Hello all!
I had a wonderful surprise and honor last night; my book Crashing Upwards won a Lambda Award!
I had some stiff competition in my fellow nominees. I’d read and enjoyed many of the other books, and they were just wonderful.
Winning an award is a strange thing. I don’t typically enter contests because it never occurs to me. lol I’m not sure what made me enter this year, but I’m glad I did. I’ll tell you a little secret, I was only going to enter one book originally, and it wasn’t Crashing Upwards. I decided to enter Crashing Upwards at the last second. I’d hesitated because Gay Romance is such a large category, I didn’t think I had a chance of winning. But I loved that book so much, I went ahead and did enter.
Winning is something I’ll never forget. The moment I first saw my book cover appear on my computer screen as the winner was insane. I just stared at my computer screen, muttering, “What the hell? What the HELL?” lol My dog started jumping on me because he thought something was wrong. Of course then I walked like a zombie into the kitchen where my husband was and said, “I won! I actually won!!” He was so happy for me, of course. Everyone has been so kind, reaching out and congratulating me. It’s been a wonderful experience.
Winning with this book is so special to me because I absolutely loved writing this story. I loved Harper so much, and Sam was such a sweetheart, sometimes he broke my heart. I had tears in my eyes when I wrote some of the scenes with Harper because he was so wounded, and I just wanted him happy. Yes, I know that was under my control, but I got so into the book that sometimes I wasn’t sure what was coming next. lol
Again, I’m honored to have won, and I respect and admire my fellow nominees so much. I’m thankful to the Lambdas for all the work they do for the LGBTQ community, and to the judges who saw merit in my story.
S.C.