author you have the opportunity to have your manuscript read by an impressive list of agents and editors. Not an opportunity to be missed. I’m going to pull out my favorites for you to drool over (and buy for me, should you want to earn my undying love).

For Readers:

• Lunch with Diana Gabaldon in Phoenix, AZ (OMG! LET ME GROVEL!)
• Lunch with JR Ward in New Jersey
• Lunch for 6 with NYT Best Seller Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love in SF
• YOUR NAME in a 2009 Dark-Hunter Book by NYT #1 Best Selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon
• The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward, Autographed (including the new book!)
• For those who like it hot…A year’s worth of books from Kensington’s Aphrodisia Line
• A 1-year of Kensington Brava Books & 6 months of Brava ARCs courtesy of Editor Kate Duffy
• Be a Character in Susan Sizemore’s Next Book
• A complete autographed collection from Paranormal Romance Author Jenna Black
• YOUR SCANDALOUS WAYS by Loretta Chase, Autographed Advanced Reading Copy
• Lori Handeland’s Nightcreature Novels Collection, Autographed
• CAPTIVES OF THE NIGHT by Loretta Chase, First Edition, Autographed paperback
• Complete Karen Marie Moning Library, Autographed (hopefully with Nathan Kamp on the cover!)

For Writers:

• Critique of a FULL MANUSCRIPT by Award-Winning Regency Author Candice Hern
• 100 Page Triple Pass Deep Editing Critique and Lunch with Margie Lawson (I took a class from her in March and it was AWESOME.)
• Historical Romance Proposal Critique by Rita Winner and Bestselling Author Madeline Hunter
• Ten Months of Mentoring from Ten Award-winning, Bestselling Author–The Fog City Divas
• Brenda Novak Deluxe Mentoring and Networking Experience
• Conference Fee to National RWA Conference in San Francisco Paid by Author Sophie Jordan
• Agent evaluations
• Author critiques
• Editor evaluation

There’s a ton more, including website design and hosting and lunch with various authors, agents and editors (just the thought of which makes the butterflies run riot in my tummy).

Most auctions start April 30th.

The one thing the auction is missing is a date with a cover model.