Oklahoma Romance Writers of America - National Readers' Choice Awards

Writers will tell you that there is nothing to beat the feeling when your first book is accepted for publication. It's a time of euphoria, but when your feet start to make contact with the ground again, it's a scary time too. If you have friends in the industry you know that the work begins NOW. Edits, followed by promotion of the book, followed by ...

That's the scariest point of all - the book goes out to the public. Readers. People who have paid for you to entertain them. Your publisher had faith in you, which is reassuring, but it's no guarantee. There are an awful lot of books out there. A recent trip to the London Book Fair confirms this, if it needed confirmation. (More about my visit to LBF next week.)
Your book is there - friends and family buy it and say how much they love it. Then reviewers find it and make their judgements ...

My second book, Out of Sight Out of Mind has just made that journey and I'm glad to say is collecting some generous and enthusiastic reviews. But the story has not ended for my debut novel Never Coming Home.

I'm delighted to announce that Never Coming Home has been chosen as a finalist for best first book in the Oklahoma Romance Writers Of America National Readers' Choice Awards.

I'm so pleased to be chosen to be part of these awards. It's an honour for my first book and even if I don't win, I will treasure the nomination. My thanks to all those involved in organising and judging the contest, for their work in making it all happen.