OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

OMG! OMG! OMG!  Imagine those words being shouted at the top of one's lungs across a cavernous granite hallway as you run to find a co-worker who immediately thinks something awful has happened to one of your children because you cannot find the words to explain what is wrong but keep repeating OMG! OMG!    That was the reaction produced by an email from my agent informing me that I had been offered my first book contract...an editor actually WANTED my book!!  Yes, I AM AN AUTHOR now.  LOL

I realize some time has passed since my last blog here.  My only excuse is that I have been writing on book after book after book....then re-writing and editing, etc.  Along the way, I have learned a lot about the publishing world.  I no longer have rose-colored glasses.

Allow me to back up and fill in some holes on the timeline.  In April 2012, I realized a goal....I had an agent offer to represent me.  I signed with The Seymour Agency.  Thus began the regimen of my life: write for 4 hours each weekday after leaving my 8-10 hour day job; write for 14 hours on Saturday and Sunday.  Submit to line editor for corrections.  Make corrections.  Submit to agent for reading.  Make her corrections.  Then hurry up and wait for editors to read and get back with decisions.  One publisher took seven months...of course, they lost the manuscript not once but twice when the editor who requested I write that book specifically for her up and moved to another publisher.  I became immune to the emails which would arrive from editors via my agent...extolling what they loved about my writing and my story....BUT.  Some made sense and some did not.  I now know that it is true that some editors are swayed by whether their coffee was too cold that morning or they broke up with their boyfriend the night before and my manuscript was in wrong spot at wrong time!

All I could do was to continue writing the stories that would not stop coming into my mind.  I also learned to trust my gut instinct.  Along came a publisher one day who read a blurb about one of my books on Publisher's Marketplace.  She asked, via my agent, if she could have the manuscript to read as she loved the blurb.  OF COURSE!  She had the book about three weeks and then came the email that sent me screaming from my office.  She loved the story and offered me my first contract!!  I am still on cloud 900.  I realize the road is still long and I will now work closely with an editor who I hope I like and who 'gets' me.  LOL  But the bottom line is that I am an author at long last.  I can say those words and feel that incredible giddiness inside...along with FEAR.  Someone will actually be reading my work soon....hopefully, a LOT of someones.

There you have in a nutshell what I have been doing since my last blog. I am working with a web designer now for my web presence.  I have a graphic artist working on my 'brand'.  And I am still writing my stories everyday.  I will share the long and winding road on this blog....if for no other reason than to hang on to a bit of sanity!

Debbie 

STILL WRITING

It has been a while since I last posted on this blog.  I am still writing....that is the good news!  Over the months since I last posted, I have been receiving those large brown envelopes in the mailbox from the same nice agent.  I make the revisions and send them back.  She returns them with more notes and we repeat the process over again.  It was far more discouraging in the beginning than now.  I can actually predict (a feeling I get) when I know there will be something in the mailbox.  I can now say that I open the box, see the envelope with my handwriting on it, and actually do not cringe inside.  Maybe I am becoming immune to failure?  
Actually...it isn't failure.  The agent keeps asking me to resubmit after I make the changes.  And I can say that I welcome critiques...from all sources. Whatever makes my writing better and increases the possibility of actually becoming a published author...I am open to it.  With that being said, I know that I will always take the ideas that are positive and will help my story and exercise the right to ignore those that won't.
I am also blessed to have two incredible critique partners....Kim and Alisa.  Without them, I would be lost.  They keep things honest and bolster the spirit when I ask why should I put myself through this?  
I have nine books now....have entered contests that have yet to be judged....and am still hoping the agent will want to take me on and help my characters find their place in the published world.  Until that time.....I keep writing!

Rejection?

