Love is in the Air

On January 2, 2013, at 2:02 am, a Romance Writer was born.  I finished my very first romance novel. And it came about in the most unexpected way.  Well, not the writing of it----that part, the sitting my butt down and sweating it out from the first timid paragraph, through the last triumphant sentence of the epilogue, was pretty normal.

What wasn't normal at all was the way I was feeling by the time Christmas hit this year.  As writers, we've had our disappointments and rejections.  But I aimed for the stars with a recent submission, and crashed directly back down to earth.  It was a huge disappointment.

A little over a week ago, a friend forwarded some information to me about a publisher she had worked with. She had done some ghostwriting for them, and they liked her work, so they asked her to submit a book proposal of her own, and her nonfiction book is now for sale on Amazon.

I was actually thinking she was going to help procure some ghostwriting work with the publisher, and that I might follow a similar path. But when I clicked on the link to their website, there was nothing on it about ghostwriting for them.  So I emailed her again for clarification. She responded that her ghostwriting gig had dried up long ago, but that I should definitely submit a book proposal of my own.

Their romance imprint caught my eye, and I'd been working on my first romance novel for about a year.  So, I queried, and lo and behold, they wanted to read it! I wasn't expecting to hear back from them for several weeks, in which time I had been planning to finish the manuscript and be at the ready in case they were interested.  But I suddenly found myself in the hot seat----holy crap, I had to finish writing my book!!!

Luckily, it was outlined all the way through the end. And so for about 5 days straight, I wrote.  I was the worst New Year's Eve date on record. But it was some of the most exhilarating work I've ever done.

Now, don't misunderstand.  It needs a lot of work still.  I was revising right up until I clicked "send" per their submission guidelines, and I'll be revising it until it gets published, no doubt.  I'm not going to make the mistake I did with the other great opportunity I had, of putting all of my faith in that one chance. Rather, I'm putting my faith in myself.  I believe in my book.  I'm not counting on being accepted by this first publisher.  And even if I am, they may offer me a lousy contract, or I just won't be comfortable with them.  The miracle here is that by just taking one step, I opened up a new path for myself as a writer. I am SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT THAT!!

I already know it's going to be a good year. I look forward to chronicling my foray into the world of romance writing, and my eventual success.  To a degree, I'm already successful---I finished a novel. 51,445 words to be exact. And counting.