After a few years of sharing “My Top 5” for the month, I decided it was time to change things up. For 2019 I’m looking forward to posting a Q&A here on the first Saturday of each month.
Question: (asked by Peggy during the release day party for A Soldier’s Honor)What was the very first book you wrote? Was it accepted right away with a publisher?
Answer: The first novel I wrote was not accepted by a publisher – I didn’t even submit it. I’m convinced it’s the worst romance ever, but it taught me two very important things.
First, it taught me to write bigger and, in fact, to dream bigger. I became addicted to writing full novels and I’ve never looked back. Second, my husband and I love to joke that it saved our marriage.
At the time I was a published poet, a stay-at-home mom of two (ages 6 and 3) and working on my new poetry collection. My husband was suddenly working from home for the second time in two years and wrecking my concentration.
The poetry project was derailed, one day the work sounded like rainbows and hope, the next it sounded like I was going to throw myself into the rose bushes. (Don’t worry, at worst I would’ve twisted an ankle, my office is on the first floor.) So I drafted a romance novel, fictionalizing our relationship in an attempt to remember what I’d found so appealing about the love of my life and personal hero. LOL
The rest is history. I learned I loved to write novels with plenty of action and happy-ever-afters. And I got to work learning to write them well. My third novel, Justice Incarnate (published in 2005), became my first sale and on January 14, 2019 I turned in my 42nd novel.
It’s been a fascinating and joyful career and the best part has been meeting so many fabulous readers, authors and industry professionals.
Live the adventure!
ps Let me know if you like the new format. If you have a question, by all means leave a comment and I’ll answer it here or on an upcoming post.
