June Ann Monks

August 2001

by Bronwyn Jameson

June: I was drawn to writing as an outlet for a vivid imagination, which at times has proved to be a liability as well as an asset. I’m an avid reader of all kinds of literature and that led to a desire to create my own stories. A definite preference for a happy ending led to the romantic fiction genre. I began with short stories and went on to novels.

Family life, raising three children and living all over Queensland as my husband carved out a career in the bank caused writing to be put on the backburner, but once the children were raised and educated, the world of writing began to open up. Having a real life ‘hero’ for a husband who has always been supportive and willing to unravel computer glitches helped enormously.

June: My first acceptance with New Concepts Publishing came in August 1998, the next in August 1999, and the next in 2000. Then in June 2000 I was notified by Diane Colman of Saltwater Press (Rocky River Romances) that I was a runner up in their competition and had been awarded a one-book contract. That book is “Country Sunshine”, which has just become available from leading bookstores and Target.

June: I think it was early March (this year) when I sent three chapters of “Second Time Around” to Heartline after seeing the guidelines on the RWAust email list. I had sent three chapters to Mills and Boon toward the end of last year and had a rejection. Prior to that I had received encouraging rejection letters and a request for a full manuscript of the previous novel from M&B and was hopeful that they would like “Second Time Around.” They didn’t request the full ms and they had mentioned in one of their long rejection letters that they loved my style but my mss were too plot driven. NCP sent me a letter once saying they loved the intricate plot in my novels. Go figure.

Within about three weeks I had a request from Heartline for a full ms and only a couple of weeks after that I received an acceptance via email.

June: They were really enthusiastic and it was a very heart warming experience. The editor said I had written a hero to die for and the chairwoman said, never mind the hero, she loved the cat with attitude.

I think the fact that Heartline like longer books (60,000 words computer count) and are happy with secondary characters and plot, as long as it doesn’t detract from the romance, helped me with my submission.

June: Heartline is a joy to work with. Mary-Jo Wormell wrote for Mills and Boon for years as Mary Lyons and has said she wants to work well with her authors because she has been one herself and understands the pitfalls. As I mentioned, their books are longer and have more room for story, but still focus on romance.

June: Mary-Jo told me right at the beginning that their covers would be watercolours and would never ever depict two people in a clinch. I think the covers are tasteful and the response I have had so far has been all positive. Frankly I think it sets them apart a bit. One thing I hate is when the hero and heroine on the cover don’t match the description inside, or happen to look ‘off putting’, so I really like the covers.

June: Holding the book in my hand was a wonderful thrill. I will always be grateful to the recognition gained from my E-books but holding a computer disk -- although I must say NCP put them between book-like covers -- doesn’t seem quite the same.

BJ: Can we expect more Heartline books from June Ann Monks?

June: I have submitted a second book titled “Special Delivery”. They asked me to send them what I was working on as soon as it was finished, but I gave them an Outline in the early stages so they knew what to expect. There were revisions but fingers crossed they like it as much as “Second Time Around.”

June: I have been writing for eight years and have completed eleven novels, most of which have had either full mss or three chapters submitted to Mills and Boon. I have now had seven novels accepted and the ones that haven’t been accepted are the first three that I wrote.

I think that persistence and determination is everything, but the other important factor is don’t ever crush your own voice or ideas. The first book I wrote and sent to Mills and Boon was very raw but they sent me a really nice rejection letter and asked if I’d like to try again with another ms.

I think that I then made the mistake of trying too hard. Remembering all the how to things I had read and trying to inject emotional punch which I didn’t even understand. I reckon I went downhill, not up, for a while. With “Outback Magic” I think I took a step up and “The Prize is Love” came third in The Write to Win. But I think it was “Country Sunshine” where I thought, ‘Bugger it. I’m going to write what I want to write.”

It has a run-a-way pig, a yodelling heroine, and a dotty grandfather, and I had an absolute ball writing it. I am also very grateful to Diane Colman who edited it and helped keep me on the straight and narrow without killing any of my ideas.

And my last piece of advice is to make the most of RWAust, which has helped me enormously, especially the isolated writers scheme where I am now proud to be a mentor. My two mentors when I joined were Elizabeth Lhuede and Mary Berry and I can never thank them enough for their contribution to my success. Many members including Sherry-Anne Jacobs have encouraged me when I lost faith and I will always be grateful to them.

JM: Am I a reader!? My much-loved husband Ian has to yell Hoy! to bring me out of the latest book, after he has carried on a one-sided conversation and got fed up. I will read almost anything but when I was having radiotherapy for breast cancer almost five years ago I read myself through painful and unpleasant treatment and a fit of depression where I was convinced I’d never write again. Ian solved that problem; he took my arm one day and plonked me in front of the computer. ‘Write,’ he said. ‘I don’t care if it’s garbage just write.’ I did and that book is Love’s Conquest, which has been accepted by NCP.

JM: My non-writing time is spent babysitting seven grandchildren, line dancing, and playing tennis. I play tennis twice a week and line dance three times. When I can pick myself up off the floor after all that exercise, I collapse in a heap in front of the computer and write.

JM: I try to write for about three or four hours a day and work it around other things, but since I have become published I have found there are other ‘writing things’ that have to be done.

JM: I’m writing under my own name because it is my husband’s name as well, and he has been with me every inch of the way. I think he should share some of the glory. Mind you, I am now known on the Sunshine Coast as ‘that grandma who writes hot romances’ and poor Ian says he is known as the husband of ‘that grandma who writes hot romances’.

JM: I love writing category romances but I do have a hankering to write a mainstream. I have been doing a little research but it will take a lot of time and at the moment I just don’t have it. I have also started a book on breast cancer. It would have been so much easier if I had known what to expect and if it could have been presented to me in a less terrifying way. You hear so much about people who die and so little about the survivors. I think I owe it to other women to know that all of my publications, most of my gorgeous grandchildren (including twins), and my utter joy in living has happened since breast cancer.

Books by June Ann Monks

Country Sunshine, a Rocky River Romance ISBN 1-74062-006-2

available from Target, Angus & Robertson, Collins and Dymocks

Second Time Around, Heartline Books London ISBN 1-903867-13-4

Dream LoverPrize is Love (published), Outback Magic (published), Love’s Conquest (accepted but not published yet)

All the above with New Concepts Publishing www.newconceptspublishing.com

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