Posts Tagged ‘A Seductive Kiss’
Life is a series of challenges; how you respond to those challenges will determine your quality of life. I didn’t write those words lightly. Life for me growing up was fun and carefree. My mother stayed at home while my father worked. They taught their five children a simply philosophy: you can be anything you want, and don’t forget be thankful to God for all of His blessings.
Fast forward as an adult, happily married and with a wonderful daughter, I was struck with the desire to write. I’d always loved to read. Grimm’s Fairy Tales was the first book my mother gave me. I happy passed it on to my daughter. In those stories the impossible became tangible to me. Words carried their own magic. But it wasn’t until I read a romance novel that I knew I wanted to create that special magic that transported the reader, captured their imagination and made them stakeholders in the lives of the characters I created. It wasn’t as easy as I’d imagined. I was about to meet those challenges I mentioned head on.
After a friend in my critique group gave me back my short story bleeding with red ink. I cringed in shame, fear and self doubt. Did I have it in me to become a published author? I had the support of my family telling me I could: my critique group – including the one who had bloodied my story – telling me I could. Picking myself up, I kept trying until I thought I had a story that might capture the attention of an editor at a New York publishing house. It didn’t. That rejection, the first of many, wounded me deeply. Especially when friends in my writing group were selling their first stories. I was happy for them, but wondered if my time would ever come.
I have to be honest here and say I don’t take rejection well. I had succeeded in everything in my life until that point. Rejection cuts deep no matter the source. I’d spend weeks bemoaning the fact that an editor in New York didn’t think I had what it took to write an engaging story before it would eventually sink in that it was one person’s opinion. Writing was my dream and I’d always been told that I could do anything.
Five long years later I sold a short story. After selling 16 shirt stories to five different New York editors, I sold my first book on Christmas Eve after a wonderful day of shopping with my daughter. I thought I was on my way – until that publishing house folded and I had to find another one. Eighteen months of searching and many rejections later, I sold not one book, but two books. THE BARGAIN, a Victorian historical took 18 months to research and 18 months to write. FOREVER YOURS, a contemporary romance, was voted one of the top 25 romances of that year by Library Journal.
I’d like to say there are no challenges now, but I can’t. Although I’ve published 45 books, each book is a challenge from the plotting to the actual writing of the story. My editor, whom I’ve been with the past 10 years, and knows my struggles once asked me why I continue. She said she loves my writing and hopes I didn’t stop, but she wanted to know why I didn’t give up. The answer is simple, no one can tell the story in my head but me. The rewards of finally writing ‘the end’, rewarding deserving people who play by the rules, who have strong moral values are much greater than the trials of writing their story. The wonderful letters from readers telling me how the books touched them is an an added bonus
In 2012 I have 4 books coming out: A SEDUCTIVE KISS [I was privileged to preview this book, here's my review], WITH JUST ONE KISS, A DANGEROUS KISS, and WHEN MORNING COMES. There were times when I wasn’t sure of the next word while writing those novels, but giving up was never an option.
Life has challenges, I chose to meet them and continue writing for as long as God allows me.
