The Demon Duke Is Having One Heck Of A (Good) Week

When it rains, it pours, y’all. But sometimes that’s a good thing. An overwhelming, “say WHAT?” kind of good thing.


On Sunday, I got a phone call that The Demon Duke has finaled in the Greater Detroit RWA Booksellers Best contest.

Booksellers Best Finalist Badge

Wednesday morning, I got an email saying The Demon Duke is a finalist in the Golden Quill awards, sponsored by the Desert Rose RWA chapter.

Golden Quill Award logo

Wednesday night, I got news The Demon Duke finaled in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Next Generation Award Sticker

It’s an embarrassment of riches.

Also happening this month? Voting in the Kindle Book Review’s Readers Choice Awards and InD’Tale magazine’s RONE Awards, in which The Demon Duke is ALSO a finalist. (Shameless begging: would you please consider voting for The Demon Duke?!)


“How many contests did you enter?” my husband exclaimed with a chuckle when I told him of the third finalist notification in week.

“More than I normally would,” I responded.

And it’s true. The reason is twofold:

  • Given the initial response to the book, readers seemed to like it a lot and so I thought perhaps it would have a chance to final in a contest. I wanted to give it a shot!
  • When I was struggling under a thunderstorm of grief last fall over the loss of my mother, entering contests was a way to find a small light in a less-than-happy time. It was nice to have something to hope for! Plus entering contests made me feel as if I were doing something legit for my career when I’d set aside so many other things because I just couldn’t work.

It’s truly a little embarrassing to share this all at once. I do not want to be that braggy author everyone hates. But it’s also the biggest blessing. Not only am I grateful for the acknowledgment that maybe I can write after all (Empress of Impostor Syndrome here), but if any of my books were to receive any notice, I wanted it to be The Demon Duke. Because it’s hopefully bringing more awareness to Tourette Syndrome and because I wrote it for my son.



Thank you all so much for your support! And though my cheeks are red and I want to duck my head, can I ask you to wish me luck? Because, yeah, it would be really fun to WIN, too!

 


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