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Did you
notice all the news lately of so many acceptances by RWAustralia
members? I did. And I was struck by the fact that many of those
acquiring success overnight (or in the space of time it takes to
read THE email or get THE call) were not new writers. Many had
long histories as writers.
So then
came the inevitable questions. Why that person? Why now? What
made the difference to their writing career? That difference
between aspiring and contracted author.
No –
there’s no simple, single answer. Sorry.
But for
those members who read the monthly reports of new acceptances
with delight and just that little tinge of envy (or even a big
dollop of it), here are what a few of the newly contracted
authors had to say. All have been writing for years. Between us
we total 64 years of writing experience. Okay – you can say it –
we were slow learners. But hopefully that experience has taught
us something useful. Maybe useful enough to help you on your own
journey to publication and beyond. Apart from anything, take
heed to the fact that persistence does pay off, if you’re
willing to learn and adapt as you go.
Anne Oliver has been
writing for eight years. She’s written paranormal, time travel,
fantasy and category romances. ‘Behind Closed Doors...’ will be
released as a Harlequin Mills and Boon Modern Extra Sensual in
August-September 2006 in the UK.
What kept you going for so long?
My first two books were books of my heart and writing was an
outlet for my thoughts and emotions. Then I guess I was
addicted. The other things that kept me at it were my critique
groups and writers' conferences and the fact that I hate giving
up something without finishing it.
Did you ever give up writing?
I came close when my single titles that I loved got rejected a
couple of times.
What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle and
getting accepted?
I think it was timing. I was seriously considering not writing
any more but couldn't bring myself to put it all away after so
long.
Anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in
your writing career?
I wish I'd started writing earlier!
Kelly Hunter has been
writing on and off for 10 years and has been seriously targeting
romance for the last seven. Her debut novel, ‘Wife For A Week’,
is a UK March 2006 release for Harlequin Mills and Boon Modern
Extra Sensual.
What kept you going for so long?
Anything from an encouraging remark from a competition
judge, to the fun of attending writing conferences, to the
knowledge that I really wanted to write books. Not literary
fiction, not crime thrillers, but those much maligned and
unfashionably uplifting ROMANCE books.
Did you ever give up?
No.
What made the difference to me overcoming that final hurdle and
getting accepted?
A different approach. For the first time ever, I sat
down and decided on a line BEFORE I wrote the story. I wrote to
my strengths (I had a fair idea of what they were - we are
talking ten years of practice here), followed the guidelines,
and was astonished at how easily it all fell into place.
Is
there anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in your
writing career?
Yup. I wish I'd become more closely involved with the
RWA earlier. I wish I'd had a better understanding of the
publishing industry from the start. I wish I'd heard Nora
Roberts speak in Sydney. And I really, really wish I'd won the
Emma Darcy!
Fiona Lowe has been
writing medicals for ten years, while living in Australia and
the USA. She’s recently had three novels accepted as Harlequin
Mills & Boon Medicals. The first, ‘Pregnant on Arrival’, is due
for Australian release in August 2006.
What kept you going for so long?
In the end it was sheer bloody mindedness. I had
postgraduate university qualifications with honours. By God, I
wasn't going to fail this writing gig! With my third full
manuscript rejection I received a 'with compliments’ slip and an
invitation to submit again. That was a big turning point
emotionally for me...that story wasn't right for them but they
liked how I wrote. So for the next book I re-read the guidelines
and gave them settings and situations that are popular with
medical readers.
Did you ever give up writing?
I had been writing for three and a half years when I had my
second child. With a part-time job, a preschooler and a baby,
plus moving towns, it all became too much and I stopped
writing. Three years later I saw an article about a romance
writing workshop in Queenscliff with a stellar line up of
speakers including Stephanie Laurens and Marion Lennox. I
thought 'I'll go to that! It can be a day out just for me.'
That day became a turning point. I went back to writing.
What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle
and getting accepted?
Well, who can really tell but I think it was ...Writing the
hero. I suddenly realised I was being rejected on the
hero...they liked everything else. I just didn't 'get' him. I
was writing him all wrong. A light bulb went off one day and I
wrote a different type of hero.
Is there anything you wish you’d done (or not done)
earlier in your writing career?
Stepped out from under my mentor earlier and trusted my
own voice. When I started I had great faith I would be
published. That faith withered at times and when a published
author took me under her wing I did everything she suggested,
everything. Not wise. I think my voice faded.
But it takes time and confidence to trust yourself again. When
I was ready to do that I started thinking 'hmm, she might think
it would be better like this but I can make it work another
way.' But you still have doubts so my third book sale which
was written without any input from my mentor meant a great
deal...it meant I could actually do this on my own. Of course,
I always get it read by a fellow romance writer...she's my
grammar queen!
Annie West has been
writing contemporary romances for 10 years. After publication
with a small Australian press years ago, her novel ‘A Mistress
for the Taking’, was recently accepted for Harlequin Mills &
Boon Sexy and will be on Australian shelves in December 2006.
What kept you going for so long?
I love writing. I love reading. I love the friends I’ve made
through writing – they kept be going. Encouraging feedback was
an enormous help – someone (other than me) liked what I was
writing. I found a critique partner who was positive (yet like a
dog with a bone when she found something that didn’t work). And
more and more I could hear the words of a multi-published RWA
author in my ears, saying the difference between the published
and the unpublished is that the former didn’t give up.
Did you ever give up writing?
