We are now in February and that means these are my last weeks as an unpublished writer! Dancing in the Fire will be released on the 26th of this month and I’m excited and nervous for people to be able to read it.
This story is a real example of how many highs and lows you can have as a writer. Back in January last year, I was feeling like I would never make my dreams of being published come true and even questioned whether I should keep trying to make it happen. But then I saw that Simon and Schuster were running a New Adult short story competition through their romance imprint The Hot Bed and I thought why not give it a go? I love reading New Adult books (some of my favourite authors are Colleen Hoover, Tammara Webber and Cora Carmack) and had wanted to try writing in the genre for a while. The story came pretty quickly as I imagined a cabin in the woods and two characters stuck there alone and what might happen with them!
I sent it off thinking I had written a cute story that was fun to write and I hoped it would be fun to read but I had no idea what kind of story they were looking for or what kind of stories others would be sending in. I put it out of my mind as all us writers try to do when we submit something (and usually fail at doing this!) and was surprised and delighted when they announced in June on their Twitter @TheHotBed that I was the winner. I stared at my phone not quite believing the tweet with my name in it but then my lovely editor Emma emailed me to confirm the news.
It’s been a long journey to have something I’ve written out there in the world but it has all been worth it to see this cover with my name on:
And don’t forget you can pre-order Dancing in the Fire now so it magically appears on your device on the 26th. Here are all the links you need:
And if you’re in Australia:
Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered already, I can’t wait to hear if you enjoyed reading it later this month!
Victoria
xoxo
Victoria Walters 
Huge congratulations, Victoria – and a reminder to those who feel like giving up to keep going, things could turn around! I noticed you wrote that you’d wanted to try writing in that genre for a while; does that mean you previously wrote in other genres? Just curious…But superb news. I imagine it’s not even about the financial side of things – it’s about someone having faith in your work. Fantastic!
Thank you! I used to write young adult stories but realised I was better suited to an older age group. I still love reading YA though and you never know in the future!
I’m definitely going to pre-order this as soon as I’m done with this comment. I’ve followed your blog for years and always thought you had the talent and determination to ‘make it’. I’m very glad you didn’t give up on trying to get published. Can’t wait to read this and more of your work.
Love Katie xx
Aw thank you Katie! It’s been lovely meeting you on here as well, thank you for all your support! xx
Congratulations! Beautiful cover and so excited for you! Enjoy the feeling of success!
Thank you Jess!