Have you ever wondered how you could get published? What it might be like to get "the call?" Meet these soon-to-be (or newly) published authors and read their writing and publishing tales!
Cheryl Wyatt
A Soldier's Promise and A Soldier's Family, Steeple Hill Love Inspired, January and March 2008
Cheryl Wyatt has been writing since she could hold a crayon, and started submitting manuscripts very early—in grade three. Unfortunately that material was rejected, but Cheryl never gave up.
Several years ago while on bed rest with a high-risk pregnancy, Cheryl found eHarlequin.com. She instantly connected with the warmth and fellowship of Community and the resources on the site. With that education and encouragement, as well as the unwavering support of family and friends, Cheryl became even more determined to sell. “I was going to keep writing stories until the Steeple Hill editors either bought one or threatened to fling themselves out the tenth-story window if they had to read another submission from me, but I wasn’t gonna give up because I wanted this so badly.”
A couple of years ago, Cheryl attended an RWA conference and met Steeple Hill editor Melissa Endlich, with whom she instantly clicked. So she submitted manuscript number seven of the fifteen she had written—and received a revision letter. It meant retooling her story to fit the Steeple Hill line, but Cheryl said that she’d “paint that thing purple and run it to the moon and back if I thought that would better my chances of selling.” So she revised and resubmitted.
On September 28, 2006, Cheryl was home when she got the call from her agent. Cheryl shrieked so loudly that it scared her toddler into hiding under the kitchen table. She called her husband first, who she says called everybody else in the world to announce Cheryl’s good news. She says that she hadn’t come off the ceiling when her second book sold in February 2007.
She’s now trying to focus on book three of the United States Air Force Pararescue Jumper series.
Natalie Anderson
All Night With the Boss, Harlequin Mills & Boon Modern Xtra, May 2007 (North American publication date undetermined)
Natalie Anderson did the final revisions to her manuscript from a hospital bed. Just after having an emergency cesarean section (twins), her husband brought her the e-mail from her editor. The publisher liked the previous revisions Natalie had already made and there was a slot for publication—but she had to have the rewrites done in a week. "So there I was, hooked up to the IV, on massive painkillers, manually expressing every two hours while my babies were locked away in ICU," she says. But her husband thought that it was a good idea to go for it, so he brought in his brother's laptop and Natalie went to work. She delivered the revisions that Friday. By Monday she was back at home and finally got The Call and she heard the magic words in that English accent: "We want to buy your book."
Natalie has been writing seriously for only about two years ago. But since she started she's written every night and every day of the week after her two children—and now her newborn twins—went to bed. She joined the eHarlequin.com Community boards in 2005, researching, participating and becoming addicted to the online reads. But Natalie says the best thing she found on the site was her critique partner, Jude.
She has just sent her second book to her editor, and is anxiously waiting to hear more good news—and a longer deadline!
Paula Roe
Forgotten Marriage, Silhouette Desire, September 2007
Paula Roe traveled possibly one of the worst roads to publication. She persisted through fifteen years of what she calls "two steps forward and one step back"—encouraged by one editor only to have her leave and reassign Paula's book to an editor who rejected it, contest wins that didn't result in contracts and revisions that ultimately ended with the all-too-familiar rejection letter. But Paula learned from all of those experiences and kept at it; it wasn't possible for her to stop writing and what she wrote could only be Harlequin novels.
Then, finally, on September 7, 2006, she got The E-mail. "I just laughed and cried. A lot. For about a week I couldn't stop smiling or telling everyone I met the great news," she says.
From her experiences, Paula has learned a few things: "First, never stop learning. If you think you've got nothing more to learn, you shouldn't be writing because it takes an average of ten years to complete your writing apprenticeship," she says. "And those who get there under that time are freaks." And, of course, eHarlequin.com was one of her resources. She found the editors' threads were particularly helpful for finding out what they wanted in a submission.
Paula's first book, Forgotten Marriage, will be out later in 2007, and she is now in the thick of a Desire continuity with authors Yvonne Lindsay, Bronwyn Jameson, Tessa Radley, Maxine Sullivan and Jan Colley, many of whom she's known for years. Look for that in 2008.
And her second piece of advice? "Never give up."
