In March 2013, Desire: Tales of New Orleans was nominated as a 25th Annual Lambda Literary Foundation Awards finalist in the category of "LGBT Debut Fiction." Along with his husband, artist Jeffrey Dreiblatt, William attended the awards ceremony on June 3, 2013; the event was held in The Great Hall at New York City's Cooper Union. And although William's book did not win, the ceremony was great fun. William and his husband walked the red carpet and had a chance to chat with fellow authors as well as musical guest Janis Ian (who sang her well-known hit "At Seventeen" along with a humorous ode to marriage.)