AND, in a three-way tie for third place in the Best Gay Book Category!
I am quite beside myself this morning. I was hoping to be a finalist again, the way I was with Another Healing. All last evening, I sat watching the results come in one category at a time, never quite sure when Gay Paranormal would pop up. I texted with some friends who were anxiously waiting with me, I worked a little on my new novel, and I hit refresh a lot. My husband came home from a band rehearsal. We watched the Joan Baez concert we’d recorded on PBS. I hit refresh — and saw that I was a winner.
Not only is it wonderful, but it really came at a good time. It helped confirm that I’d done the right thing to leave my teaching job last spring to write full time. It also was a reminder of who I am, as I have spent months wallowing through the depressing tasks of settling my mother’s affairs after she passed away last spring. It’s great to be able to move on to something positive in my life.
Writing is that thing that I love to do more than anything, and I will always keep doing it, no matter what. I majored in writing in college and got my masters degree in English. I was told from day one that writing anything other than literary fiction was worthless. Nor did anyone teach me how to get published. A good novel just will, was what I heard over and over. I learned what I could from my teachers, and I didn’t let them stop me from writing what I wanted to write.
It’s been a long road since those days, and I’ve had some wonderful help and support on the way. I’ve learned to write what’s in my heart, and that publishing and all that goes with it is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I’m incredibly proud of Depth of Return. Last night, after I found out it had won, I thought about what my main characters would do. Alan would grin his head off and give me a big bear hug. North, however, would give that little twitch of his lips that means “You did well, kid,” and then turn away. But then he’d turn back and give me a hug, too. And that’s when I’d start to cry.
And Jade, of course, would jump all over me and slobber.
Thank you, readers, for all your support, too!
