Last month I attended my 50th high school
reunion. (Yeah, I can’t believe I’m that old either!) I haven’t hugged that
many people in my life, but not before sneaking a peek at their name tags just
to make sure I didn’t make an idiot out of myself. As the three day event went
on, many of my classmates asked how on earth I ever got into writing. Well, let
me tell you.
I was always an avid reader. As a kid, I cut my teeth
on Nancy Drew. Eventually, I graduated to what is now called Young Adult with
books about teens, dating, and a chaste kiss at the end of the story. About the
same time I also discovered Agatha Christie. As I matured, my tastes ran to
different genres in fiction and a lot of non-fiction.
But my reading life changed when my husband was away
at basic training. I was standing in line at the drug store when a circular
rack of books caught my attention. They were slim and all came from some
publisher called Harlequin. I bought a couple. Two days later I returned and
bought the rest. I was hooked.
I don’t know how it happened, but one day in 1999 I
finished a book with a sense of irritation. The sweet, submissive young heroine
secretly in love with the uber-Alpha hero who ordered her around made me grind
my teeth—latent feminism, I suppose. The phrase that popped into my mind was, “Hell,
I can do this.”
So I did. Back then it all sounded so simple—write a
book, send it to a publisher, and collect lots of money in royalties. The
problem was I couldn’t write for beans. I didn’t know the craft. Writing is an
art that takes years to perfect. In my case it was nine. Nine long years of
attending my local RWA chapter meetings, going to conferences, networking, and
most of all learning.
And then one day, it happened. The Wild Rose Press
bought “Along Came Quinn.”
I consider myself lucky to do what I do. I love
creating plots, characters, and seeing where they take me. My twelfth book, “The
Good Twin” will be released on September 25, 2015 . I wrote a book worthy of publishing, although I’m
still waiting for the lots of money part.
So, if any of you readers are thinking of heading
down the author path, keep this in mind. Not all readers will become authors,
but I never met an author who wasn’t a reader.
Take care and have a good day. See you next month.
Suzanne
Suzanne, I laughed because we had such similar paths to publication. I was fortunate enough to sell to Kensington, then Wild Rose Press, and now I'm self-published. I started the same way you did, though, by reading what at that time were sickly sweet young heroines always in love with their dynamic boss or similar. Sounded easy, didn't it? Little did we know! LOL I'm still waiting for the $$$ in royalties to drown me. Still, I'm doing what I love at home.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Caroline. I can't imagine a 9-5 job anymore.
DeleteLoved the insight into becoming an author. Being an avid reader, I appreciate the journey the authors take to provide me with reading material. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm approaching my 50 years, too Suzzanne, so nope we're not old, just seasoned...well. It's fun to see the publishing story of a fellow TWRP author. Congrats on your great stories!
ReplyDeleteBTW, don't let my responses as Susan Peek throw you. Suzanne Rossi is my pseudonym.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I took a similar path to authorship, but I got a much later start than you did. Still, better late than never. Having a book published is a dream come true. Keep on writing!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the dark side, Suzanne. That's the side where you get so obsessed with writing you can't think of anything else. *g*
ReplyDeleteWell told, Suzanne. Yes, your story also sounds like mine (except I would never recognize or even remember the former classmates at the reunion.) Those uber-alphas irritated me too, but I hated those prim, prissy, don't-you-dare -kiss-me heroines as well. Where were all the sassy determined women who fell head over heels and went for what they wanted? We had to write them into the picture.
ReplyDelete