A Big Thank You!

Paula says a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who voted!

I had a different blog prepared for today, but I’ve decided to write instead about the Preditors and Editors poll which closed at midday today. I’m happy to say that ‘Dream of Paris’ clung to 1st position (yay!) although this past week saw it alternate wildly between 1st, joint 1st, and 2nd. It was clearly a very close call as another author and I battled it out for several days.

Last week I wrote about why I enjoyed Facebook. This week I can honestly say that, without Facebook, I would not have won this poll.

I posted my first appeal for votes on January 1st, and within a few days I was in 2nd place, as people responded and voted for me. My second appeal was posted a week later, and then as the final date drew nearer, I also repeated the appeal in 3 Facebook groups, and 3 yahoo groups.

I was especially thrilled when several people shared my appeal on their own timelines, and when several friends said they’d persuaded their families and friends to vote for me. I daren’t name names because I’d be too worried about missing someone out, but they all know who they are. I must, however, make special mention of Jeannine Gray whose novel had reached 4th place; she was quite happy with that, and didn’t think she could get any more votes, so she then asked all her friends to vote for me instead! So incredibly kind and generous of her.

By last weekend I was in 1st position, and held it for two days, and then – shock – dropped to 2nd place again on Sunday evening. Time for a last ditch appeal!

After that, the waiting! There have been times when I really did start to wonder why I put myself through this agony of suspense. After all, it was only a poll, not the short list for the Booker Prize!

Last night I was in 1st place, but I hardly dared to open the rankings page this morning, in case I’d slipped back to 2nd. But no, 'Dream of Paris' was still at the top, and messages of support flew in from several friends during the morning, and even more as midday approached.

And then, huge sigh of relief. The poll closed and I’d clung onto that top position.

Now life has resumed a semblance of normality again – although I do confess to having a big smile on my face.

This blog post, therefore, is a tribute and a huge thank you to all my Facebook friends who voted for me, and to those who persuaded their friends to vote too.