A few years ago, I told my partner that I had an idea for a trilogy of books. The idea had been bouncing around in my head for a while. (Years)

But the thing is, I’d started writing a number of novels, only to get bored and bail at the 30,000 word mark.

She was really excited about my idea though, and she told me that if I finished writing the first book, she’d get the snake tattoo my character has.

I finished not only the first one, but the next two as well. In fact, my fourth comes out in September and I’m now writing my fifth.

After a search for the right tattoo artist and the perfect design, she got the tattoo today.

And as I watched it come to life, complete with my words on the page the snake was coming out of… it’s a hard feeling to describe. (Photo below)

Humbled, I think is the word. She asked how I felt about it, but I’m pretty crap at verbalising. So:

My love,

Thank you for believing in me. Not just believing in me, no. For prodding me to do what you knew I wanted to do. For getting excited about the books, and the characters. For cheering me on, repeatedly, past that dreaded thirty thousand mark. Thank you for not letting me give up. If it weren’t for you, these books would still be nothing more than vague, unrealised dreams.

Thank you for believing to the degree that you sat through three and a half hours of pain to have something so personal and specific on your body. Thank you for loving me, and my words, so much. I’m humbled, I’m awed, I’m beautifully destroyed and recreated by it. You never make a promise you don’t keep, and I’m so damn lucky. There should be more words, but I’m not sure they’ve been created yet. I hope you just know, the way you always do.

The tattoo is stunning, and I’m so unspeakably proud to know you’ve got it. And it’s sexy as hell. ❤️