I’m thrilled to bits by my first success in a fictional writing competition. I could hardly believe my eyes when I opened my emails at the end of April to discover that I’d won second prize in a writing competition which not only carried a financial prize with it but also the promise of publication for my novella in February 2014. Wow!! All those years slaving away writing and re-writing my manuscript really did pay off! So why haven’t I posted a blog before now nearly two weeks after receiving the news? Well, firstly I’ve had to pinch myself to believe the email to be true. Perhaps it’s a scam my mind imagined, a trick? Of course it wasn’t but I just needed further confirmation really after all this time of trying that I wasn’t dreaming. Today I had it. I was asked by the publisher, Rose and Crown books for a quote, photo of me and description of my novella’s story. I’ve just sent it. So now I feel I can officially share my success with all of my followers who have believed in me for so long even when I’ve almost lost faith in myself. Thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart. Thanks for the congratulations card, Clare, which said –

“Thrilled to bits by the success of your novella and this is just the beginning”

I’ve used your words Clare for the title of this post. Yes, please God, this is just the beginning as I’ve got a historical saga on the boil at the moment which is bigger and I hope better than the novella. But the novella is special. It’s my first baby with a message that I believe is important. It’s a light romance based around an Alpha Course which I hope shows that Christians aren’t really all that strange or different from everyone else. They have the same problems, the same struggles, the same difficulties as everyone else. The main difference is that they have chosen to face them all with a God who they believe is on their side.

Now to get down to the proof reading, preparing and marketing…and the journey towards publication.