On the ‘honours’ list …

No, not THE honours list, but the Jackson White Tae Kwon Do School honours list for 2007. Look! Just after Jackson’s promotion to seventh dan (he’s pretty good at this martial art, but don’t tell him I said so!) on the news page is the list of awards … and there’s my name. Well I never! I won something! Apparently I am the most improved adult in the club this year, so I get a nice little trophy to place on my mantlepiece. I’m really quite chuffed about the whole thing. It’s not so much getting the trophy, as the fact that someone has noticed I’ve been practicing!

It’s always a nice feeling to get noticed for something good and I’ve had a string of good news recently, some of which I’m saving to share a little later in the month. Invitations to the Edinburgh Festival and to the Storylines Festival in Auckland, New Zealand to speak about my books show that either someone has noticed my books doing well, or has heard that I’m half decent at speaking in public. Imperial Assassin’s nomination for the Carnegie award has also given my self-confidence a shot in the arm. It’s always difficult as a writer to judge how well one has written a book, but to start to see the work on awards lists lends a certain credence to my status as an author.