Once upon a time I wrote a story. Then another one. As you do. It’s the eternal cycle of being a writer. It’s like housework. Every time you finish and everything is (hopefully) perfect you have to start again.

I’ve lost count of the number of manuscripts I’ve started. Some will never see the light of day. But there are over a dozen that I finished. I made it to the end. And that’s how I know I can write.

If you can take your characters on a journey and get them to the end, you have written a story. We won’t discuss quality. That comes with practice. With those thirteen plus finished stories. The *cough* fifty plus unfinished remnants.

In the current climate, it’s very easy to self publish. It was always the consolation when I received rejections for my beautiful (in my head) stories. But if no-one else wanted to publish my stories, what did that say about the quality of my work?

Then in 2017 I entered a novella called Swept Away into the prestigious Romance Book of the Year competition run by RWAus. I had written it as part of a collaboration with other emerging writers for an anthology called Beautiful Disaster: An Anthology published in 2016. (Which is still available out there.)

I was nominated as a finalist in the RuBY. So at least that one time, I know I wrote well enough for people to enjoy the story. The top three were all self-published novellas. Both other nominees were multi-published experienced authors. To make my life complete, I was highly commended in the Valerie Parv Award. That meant top six. So I wrote reasonably well twice.

That gave me the courage to self-publish my little Christmas Novella. It didn’t exactly make a profit, but I learned a lot. Now I’m republishing Swept Away with a companion novella called Road Trip Baby. In February, Sean and Fran’s cousin Maybelle has a story in Man of Ice, part of the Medal Up Duology with the fabulous Nicole Flockton, set at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Two stories about finding and losing and finding love again with The One. Siblings Sean and Francesca Li have loved and lost. In these two stories, they have a second chance to work out a happy ending.

Swept Away was published in the Beautiful Disaster Anthology and was a finalist in the 2017 RuBY competition. The draft version of Road Trip Baby was on Wattpad. This edition brings the two linked stories together for the first time with an all new epilogue. Because epilogue.

Swept Away.

Swept apart by the force of a tsunami, Sean and Sophie have fought their own battles to survive. Now they must confront the challenges caused by the decisions they made separately, if they want to be together again.

Sophia thought she had her happy ever after. Until it was swept away along with her brand new husband only hours after arriving at their tropical honeymoon destination.

Sean lost a lot more than a limb in the aftermath of the tsunami that separated him from his wife. Still battling the effects of that day, he has to make hard decisions about his career as a musician.

Pushed into an engagement with a girl chosen by his parents, he can’t believe his eyes when Sophie appears at the party with another man.

Now both must choose between a new life and the life they thought lost.

Road Trip Baby.

Whose baby?

Fran knows Ethan doesn’t want children, but when contraceptive failure leads to pregnancy, she didn’t expect his total denial of responsibility. Now she has one last chance to find out the secret stopping him from accepting his child. The clock is ticking and they are a long way from home.

Ethan knew sleeping with his sister’s best friend was a mistake. Especially when he can’t give her the home and family she deserves. Her betrayal stunned him into a reaction that sent her away. Now he’s thinking clearly and maybe he does have something to offer, even if he has to reveal his shameful secret to make it happen.

Buy Links for the Duet. It’s also available in paperback from US Amazon.