Apologies to my old newspaper subeditors, but I’m about to ‘bury the lead’ (hide the news) in this story. I hope you’ll bear with me, and it will be worth it.
I stumbled across an email recently that shook my world.
The small headline with the word ‘Finalists’ didn’t clue me in; I was merely curious to see who they were. I’d entered a romance writing contest back in January, promptly forgotten about it, and heard nothing since.
But like the inquisitive person and Amazon book junkie I am, I one-clicked, and seconds later I was a sobbing, heaving mess – ugly crying, nose running and tissues flying like Sally Allbright in the crying scene in When Harry Met Sally – you know the one when she finds out her ex is getting married, and not to her? Moments before everything changes and Harry kisses her for the first time. (Sigh, I love that movie.)
Like Sally, I was overwhelmed by a storm of emotion from receiving unexpected news.
But unlike Sally, for me, the news was all good. While Sally asks ‘why couldn’t it be me’ I was discovering – it could be me.
You see, my debut book Ryan’s Return has been named a finalist in Australia’s biggest romance fiction awards, the Romantic Book of the Year – affectionately known as the RuBYs, run by Romance Writers of Australia.
This, my friends, is a Very Big Deal. (And the ‘lead’, in case you wondered.) It was a double shock: that I was named a finalist; and the strength of my emotional response. I’m usually pretty laid back. Who was this crying mess?
Hours later, I found myself mumbling aloud “I’m a RuBY finalist” with a half-crazed smile on my face. It’s a wonder Woolies didn’t call security to aisle nine. I had chocolate and brie to buy, people! And champagne, for when the RuBY finalists across all six categories is officially announced, today.
I’m honoured and excited to be a finalist in the hotly contested novella category alongside my writing group buddy, fellow debut author LJ Langdon, and multi award-winning authors Carolyn Wren and Anne Gracie. I needed a moment to compose myself just typing those names in the same sentence as mine. This is not me being cringingly self-deprecating, its just showing respect to the calibre of the field, (ask Google).
It is beyond stupefying. I entered the award back in January for reader feedback, hoping to be in the top half of the field. Apparently, I should have had higher hopes. Because the judges, who are readers, have put Ryan’s Return into a field of finalists I’m extremely proud to be part of.
So, the sobbing was about feeling all the feelings: shock, revelation, awe and humility. Encouragement, and validation. It was a lot and felt very personal.
Maybe because literally the day before I got that email, I’d had a ‘ouch’ setback and been telling a non-writer friend that maybe it was time to fade quietly stage left, stop putting myself out there building my author platform to reach out to readers and carve out my place in romancelandia. Maybe it was enough to just keep writing for pleasure, and just enjoy hanging out with my beloved local writing group peeps and the lovely authors I like to meet.
I guess the universe had other ideas. Instead of dimming the lights, it cued the spotlight. And because I’m immensely proud of Ryan’s Return, whatever the final results, come Awards Night at the RWA Gold Coast 30th Anniversary Conference in August, I’m going to be standing proud and tall, shoulders back, chin up and smile on my face (no tears!) because I’m already a winner. I’ve written a book and readers like it. Yay! And phew!
Ironically my first ever blog post was about other awards and why it’s good to enter them. If you’re interested, you can find that post here. I finalled and came third in the Valerie Parv Award then. It kept me working hard, writing the best stories I can, full of emotion, with characters I care about and stories that mean something to me and hopefully delivers readers an enjoyable experience.
If you haven’t already picked up a copy, you can read it on your phone, tablet or computer by downloading the app of your choice, the main ones being Kindle, Kobo or Books (iPhone). If you’re unsure, email me for tips on accessing it. I promise I’m getting better at checking my inthehartland@gmail.com email.
And check out all the 2021 RuBY award finalists on the Romance Writers of Australia blog, they’ve got some truly wonderful books that will make your day, (or your night! Hehe).
And finally, I shared all the emotions here in case they help or encourage someone reading this to be vulnerable, put themselves out there and try for an impossible dream. It’s not always easy but you might be surprised at what you achieve. And the world needs more ugly criers:)