NZ/Aus Author Series: Sandra Hyatt

Winner: The random numbers have rolled and the winner of Sandra's giveaway is MAERED! Congrats! Please email me your address: nalinisinghwrites AT gmail DOT com

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Today we get to meet the third guest in my monthly series on authors from my part of the world - Sandra Hyatt! Not only is Sandra a friend, she's a debut author whose first book has just come out. Congratulations, Sandra!!

She's here today sharing the really cool story of where she got the "Call" and giving away a copy of her debut book, so leave a comment to be in the draw.

Everyone, please give a very warm welcome to Sandra. :-)

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First off – thanks Nalini for inviting me to blog with you.

It's great to have something like this going on while it seems so many authors I know are off having a wonderful time in Washington DC at the Romance Writers of America national conference.

I have fabulous memories of last year's San Francisco conference. The whole conference is always an amazing experience – terrific workshops and speakers, editors, agents, publishers and hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of authors all in the one place. And the best thing is that every last person there is passionate about romance.

Then, of course, there are the Golden Heart Awards for unpublished manuscripts and the RITA Awards for the very best in published Romance fiction. (Fingers crossed on Saturday night for Mine to Possess in the paranormal romance category. How could Clay and Tally's story not win?).

But last year's conference was particularly special for me because that was where I got The Call from my editor saying she wanted to buy my book. To get that news, in a place like that, and to be able to share it on the spot and in person with my writing friends (as well as the complete strangers I told) was so much fun.

And now, a year down the track, that call has resulted in my very first book Having The Billionaire's Baby hitting the shelves in North America right about now. It's resulted in me being able to hold a real book with my name on the cover, in my hot little hands. It's also resulted in me being able to answer, when someone asks what I do, that I write romance. This is a dream come true for me, a dream that was ten years in the making, and a dream which I'm hoping is only just beginning.

I love the writing of my stories, the way characters come to life, and the way they shape their own destinies on paper. Callie, The heroine of Having the Billionaire's Baby has always been a 'good' girl, always followed the rules, and always carefully planned her life. But on the night of her ex-fiancé's wedding she gives herself permission to throw caution to the wind and act on impulse. Her actions that night land her in hot water with Nick (who plays by his own rules) and her carefully ordered life is turned upside down.

As exciting as it's all been, it's a bit like a rollercoaster too. There are parts where you're slowly climbing to a peak, not knowing what's in front of you. The book hitting the shelves is one of those peaks, because for so many years the only people who've read what I've written have been a few critique partners and some contest judges. Now the whole world—and my mother—can read it.

I'd love it if anyone out there had experiences they wanted to share where they had doubts but triumphed wildly (or even mildly).