The Road from Writer to Author
Writing can be an obsession. There are times when you sit down and things start flowing like a busted water pipe (I’ll leave that for another blog). There are also times when you sit down, stare at the computer screen like a frozen zombie. Through those times, busted water pipe or not, you are still a writer.
Then, there is a moment, after you’ve spent hours, days, weeks, months, years, typing or drooling on your laptop when someone wants to publish your book. In a matter of seconds, you go from being a writer to an author.
Excitement and disappointment always meet you on any journey you decide to take. I remember submitting a historical romance to a writer’s contest about five years ago. It was my first finished manuscript, and I had a lot to learn regarding:
Point of View (POVs)
Head-hopping
Passive voice
The judges were fair and gave me invaluable insight, one judge in particular. Her name was Debbie Macomber. She said she liked my writing and believed I would get my books published one day. Through the many rejection letters, the heartbreaks, and brutal self-reflections I have received, I held on tight to Ms. Macomber’s words.
Fast forward to about two weeks ago, after a year of queries and rejections, I received a contract for a contemporary romance about a selfish English Lord and a broke American woman, both trying to find their way in life, both receiving some help from an incognito fairy godmother. It is a feel-good, Cinderella story with plenty of bantering between the two characters, Edmund and Abby.
Lord Bachelor is now under contract with The Wild Rose Press, a small print and e-publishing company. Now, the author work begins. This includes:
Updating the website
Thinking about a book cover
Making lists of independent book stores
Linking to other writers and authors
Edits, blurbs, and excerpts, oh my!
And, of course, marketing, marketing, marketing
Check back here to find out the release date for Lord Bachelor.
