Thank You notes...by Cathy Ace

“Thanksgiving Week in the USA, and a good time for all of us - wherever we might be from, or live now - to take stock. What are you most thankful for in your writing career?”

Happy Thanksgiving to all my chums in the USA, or those of you celebrating it around the world. I hope you enjoy whatever your traditions for this time of the year might be. We celebrate

Thanksgiving here, in Canada, in October, where it’s viewed as more of a “harvest” celebration. That being said, when the entire family is gathered around the table, we do the whole “I am thankful for…” thing, and I like it, so that’s what I decided I would do here. They say “It takes a village to raise a child” and it also takes a village for an author to write, get published, and keep doing that time and time again. So, since it seems unlikely I’ll ever get the chance they have at the Oscars to do the whole list of “Thank You’s”, I’ll take the chance to do it here, now.

My first ever published short story, Dear George

I am thankful for: the encouragement of Mum and Dad, without which I’d never have become a reader, so certainly not a writer; Martin Jarvis and Rosalind Ayres for finding my short story Dear George and producing it for BBC Radio 4, which allowed me to enjoy the pride of my family when it aired, and encouraged me to write more; Ruth Linka who was the publisher at TouchWood Editions who invited me to submit what turned out to be the manuscript for my first novel, The Corpse with the Silver Tongue.

 

Mum...so proud with my first novel at Swansea library in Wales

You’d think that would be it, but you’d be wrong. When you’re focused on getting your first book published, that date – the release of your first “child” into the world – seems to be your only goal; what you realise the day afterwards is that it’s just the beginning. Since I was first published I have received words of wisdom from many fellow authors, several of whom are fellow bloggers here, and some of whom I have met at various conferences around the world. Thank you to all of them. I have worked with different publishers (thank you Taryn Boyd at TouchWood Editions and Edwin Buckhalter at Severn House Publishers) and editors (thank you Frances Thorsen and Anna Telfer) and have also met bloggers and reviewers (sometimes in person, often only on the Internet) who have provided so much support and encouragement it’s almost unbelievable. Without my mum and my sister reading everything I wrote, almost as I wrote it, I might never have finished even my first book – their patience is fantastic.

But, the thing I am most grateful for? Ultimately, that’s the support of my husband – my partner on this strange journey. He knew that my giving up my “day job” teaching at University so I could write full-time would mean he’d retire later than he’d hoped, but he encouraged me to take the step, and “go for it”. He puts up with the fact that I get horribly stressed when things aren’t going well with my writing, and lets me talk through problems which make no real sense to him because he doesn’t read my work until it’s published. He’s my proudest champion, my rock. And, when I am up to my ears in self-doubt, or in tears because I stupidly read a review on amazon/Goodreads, and it’s not a good one, he helps me regain my grasp on perspective, and reality. Without his backing, I couldn’t possibly have managed to get eleven books written and published within the last four and a half years, because I wouldn’t have had the time or emotional fortitude it takes to write and promote them without his support. Thank you, my darling husband xx. (Not allowed to use photos of him...he doesn't like it.)

Cathy Ace is the Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The Cait Morgan Mysteries (#8 The Corpse with the Ruby Lips was released on November 1st) and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (#2 The Case of the Missing Morris Dancer was published in paperback in the USA & Canada on November 1st, and #3, The Case of the Curious Cook, will be released in hardcover in the UK on November 30th.)  You can find out more about Cathy, her work and her characters at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter with news, updates and special offers: http://cathyace.com/