Cynthia Reese
The Baby Wait, Harlequin Superromance, April 2007
Some things are worth the wait. For over a year, Cynthia Reese submitted, revised, resubmitted and waited. Then on August 4 when the Call finally came, Cynthia missed it! She was in a meeting and didn't check her Caller ID until later that night. So she was forced to wait—again—for morning. She called the Superromance editor before going to work and was prepared for bad news when the editor sounded so calm. And then she said the magic words: she wanted to buy the book.
"I screeched!" recalled Cynthia. "I was shaking and trembling… It felt so much like when I got another long-awaited Call, the Call from the adoption agency telling me that my husband and I had been referred a baby girl from China." And it was her daughter that she thought of that night, as well; the first thing that she bought was a stuffed cat. The gifts to herself were much more practical: a new vent fan for the stove and insulation for the house
The first person she told was her husband, then her family and critique partners, and then ended with a party with all her friends on the eHarlequin.com boards. "I could not have done this without the whole eHarlequin.com site and Community," she said. "It is a treasure trove of info for newbie writers, not to mention tons of very helpful and supportive friends: fellow aspiring writers, published authors and extraordinarily helpful editors."
Cynthia has been writing most of her life, and is currently working on her second Superromance book, which she describes as You've Got Mail meets the farm. Her first book, The Baby Wait, will be released in April 2007.
Jennifer Lewis
The Boss's Demand, Silhouette Desire, July 2007
"Persistence is the key," says Jennifer Lewis. And she is the perfect example of her own advice. After two and a half years, eight manuscripts and one rewrite later, Jennifer finally got the call that she'd been waiting for.
Jennifer was at home when the phone rang, and she joked to herself: "Oh, it must be Harlequin calling," as she often did in the style of her dry sense of humor. Only this time, she says, the joke was on her, because it really was Harlequin wanting to make an offer on her book!
The first thing she bought with her advance was a new laptop, which she uses to write and, of course, check out eHarlequin.com. "A writer friend told me about eHarlequin.com and once I visited, I was hooked. It's so helpful to see up-to-the-minute guidelines, discuss ideas with other writers and even communicate with editors. The authors I met on the Desirables board and chats have been a great source of practical help, inspiration and friendship to me. I honestly don't think I could have sold to the Desire line without eHarlequin.com."
Jennifer lives in New York, but she grew up in London, England, and hasn't quite been able to rid herself of all of her Britishisms—something that she used in The Boss's Demand as the hero went to boarding school in England and often uses British phrases. It's not as clear how useful this will be for her next book, currently titled Legacy of Passion, as it is set in the Florida orange groves.
For more information, visit Jennifer's Web site, www.jen-lewis.com.
Tessa Radley
Black Widow Bride, Silhouette Desire, April 2007
In the span of just seven days, Tessa Radley had sent off her full manuscript, signed with an agent and received an offer to buy her book. The roller coaster began with a pitch on eHarlequin.com to Desire editor Melissa Jeglinski. Melissa requested the full and Tessa quickly packaged up her book and sent it by courier to the Harlequin offices in New York. She tracked it, hour by hour, until it arrived the next day. The same day her manuscript landed in New York, Tessa received an offer of representation from an agent. Exactly one week later, she got an e-mail from her new agent with the heading: "What about an offer." Tessa shrieked, causing her husband to come and investigate all the noise so early in the morning.
Of course, it hasn't been an easy ride to publication. Tessa has been writing for six years and has honed her craft through the resources at eHarlequin.com as well as listening to the advice of her critique group, which also includes newly-signed Harlequin authors Abby Gaines and Karina Bliss. "It's more than a critique group. It's a support and inspirational and kick-in-the-pants group, as well," says Tessa.
There's one other piece of advice that Tessa credits with getting her through the publication process. At the first weekend writing course she had ever attended, romance author Robyn Donald said that to be published, a writer needed three things: talent (which hard work could polish), perseverance and luck. That stuck in Tessa's mind, and so her advice to would-be authors now is: "Hold on to your dream. Keep writing and never give up."
Tessa is currently working on her next book for the Desire line, currently titled Rich Man's Revenge and scheduled for release in June 2007. Her first book, Black Widow Bride, will be available on eHarlequin.com in March and in bookstores in April.
Donna Alward
Hired by the Cowboy, Harlequin Romance, May 2007
In 2001, struggling with postpartum depression and the aftermath of 9/11, Donna Alward started writing as a kind of therapy. She found that after she finished her first manuscript and submitted it, she couldn't stop writing.