For several weeks now, I have made the trip to my mailbox as soon as I arrived home each day.  Before opening the box, I would say a little prayer in my mind.  Either there would be no large envelope addressed to me in my handwriting, or there would be.  Over the weeks, with no large envelope, I hovered between hope and dejection.  I had hope as one agent had requested that I resubmit my work after a few changes.  I made the changes and off it went back to her.  Then weeks of waiting followed.  Today, had been one of 'those' days at work...of course.  I came home and followed the usual ritual.  My heart dropped when I saw the large envelope.  A small part of me, I have to admit, was relieved.  I had my answer at last.  I could move on.  Right.  Then I saw the look on my husband's face as he anxiously awaited my news.  That just made me feel worse when I had to say it was a rejection. 
I didn't open it right away.  I did the dishes, cleaned around the house, ate some pizza, and then could put it off no longer.  I slid the material out and found that the agent had once again written a note to me....giving some feedback and things to change....ending with 'please resubmit to me.'
One of the notes told me to take the first 7 pages of my baby and put it into one and a half pages.  What?!  I liked those pages...so did my critique partners.  But I knew that in a few days, I would sit myself down and attempt to do that.  After all, agents know best.... right?  And then I recall watching two interviews with published authors...one had been rejected 54 times and one had been rejected 90 times...but  both books had sold on the 55th and 91st submissions.  Wow.  That's what is ahead of me?  I have to feel the pain and loss at least 73 times? (splitting the difference in those two!)
Does she like it?  Is there any hope?  She fell in love with my hero the first time.  Now I have to cut seven of his scenes?  Is the door still open because she wants me to resubmit?  Once again, I have more questions than answers.
I do know that I am continuing to write.  It would be easier to throw it all in a drawer for another ten years....but the characters in this book and in the other 6 books in various stages of writing will not go away!  They barge into my daily life and want my attention.  Dejected, rejected.....but not defeated.  I will be back at the laptop....making the changes....and once more waiting beside the mailbox.

The Quest

I sent out query letters to five agents.  I immediately got a response from one...The Seymour Agency.  She has requested more pages from me, and very helpful...gave me a couple of tips which I have followed religiously.  I am now a card carrying member of Romance Writers of America.  Of course, I already belong to a great critique group that meets each Saturday at B & N.  I have sent the pages requested to her and now sit and wait....want the postman to bring good news, but in reality, know that it will  likely be a rejection.  I just read that one published author had her book rejected 54 times.  I don't think I could go through that!  I have reached 24,000 words in my third manuscript.  At times, the characters just take over and I have no clue where we are heading but it is always a fun trip.
I continue my quest for an agent to take the leap of faith in me and my books!  Prayers and good thoughts are always needed!

The journey has begun.

I have always had characters and their stories popping up at various times over the last few years.....the last 30 years!  I would have lovely daydreams about these special people and their lives.  And as many of you have done I am sure, one day I was reading yet another romance novel and when finished, I said to myself, "I can write one of these."   Right.  I did just that.  I have to admit it was not that great but I was very proud of it.  I sent it in to Harlequin.  That was my first rejection letter.  I threw the manuscript in a drawer and left that dream behind.  Actually life intervened....two children, long hours of work, family issues, debt, illness...you know the drill!  Yet, those characters just would not stay silent.  I fought hard to ignore them.  After all, Harlequin told me I could not write....correct?

Thank heavens for friends. One day, over one of our biweekly lunches, I casually mentioned to my lunch buddy, Jan, that I had a drawer full of manuscripts at home.  She decided that I needed an outlet from my job...a job I love but takes long hours of my time....in fact too many hours if truth be told.  But she decided that writing is where I needed to be.  Before I knew it, she had contacted another friend of hers, a person who wanted to write also and we were hooked up.  We began our own critique group....of two.

Now imagine my surprise...and horror...when I find out that my writing partner...whom I had assumed was a novice such as I...had actually been published!  Not just one book, but two...and by Harlequin, no less.  I can't tell you the butterflies I had when I handed over my baby...my manuscript...into her hands.  I was ready for lots of notes and bad reviews.  But I was surprised.  She liked it.  We had set the parameters of our group early on....be honest above all else with each other, be helpful....but never be harsh nor mean.  She gave me hope.  And the spark grew into a forest fire!  In one week, I had a second completed manuscript on the table. She likes this story even better than the first.  The characters are no longer silent.  They are vying with each other for my attention in my head and on my laptop.   At present, there is half of a third manuscript in front of me, along with a series involving three brothers and the three sisters they meet, a couple of Christmas romances, and the outlines for two thrillers.

There has also been a great addition to our critique group....we are now the three amigos.  Kim introduced me to Alisa (check out her blog...she is a hoot!)  Did you ever meet someone and feel like you've known them for a LONG time?  Well that's the case with Alisa.  She also gives me great help in my writing with her frank and helpful critiques of my manuscripts.  I am learning a lot from both ladies.  They gave me the courage to take a giant step with my manuscripts.  There will be more about that later in my next posting.  I don't know if anyone will find my blog interesting or helpful, but it is writing and that helps me.  Feel free to add your posts....especially if you are hopeful writers.  We are all in this together!