My debut novel ended up winning a literary award and got me a spot on the International Thriller Writers' Debut Author stage at ThrillerFest in New York, which for this kid from Texas was a BIG DEAL!

But before all that, I got some one-star reviews that really hurt my first-time author heart, including this one:

 "Takes this book for....ever to get going."

 I'd written a thriller, hadn't I?

 That's when I went to work.