Writing Ambitions

When I began my first book - which will never see the light of day - there were several ambitions I aimed for but never expected to achieve.

Finally, after quite a few years writing, rewriting and rewriting several novels, I've managed to see the following dreams come true:

• Seeing my first book finished - I loved the whole scary experience of self-publishing and learned a huge amount.
• Seeing my book in print/on my Kindle
• Someone buying and enjoying my book enough to give it a 5* review - This is the best way to make an author happy, buy their book, read and enjoy it, leave a glowing review that they can savour.
• Seeing my first two books, A Jersey Kiss and A Jersey Affair - for sale in Jersey's Waterstones store. This excitement was heightened when both rose up the Waterstones' Top Ten Book Charts staying there for over a month reaching #3 and #7 simultaneously.
• Being traditionally published - I signed a four-book contract with Accent Press, a publisher I'd long admired, in August 2014.
• One of my books being up for an award - A Jersey Kiss was a recent finalist in the Romantic Novelists' Association Joan Hessayon Award 2015. Although I didn't win the competition, I did receive a certificate to mark being a finalist together with a cheque from the sponsor. (I'm the one in the picture whose trying her best to hide in the middle of the other finalists).
• Seeing my name and that of my book in The Bookseller - here's the link.

I remember wondering who I thought I was kidding thinking I could write a book anyone else would want to read, let alone pay to buy. This was about three years ago and I couldn't decide whether I should give up and forget about my writing dream. Then I read somewhere that published authors are the ones who didn't give up. This thought spurred me one once again and now I'm relieved that it did.

Georgina X