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by Kathleen McGurl

We were in our motorhome in the middle of February, somewhere in the south of Spain, when I received the email. I let out a completely involuntary squeal which made my husband Ignatius immediately sit up and say, ‘What? What’s happened?’ He was guessing either Trump had died or our son and daughter-in-law were expecting a baby (at the time of writing, neither is true).

For a moment I could barely speak, and then I managed to stutter out that my novel The Lost Diamond had been shortlisted for a Romantic Novelist’s Association award. It was the first time I’d ever been nominated for a writing award, and I’d never expected it to ever happen. Needless to say, we celebrated that evening with a bottle of bubbly.

I’d been asked by the RNA award organisers to keep the news to myself until the end of March, but I asked if I could tell my editor Priyal Agrawal at HQ, knowing she’d really want to know. She was delighted for me, and HQ paid for my ticket to the award ceremony. I might have told one or two other people, you know, my sons, a few close friends…

At last the end of March came round and I was able to announce the shortlisting on social media. The RNA provided lots of graphics I could share. In my category – Saga Romance – the other writers and I all bought and read each others’ books and began following each other on Facebook and elsewhere. All part of the mutual support that the RNA is so good at.

The award ceremony was scheduled for 18^th May in London. Ignatius and I had a 10-week Airbnb stay in the south of France booked, and that date was right in the middle of it. But they have airports in France, and therefore I booked us flights and a hotel. We flew into Stansted on the morning of 18^th May, and went to the Premier Inn I’d booked. (I’d managed to mess up and booked it for the wrong day, but thankfully they still had availability!)

The event was at a swanky hotel/conference centre near the Tower of London. I’d brought a posh frock with me and some proper shoes. I’d also prepared a short speech on my phone, just in case I needed it, though I had zero expectation of winning…

…until the moment that my name was called out! I was sitting at a table between Ignatius and Priyal, who whooped with delight. I had to walk up to the stage to receive the award, where Séana Tinley, chair of the RNA, was waiting to present it. She did a marvellous job of ushering me onto the stage and into position for the official photographs, then across to the lectern to make my little speech. Boy, was I glad I’d actually written something down!

Back at our table, Ignatius had secured a new glass of bubbly for me (I’d already had two) and I sat down again feeling stunned and not a little emotional at my win. Priyal gave me a huge hug and the rest of the evening passed in a bit of a blur.

Now, a week later, I’ve agreed to only mention that I’m an award-winning author once a day. Although now and again it slips out more than that. As someone said on social media, once you’ve won an award, you will always be an award-winning author!

To see more from Kathleen visit her website here: https://kathleenmcgurl.net/home