#HEGIVEAWAY

Tell your happy ending story!

The Happy Endings Giveaway Hop was organized by Reading Romances!

What you can win here: One copy of Burning Embers

Number of winners: One

Open to: INT

How to enter: Comment on this post

In honour of the Reading Romances Happy Endings Giveaway Hop, today I’m sharing a happy ending story of my own.

I puzzled over what to share. The story of a little girl growing up in Egypt who one day spread her wings and travelled the world? Of meeting my husband at a drinks party and our unfolding romance which culminated in a beautiful wedding and a honeymoon on the Greek isles? Of the arrival of my beautiful children? Of buying our homes near the sea in Kent and France, all but ruins, and renovating them into happy family homes? Of building my renovation business into a success?

Then, I thought, in a blog that focuses on my writings and readings, there is really only one happy ending to illustrate: that of my becoming a writer.

At what point can one call oneself a writer? I had been writing all my life,  from childhood and through motherhood. But a few years ago – on the encouragement of my family, who knew I had draws full of manuscript sheaves – I decided I was finally in a place where  I could give my writing my full attention, energy and passion. That was the point, I think, at which I became a writer.

I wrote and wrote, and edited and edited, until finally I knew there was no more I could do to Burning Embers – it was ready. I sent it out to publishers and accepted an offer from Omnific Publishing, and so began the publication process.

When publication day arrived and I held a copy of my first book in my hands, it was a wonderful feeling. But I don’t think this was the pivotal moment for me; the time when I said to myself, ‘I did it!’ That came when the first reviews were posted, and the first emails arrived from readers, and I began to get a sense that people liked my writing and understood me as an author.

Really, there is no happy ending. In Burning Embers, I end the story with two lovers declaring their commitment to each other – but of course their story continues beyond the boundaries of the book. And so it is for me. Writing is so much a part of who I am that there can be no ending; I will continue to writing for as long as I am able. But in the story of a little girl, and then a young woman, and then a mother who dreamed of writing romance novels, the ending is indeed a happy one.

Would you like to escape into a romance with a happy ending? For your chance to win a copy of Burning Embers, simply comment on this post.