Where Rose Writes Very True Stories

The Very Real World of Emily Adams!

The Very Real World of Emily Adams has won the international, 2020 Best Indie Book Award for Urban Fantasy. And now I’m crying. Like, really. And yeah, I’ll probably fall asleep snuggling my trophy and my book. It’s just because this means everything to me.

I have never won anything before in my life. Ever. (Well, I’ve won the candy jar at the family Christmas party twice in my 30+ years of Christmas parties… does that count?) It’s not because I didn’t try. I participated in contests. I poured my heart into some of them. I just always lost, to the point where it became devastating and I stopped trying. It’s honestly why I started running. My husband, brothers and dad did a Ragnar and they all came home with the coolest, very-real medals and I was like, “I just… have to show up and run? I don’t even have to win? We just have to finish before they take the finish line down? And I get a super cool, very-real medal? I want a medal!! Sign. Me. UP!!!” I had to get a medal for that little girl who tried so hard but never won anything.

So, when I signed up for this contest, I just expected to lose. I even forgot I’d signed up. When I got the email announcement, it was like a cold, angry hand gripped my stomach. Inwardly, I said, “Oh no.” I mean, it never gets easier to hear you lost.

So you can imagine my shock when I read, “Congratulations! Your book The Very Real World Of Emily Adams has won the Urban Fantasy category of the 2020 Best Indie Book Award.” And you can imagine the tears. And how I cried even more when my trophy showed up in the mail today.

I think all of those losses just made this moment all the more wonderful and important and life changing for me. To FINALLY win for something I poured my whole soul into, that I had multiple nervous breakdowns over, something that means SO much to me… well, there aren’t words for that. There really aren’t.

I just want to tell you—no matter how many times you get pushed down, don’t give up. Please don’t. Your best days are ahead of you. And just because things might not be working out now, it doesn’t mean they never will. You just need to hang on. It gets better. It really does. And it’s so worth it.