Temptation won the Golden Quill Best First Book contest (with a little help from my editors)

I’m thrilled to announce that Temptation has been chosen as the Golden Quill Best First Book!

Yesterday I was tearing my hair out over revisions for my next book. I block out the internet while I work, so when I logged on, I had a few emails waiting. One was the announcement that my debut novel Temptation was the winner of the Golden Quill Best First Book  contest!

After the glow wore off (okay, the truth is the glow is still there!) I set back to work on those revisions, I would say with a spring in my step, but that would be a cliche, as well as anatomically incorrect. But it does make it easier to tear apart a scene and rebuild it, knowing how much better Temptation became after a couple of editors had had a go at it.

In lieu of an Oscar-like speech, here’s who I’d like to thank: my editor Libby Murphy was simply fantastic, and the final suggestions from Liz Pelletier were spot on too.

(By the way, did you know Ada used to be called Esther? Just one of the changes Libby suggested, due to there already being another character whose name began with an E.)

Moral: If you’re a new writer who has been fortunate enough to land a contract with a publishing house, trust your editor. The revision process is hard (there’s a reason they call it “revision hell”) but it’s worth it in the end.

Back to work for me.