2009 Nominee for Best African-American Romance
Romantic Times Magazine Awards!!!
“Oh shyt” is exactly what I said when I found out about the nomination. LOL.
This is the book my Mom pushed me to write. Several editors wouldn’t mess with it because the heroine was unemployed, $200.00 from being broke, and about to be evicted from her apartment. Real ish that happens to good people all the time. (Love is not just for the wealthy. Hello.) But I digress…
I was steady pumping out books and my Mom would say “what happened to the one about the pregnant lady that moves into the man’s house while he’s away”. My answers:
-
I’ll get to it, Ma.
-
This editor wants something less realistic.
-
That editor wants me to change the story. I wouldn’t, so it didn’t sell.
-
As soon as I finish this book or that I’ll get to it.
Well, I finally did submit it to Dafina. They brought it, published it, its selling well, and it just was nominated for an award by a publication well-respected in the romance writing industry. (UPDATE: Since this original post, Make You Mine has also been nominated for another award and I just got a deal for it to be published as an audiobook with a well-known record company branching into audiobooks. POW!) (NEW UPDATE: I won!!!!)
I know my Mama is in heaven telling all the nay-sayers “Humph. That’s my baby girl”.
But this is also a huge milestone for me for one other reason. Peep the other nominees in the Best African-American Romance category:
-
Francis Ray (Nobody But You)
-
Beverly Jenkins (Bring On The Blessings)
-
Brenda Jackson (Taste of Passion)
-
Rochelle Alers (Man of Fate)
Say what. Say who? These four icons of African-American romance…and me? Say what you want, but when discussing African-American romance and its trailblazers every last name on the list has been mentioned. (DISCLAIMER: I’m not throwing shade on anyone but I like a good dose of reality and there is not one up and coming romance author who wouldn’t give a big toe to have these women’s career.)
I have read them all (especially Francis. Heart of a Falcon. Classic. All time favorite romance book.) I respect them all for all they’ve done to make it a bit easier for me to get my job done. I am so pleased and proud of myself to be ranked among them. I’m proud to be the up and comer with just 8 romance books under my belt compared to their substantial release amounts. I’m still building my brand and honing my craft. I still have a way to go and I’m excited to know that with each book I will only get better. When it comes to my writing career, I feel like God is preparing me for my breakthrough and this nod is a testament to that.
WOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!