"...Teardrop by Sue Amos had our judges lost for superlatives."

"Sue's writing was full of sharp details and transportive to another time with beautifully described settings. "

"...the writer takes us by the hand into this beautiful place where horrible things may (and do) happen."

Over the last few months I've been editing. Again. Teardrop started life being told from one viewpoint, then switched dramatically to another. A few more edits along and I still wasn't satisfied with it. Convinced that the only solution was to switch to the present tense I underwent a supremely horrible month rewriting it to the point where I hated it even more...until I reread it from the beginning and finally thought it was ok.

Scrolling through on my laptop one long jet-lagged February night, I found a link to the Watson, Little x Indie Novella prize. Needing to ‘take the temperature’ of my newly-finished novel I decided to enter under the ‘Communities’ category. Although the novel is set against the backdrop of a crime I felt that much of the emphasis was on the Burgher community suffering the effects of the rise to independence of their island home. I was very surprised to make the longlist, delighted to then find myself shortlisted, and utterly shocked and elated when I won.

As part of the prize an excerpt of my novel is now in print alongside other shortlisted entries in an anthology.

For more information about the prize, see the Indie Novella website.