KD Grace - ETO Winner!

Please give a great big welcome to Kd Grace, my lovely friend, fellow Brit Babe and winner of Best Erotica Author 2014 at the recent ETO Awards. I'm so very pleased and proud and here she is, the lady herself, to tell us all about the event…

It’s always a pleasure to be at your place, Lily! Thanks for having me over to show off what I brought back from the 2014 ETO Awards.  Ooops! There are fingerprints on my Best Erotic Author Award! Can you believe it? Err, well they’re actually MY fingerprints. I can’t keep my hands off of it. It’s … you know… it’s got my name on it, and it’s so pretty and shiny, and did I mention that it’s got my name on it ☺ Excited much – moi??? 

KD with her award

It isn’t just that the award has my name on it, it’s all the fantastic memories I have of the 2014 ETO Awards dinner and the party afterwards. I got to share the whole fantastic event with five out of the eight Brit Babes. The only thing that would have been better would have been partying with all eight! 

Brit Babes - Lexie Bay, Victoria Blisse, Kay Jaybee, Kd Grace and Tabitha Rayne - missing due to other commitments Emmy Ellis, Lucy Felthouse and me! 

And even cooler, of the five nominees for Best Erotic Author 2014, THREE of them were Brit Babes! Amazing writers and dear friends – Kay Jaybee and Lucy Felthouse were nominated too! I was in the very best company. 

I’m still trying to get my head round hearing my name called by Lee Schoefield and Dale Bradford of the ETO Okay, time for another little stroke of the bling. (oooh, that sounds rude, doesn’t it?) 

Kay, Victoria, Lexie and Kd

I was in the company of Victoria Blisse, Kay Jaybee, Lexie Bay and Tabitha Rayne, who kept me out of trouble (NOT) and wandered the ETO show with me before the awards dinner. We ate ice cream with fruity-flavoured lube. I know, I know! But it was really very tasty, and SystemJo even had a lube recipe pamphlet. How cool is that? Needless to say it sparked a number of story ideas. We giggled about enormous dildos and enjoyed plenty of fab views of liberally displayed male bodies – and female bodies too! 

When it came time for the awards dinner, we all donned our party frocks and prepared to celebrate. 

The dinner, the chatting, the awards – it all went so fast. Kay and I were entrusted by Hazel Cushion to pick up another win for Xcite Books, which got the Best Erotic Books Brand for the 5th year running, then before we knew it, it was time for the People Awards. Best Erotic Author, Best Journalist and Best Store Manager! I got to start the fun.  And after I blathered something into the microphone that sort of, hopefully resembled thank-you -- can you believe, me at a loss for words -- and got my pic taken, I barely got sat down before Cara Sutra won the Best Journalist Award and I was cheering at the top of my lungs, then the totally awesome Renee Denyer, manager at Sh! Women’s Erotic Emporium, and one of my true heroes, won Best Shop Manager for Sh! We all cheered till our throats were raw. It was great to see our friends take home the bling. 

Kd and husband Raymond

Then we danced! The band was great and, oh wow, can Brit Babes dance! Though I have to admit, before the evening was over I was leaning pretty heavily on Raymond. I did NOT wear my dancing shoes. The room was hot and steamy – as you’d expect. Add to that a good dose of Midlands heat and humidity, and more than a few of the winners had popped the corks to slake their thirst with their complimentary bottles of champagne -- sometimes straight from the bottle and on the dance floor. Of course we would never do that. We’re far too dignified. 

All the while I kept thinking how truly lucky I was to have won such a fabulous award and to have had the chance to share it and share the celebration with people who matter so much to me. Later, when we had all returned to the hotel, we adjourned to the lobby, in proper Brit Babe fashion, to plan and scheme and talk writing. What else could we possibly talk about – works in progress, promo ideas, events, new releases, successes, failures inspiration. 

The girls!

We all agree that we write because we can’t NOT write. But it’s sometimes a very hard, very lonely task, and it sometimes feels like we’re sending our work out into the void. Winning ETO’s Best Erotic Author 2014 and celebrating that win with others who are passionate about telling a story was a reminder, not so much of the glam, because we all know there’s relatively little glam, but of the vibrance and the joy of the celebration when we get it right, when it works, when we find the right words and our story moves other people. I love that I have that in common with the Brit Babes. I love that when we get it right, we all celebrate for and with each other. Sunday night was a shining example of that celebrating together. 

Kd Grace

* * * *

Thanks so much for being my guest today, Kd, next time I see you (which will hopefully be very soon) we'll pop the cork on a bottle of bubbly and I can celebrate with you - oh, and wear your dancing shoes!

You can find out more about Kd Grace on her website and more about the Brit Babes on our blog.