Yesterday was a very special day for me. It was my anniversary. Not my wedding anniversary, but one that is just as exciting (don’t tell my husband). It was one year since my very first novel was published.

Keeping Sweets was one of the most amazing experiences of my life—not to say that my other books weren’t exciting—but Sweets will always hold a special place in my heart.

I can’t believe how much has changed in a year. Not only have I learned oodles of new things about writing and the publishing industry, but I have changed as a person. When I wrote Sweets, I wrote in secret. I wrote with all the lights turned off, and I wrote when I was home by myself. I was afraid to embrace what I was doing, and I was hesitant to tell anyone that I was attempting to write a novel, let alone the type of novel I was writing.

“Gay romance? Why on earth would you want to write that?”

I knew I was going to get that question, and at the time, I really didn’t know the answer to that question.

But I finished that novel, and it was a labour of love. Evan and Bran took my author virginity (don’t worry, they were attentive and very gentle), and I am to this day, so very in love with those boys. I was proud of what I had accomplished, and then came the terrifying feat of actually letting someone else read what I had written.

It helped that I was sending my words off to a faceless reader somewhere to judge. Somehow, I convinced myself that it would sting much less to have a stranger tell me I was no good, rather than a friend, or god forbid, a family member.

But to my surprise, the email that came back didn’t contain the words “thanks, but no thanks”. The email that came back contained a contract.

There are a handful of moments I remember with the utmost clarity in my life: my husband getting down on one knee to propose in front of Haystack Rock, and then a year later when my husband waited for me at the end of the aisle in front of that same spot. Finally, the moment I peeked at that plastic test strip and there saw that little pink positive sign. The moment I received that contract ranks right up there. It was a secret wish I’d never dared to tell anyone. I’d barely had the courage to tell myself. In fact, I told myself more than once “Don’t be ridiculous. Who wouldn’t want to be a novelist? Just because you want it, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”

That acceptance letter changed my life.

It lit a fire in me and gave me confidence. I had never been more proud of myself and I wanted everyone to know it. I told my family. I told my friends. Over time, I told pretty much anyone who would listen. And when people would ask me why I wrote gay romance, I had an answer for them.

Since then, a huge part of my life has become about my writing. I’ve travelled to the other side of the continent to gather with other like-minded people at GRL last year. I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve ever had over a shared love of the genre.  I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile, and I finally feel like me. A lifetime of waiting to come into my own, and this year it has finally happened. I feel like I am the luckiest girl on the planet. I have everything I’ve ever wanted.  It has been an amazing transformation for me and I wouldn’t change a minute of it.

I will be forever grateful to Elizabeth North and the staff at Dreamspinner Press for giving me that opportunity, and for irrevocably changing my life.