When I started work on my first novel back at university, I gave it to my friend to read. When she came back with the manuscript a few days later she shook her head solemnly and my heart sank.

‘Well?’ I asked.

Her frown turned into a smile. ‘I loved it!’

But that was my friend and she was bound to be kind. I remember saying to her that if I could reach a handful of readers and share my stories with them then I’d be happy but that day felt like a long way off.

That was around ten years ago and a lot has happened in between – rejections, rejections, rejections… you get the picture! But today I received an email from my fabulous editor at Bookouture to give me my weekly sales totals, as she does every week, and I came to an exciting realisation as I wrote them on a list in my little notebook. Those totals had just taken my career sales past 250,000 copies. A quarter of a million books!  Never in my wildest dreams had it seemed reachable as I finished writing that very first novel and yet, here I am, saying those words to myself and giving my arm a good pinch at the same time!

I have so many people to thank and to share this achievement with – the wonderful team at Bookouture, the genius that is Peta Nightingale who worked so closely with me on the early books and who tirelessly championed them, all the wonderful, generous bloggers and the book community as a whole, the best bunch of writer friends a girl could have and, of course, my fantastic supportive readers.  Without any of you this wouldn’t have been possible. So thank you, really and truly, thank you, each and every one.  I’m privileged to have you all on the journey with me.