This past week, I traveled to New York City to receive a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award for my début novel, See What Flowers.

As I have written before, simply writing the book was enough of a success for me. I am proud of myself for taking the risk to pursue my dreams, even if I never “make it” as a writer. The process of writing makes me happy and that is reason itself to make it a priority in my life.

BUT….how awesome to have my work recognized and celebrated at the 2018 IPPY Awards at the legendary Copacabana night club in Times Square–the same venue where the Supremes recorded their Live at Copa album in 1965.

See What Flowers, a contemporary fiction about love & mental illness, won a bronze medal in the Canada-West Regional Awards Category.

The “IPPY” Awards were launched in 1996 to honour the year’s best independently published books. This year’s contest drew 4,500 entries, and medals were awarded to authors and publishers from 43 U.S. states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 12 countries overseas. I am truly honoured that See What Flowers was among one of the medallists!

In addition to attending the ceremony, I was lucky to have been able to play tourist/local with my cousin Laura Keohane who lives and works in New York. So, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience the IPPY’s and NYC with an awesome cousin & friend!

Click here for the full press release about the 2018 IPPY Awards.

Follow me on Goodreads to join the discussion about See What Flowers and to get sneak peaks of my next writing projects!