This weekend has been one of overwhelming good news, book-wise.

First, The Choosing (A Novel of the Pruxnae), my upcoming SciFi Romance. I put The Choosing up for pre-order on Amazon a couple of weeks ago, just so I’d have the link for post-release promotions. In the past, I’ve had very few responses to pre-orders, so when I clicked through to The Choosing‘s Amazon page to grab the link a couple of days later, I was a little surprised to see that someone had pre-ordered it (via the sales rank). Amazingly enough, in the few days since I’d released The Choosing for pre-order, a handful of people had opted in.

So I made it a habit to check the pre-order numbers every couple of days, and sure enough, people were pre-ordering it. Not in droves, no, but enough that as of yesterday, The Choosing is now my best-selling book. And it’s not even been released yet! Richard has had a lot of fun with that little tidbit. He’s earned it. After all, without his input and encouragement, The Choosing would never have been written. 

There’s a little bit of a story behind that. (I’ll be brief, promise.) Last fall, I stumbled across Ruby Lionsdrake’s first SFR, Mercenary Instinct, which I highly recommend. Great SFR. I hadn’t read SFR in ages, mostly because my schedule has been incredibly hectic over the past couple of years. So I started delving into more recently released SFRs, and after a while, I thought, why not? It’s a fun mix of two of my favorite genres. Did I mention how fun SFRs are?

I brainstormed a little and ran my initial idea by my son, who has been my sounding board from the beginning, and by Richard, my alpha reader/developmental editor. They liked it, so I threw myself into developing it and a week later, in early December, put the first scene onto paper. 

I mentioned two things in my last post that are relevant here. First, one of the great things about being self-published is that I can work on projects that truly interest me, when they catch my interest (that all-important ability to pivot). 

Secondly, The Choosing was never supposed to be more than a stand alone. Yes, of course, I gave it a series world. I was well aware of its potential, but I hadn’t really planned on expanding it into a full-blown series. I’m seriously reconsidering that now, but that’s not the focus of this post. 

I’m very grateful to my support team (my son and Richard); to my other alpha reader for The Choosing, Jessica Walenka, who read and commented on early drafts; to my family; to early reviewers; and to readers who have taken a chance on a new and virtually unknown author and pre-ordered the book or plan to purchase it when it’s officially released on the 12th. Thank you!

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Since we’re on the subject of gratitude, I wanted to take just a moment to mention my son again. He’s not quite an adult yet, but he has served as a continual source of wonder, inspiration, and encouragement from the moment of his birth to the present. It has been my pleasure to have many amazing young adults in my life, but there’s no one I’d rather have as my child. Thank you, sweetpea, for late nights discussing everything, for long, rambling drives (and ditto), and for being you.

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The other bit of news was, like the previous one, completely unexpected. I entered Tempered (A Daughters of the People Novel) in the Georgia Romance Writers‘ Maggie Award for Excellence in January. The finalists were announced yesterday. To my utter amazement, Tempered was selected as a finalist in the Paranormal/Fantasy category.

To give you an idea of the level of competition, it was one of five finalists. Two of those finalists, Katie Reus and Donna Marie Rogers, are best-selling authors. The other two, Sharon Kay and Bec McMaster, have previously won awards for their fiction writing. Bec’s book, Forged by Desire, is also a finalist for this year’s RITA award. 

Not even remotely do I expect Tempered to win. But, I’m honored to have one of my novels selected as a finalist and extremely grateful to the GRW, its volunteers, and its judges for supporting romance writers through the Maggies. Thank you!