Blood Roses is the second book in the Blackthorn series and it’s due out this Spring!

I had an email come through this week, from a fan turned very special friend:

“I love Blood Shadows, don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic. But Blood Roses is probably my favorite book EVER (the portion I’ve seen). I am so bloody (yes pun intended) excited about it, I can’t even tell you.”

I got a bit emotional when I read that. A big part of the emotion is because I’ve reached that stage now when I know I’ll soon be parting with Blood Roses. I’ve been working on revisions in the background since the launch of Blood Shadows, and those who follow this blog and Facebook will know those revisions went back to Bookouture on New Year’s day. My editor will be back in touch with me in the next few days to give her verdict – that basically means I’ll know how much more work it still needs before the final polish. After that, it’s line edits and copy edits before I finally hand it over.

Blood Roses has been with me a long time. It was conceptualized years ago (I can’t even pinpoint when), the majority of it written back in 2007. Although it’s not my first published book, I will always look on Blood Roses as the book that launched my career as a published author.

It was entered in Harlequin Mills and Boon’s New Voices competition back in 2010, where it got into the final – the only PNR to do so. It’s scary to think I nearly didn’t enter. I submitted right before the deadline. It was the first time I’d put myself out there for scrutiny and was a test of whether I had what it took to write romance. I was terrified because it wasn’t just a competition – it was going to help me make the decision whether I tried to launch my Blackthorn series or turned my back on romance a while longer to continue focusing on supernatural thrillers.

If you don’t know about the competition, writers uploaded a chapter on an open forum for readers to comment (readers also got to vote). Blood Roses came under scrutiny straight away, but not for the right reasons. I entered the longest opening chapter in the competition – almost 9,000 words long. I remember reading speculation over why I had done it, not least the assumption that I had misread the rules. The simple truth was that I was so convinced I would get nowhere, I entered the biggest chunk of work I could in the hope that, even if I bombed in the competition, I might at least catch an editor’s eye. I didn’t have the confidence to believe I could do that in 3,000 words.

Of course it meant that when I got into the Top 10, I was left with only 700 words for chapter 2 and then only 200 for the pivotal moment when I progressed into the Top 4. It worked in my favour though, with readers again speculating whether I’d manage it or not. The response when I did was fantastic. And those supportive comments, along with the belief of my amazing mentors – Lesley Stonehouse and Rhyannon Byrd – gave me the courage to re-enter in NV 2011 where I finished a finalist again.

Blood Roses helped me believe in myself as an author. It shaped my writing. It gave me the best opportunity to launch my writing career. It taught me that I don’t have to write like anyone else – that I’ll find my readership as me and not by trying to follow in anyone else’s footsteps. It taught me that romance readers are more open minded than I gave credit for before I became a part of this amazing community. It taught me there is a place for books like mine that are a little bit dark, a little bit dangerous and a little bit different. It taught me that I had to stop hiding my writing in a drawer.

I understood exactly what my friend was saying when she sent me that email, and responses like that will be the ones that help me let go of Blood Roses when the time comes. Looking back, I also realise how much I’ve moved on in the last two years from writing purely for myself to having the courage to share my books with an audience.

And that’s why Blood Roses is, and always will be, so special to me.

Come back tomorrow if you’d like to get a few hints of what to expect. No spoilers thought, I promise!

xxx