What’s a calliversary? Well, you may (or may not) have heard authors talk about getting The Call, as in an offer of publication from a publishing house (or from an agent who wants to offer representation or tell you of a publishing offer). On this day last year, 5th October, I got what’s referred to as The Call, even though it was an email (Emailiversary just doesn’t sound right though, so let’s stick with call) 😉

You can read about my Call in the blog post I wrote about it last year, here. But basically, this is what happened…

I went outside to have a bit of relaxation on the balcony, and just as I lay down on my deck chair, my email pinged (yes I was holding my phone, I’m surgically attached to it). Let’s just say my relaxation lasted all of five seconds. The email said:

Thank you for submitting Fast Forward. I am delighted to accept it for publication (and lots of other stuff, but that’s all I could read in that moment of excitement, relief, and general overwhelming emotion).

So here I am today, one year later, and that book has been published and available for over eight months now. Not only that, I signed three more contracts within this last year, all with Escape Publishing. Fast Forward, my debut novel, was published in February, I Dream of Johnny was published in September, Starstruck in Seattle was published in October (as in just recently), and The January Wish will be published in January 2014. So it’s quadruple the fun for me on this calliversary!

How time flies! It’s been one hell of a fun ride, and let me tell you, being published is only the beginning of this journey. It doesn’t end there. If anything, I have more goals, am more focused on my writing, and more committed to making a success of my writing career.

Now, back to Fast Forward and some milestones that have occurred over the past year…

Cover luurve:

I was over the moon when I got my first cover, it was like seeing my baby for the first time, and didn’t the designers do an awesome job?! I’m also grateful to everyone who’s left a review, and really pleased that the majority have been extremely positive. It’s such a great feeling to know that people have enjoyed my book.

Book club:

Earlier this year I got to participate in my first online book club, thanks to Harlequin Junkie who chose Fast Forward as their book club pick of the month. I had a ball chatting to readers and they asked me some great questions.

Publicity:

And just the other day I got a huge surprise when I was told Fast Forward was featured in the Big W catalogue that gets delivered to many houses around Australia! (For those not in Aus, Big W is a big (well, of course) discount department store, and a huge seller of books). My book was used to help promote their new ebook section. And they have it available for free for a limited time, so if you’re in Australia you can download it here. If not, you can buy it from all good ebook retailers, the links to which are here.

Awards:

If that’s not exciting enough, the book is a finalist in the Book Junkies Choice Awards in the women’s fiction category! Voting starts on the 14th October so keep an eye out and get voting! 😉

…I can’t believe a year has already gone by since I sat down to relax that day, not knowing an important email was about to hit my inbox. And I can’t wait to see how things are this time next year!

Thanks Escape Publishing for publishing my books, and thanks readers for buying and reading them. And now, I’m off to celebrate my Calliversary! J