I came close a few years ago. A friendly editor told me she that
she liked my work, wanted to see it in print, but my voice
didn’t fit her line. That seemed to leave me nowhere to go as
that was the line where I thought I belonged.
What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle and
getting accepted?
Luck and timing. And targeting the right line was a
good start! I’d shied away from writing for HM&B Sexy as I
thought it would be too hard, I’d never make it there. But
amongst the huge range of romances I read, guess what had been a
constant for years? HMB Sexy. It felt like coming home when I
finally tried my hand at it (but that doesn’t mean it was
easy!).
I think
the other main difference was listening to
Stephanie Bond at the
2004 RWA Conference in Sydney. She posed lots of challenging
questions about whether we took our writing seriously. Did I
treat it as a business? I thought I did but I didn’t even have a
plan or targets. I let myself get lazy when I didn’t feel like
writing. I spent too much time talking about books rather than
writing them. That next year I really focused on doing what I
could to produce a fantastic book (and some follow up ones ...
just in case).
Is
there anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in your
writing career?
Yes – focused more on my strengths and where they fitted, and
paid more attention to the successful authors who talked about
what happens after acceptance. Oh, I listened, but I wasn’t
focusing. Now I’m on a steep learning curve.
Maxine Sullivan has
still got a rejection from Mills & Boon dated 1986, which means
it's been twenty years (at least!) since she started writing.
She's had many rejections since then on her category novels,
which are what she loves to write. Her book "The Millionaire's
Seductive Revenge" has been accepted by Silhouette Desire and is
due for release in February 2007.
What kept you going for so long?
The thought that I had stories to tell and how much I wanted to
share those stories with others.
Did you ever give up writing?
I can remember a three month period where, due to personal
reasons, I just couldn't write. I didn't pick up a pen or think
about writing in that time. But eventually I started to yearn to
tell those stories inside me again.
More
recently, 2005 was the year where I seriously thought about
giving up. I'd been through a couple of revision requests that
looked promising but led nowhere. I was trying my hardest to get
published and nothing was working.
Then I
made a decision. I either give up writing totally, or I write
for the love of it and just accept that I may never get
published. I chose the second option, and somehow everything
fell into place.
What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle and
getting accepted?
I honestly don't know. The only difference was that I'd stopped
putting pressure on myself to get published, so perhaps that
came through in my writing.
Is
there anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in your
writing career?
Perhaps I wouldn't have spent so much time rewriting the same
stories and submitting them to any line I thought would fit. On
the other hand, I was learning my craft and that takes time. For
me, it happened to take twenty years.
Tessa
Rallis (writing as Tessa Radley) has been writing for six years.
Initially she tried writing a lot of different things -mostly
for new lines. She also tried her hand at more mainstream
suspense as well as short contemporaries targeted at Presents
and Blaze. Her book, ‘The Black Widow Bride’ will be a March
2007 release for Silhouette Desire.
What kept you going for so long?
Determination. Sheer bloody mindedness. When I set out to do
something I rarely let it go until I get there.
Did you ever give up writing?
No. Never. But I went through a period of about 18 months after
I finalled in the Golden Heart where I wrote very little. I was
working full time and I have a very active family and I
struggled to find time to write. The frustration that came from
not writing forced the decision to stop working full time and
cut back to more flexible contract work. That gave me time to
write ‘The Black Widow Bride’, the book I went on to sell.
What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle and
getting accepted?
Gosh, this is where listening and reading comes into play.
1. I attended the Kara School of Writing course run by
Daphne Clair and
Robyn Donald not once
but several times. Each time was absolutely invaluable. It also
forced me to keep writing new books for Daphne and Robyn to
assess!
2. The advice to write a little every day is the best advice I
was ever given.
3. I read a lot of debut books. I identified that the books all
had one thing in common--they were seamless. I had to learn to
write a book that was seamless, where the scenes flowed from one
to the next with no jarring, no confusion, where the story
worked as an integrated whole.
4. Another thing that made an immense difference was a
rejection I received from Bryony Green, Senior Editor, Mills &
Boon. I had the chance to talk to her about the rejection. She
had told me that the manuscript had too many secondary
characters and family elements that diluted my Presents voice
and in turn caused the manuscript to be neither Tender nor
Presents. I asked whether she thought the manuscript would fit
Special Edition if I lengthened it a little. Her advice was to
forget about other lines, to focus on Presents and not to allow
what I was getting right to become diluted. I thought about what
she'd said and decided she was right. Chopping and changing
between lines and genres had not gotten me published. I wrote
two manuscripts and didn't even allow myself to think about
where I would pitch them if Presents rejected them. The first
one, ‘The Bodyguard’s Bride’ finalled in the 2004 Emma Darcy
Award and RWAm Golden Heart Contest. The second, ‘The Black
Widow Bride’, made the second round of this year's Emerald
Competition and then had to be withdrawn because it sold to
Silhouette Desire.
Is
there anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in your
writing career?
I wish I'd focused earlier on writing short
contemporaries only. But I don't regret not doing so. Trying
different lines and genres all helped me to hone my voice.
Annie West (and her alter ego, Ann See) is a long time RWA
member. She’s been a member of various RWA groups, a conference
attendee and involved in various contests (as entrant, reader
and this year, a coordinator). She’s still grinning about her
recent contract and her second book for Presents "The Greek's
Convenient Mistress" which has just been accepted (release date
TBA). She's currently working on her next book.
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