It took another five years and she figures about ten different manuscripts before she got the Call—or the Message in Donna's case. That day, she was at her in-laws' house and went online to do her banking. She then checked her e-mail, and there it was—two messages from a Harlequin editor. Despite the fact that it was Friday, in a country an ocean away and at a different person's house, she called the editor right back and got the good news.
"I may have whooped and there could possibly have been a bit of jumping around," she says of her reaction to selling her manuscript. "I told my family, and e-mailed my critique partners. Other than that I kept it quiet until I got back home, so I could cyber party with my eharlequin.com friends!"
Donna joined eHarlequin.com early on in her writing journey, and says she never would have sold without the support and information she got on the site. "I've learned so much there, about writing and about the business," Donna says of eHarlequin.com. "The other writers in the Community are a constant source of inspiration and support!" Donna met up with her two critique partners through the eHarlequin.com Community, and they have been crucial to her writing career.
"If I could offer one piece of advice, it would be to learn how to receive, and apply, criticism. If you can look at what your critique partner, contest judge or editor is trying to say and why they're saying it, and then think about how it can make your writing better, you're going to grab that editor's attention!"
Donna lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and loves the outdoors, although she's also quite active in a choir and at her children's school. She's currently waiting for the go-ahead for her next book.
Tessa McDermid
Family Stories, Harlequin Everlasting, May 2007
Tessa McDermid first got hooked on Harlequin books as a teen in the Cayman Islands. "…with the ocean breeze ruffling the pages [it was] a great way to be introduced to romances!" she says. Tessa always wanted to be a Harlequin author, but her career went a different way for a while, with her first romances being published by another house.
But when Tessa heard about the new Harlequin line, Everlasting, she knew that a manuscript she had just written would be perfect for it. She sent in a proposal and sample chapters, and then the full manuscript when it was requested a couple of weeks later.
On February 7th, Tessa was leaving the parking lot of the school where she worked when her cell phone rang. She considered not answering it, thinking it was her son calling to see where she was. But luckily she did answer, because it wasn't her son, but a Harlequin editor who wanted to buy her book! Tessa's not exactly sure what she said during that conversation, but she does remember hanging up and running inside the school to tell the secretary and any teacher she could find that she'd just sold a Harlequin book.
Tessa is planning to reward herself with a trip to the bookstore and the candy store for some English toffee—a substance that is integral to her writing process. "I keep pieces of toffee near my desk. After I finish each chapter, whether first draft or revisions, I reward myself with a piece of candy. Just enough to keep me going on those days when the characters just won't behave!" she says.
eHarlequin.com has been its own reward for Tessa. She discovered the SubCare and Community discussion groups after she submitted her manuscript, but she liked the atmosphere of support and encouragement on the loops so much, she continues to go every week. She also enjoyed the wonderful Party Thread.
Tessa is now working on another story proposal for the Everlasting line, which will be set in Colorado.
Elizabeth Blackwell
The Letter, Harlequin Everlasting, July 2007
In the fall of 2005, Elizabeth read about a contest on eHarlequin.com for the new Harlequin line, Everlasting. Discouraged by rejections, Elizabeth was taking a break from writing. But this contest was different—she began thinking constantly about it, mentally figuring out how much time she had left to enter. So she started writing.
She found out that she had won the contest in early 2006 and waited in suspense to hear if an editor would buy the book.
A couple of weeks later, Elizabeth was out running errands when The Call finally came. When she heard the message on her answering machine, she dropped her bags and rushed to the phone to call the editor back, her hands trembling as she dialed. "My initial response was stunned gratitude—lots of 'Oh, thank you' and 'I don't believe it,'" Elizabeth recalls. "It took a few minutes for everything to sink in."
She next told her husband and sister the good news—the only two people that knew she was writing the book. And then she treated herself to new shoes.
Of eHarlequin.com, Elizabeth says: "I would not be a soon-to-be-published author without eHarlequin.com. I've found the Community so encouraging—it really helped me to hear about other writers' struggles because it made me realize I'm not the only one who has had multiple ideas rejected."
Elizabeth believes the key to her success was that she was able to move past those rejections and kept on submitting. So her advice? "Be persistent!"
Abby Gaines
Whose Lie is it Anyway, Harelquin Superromance, January 2007
Abby Gaines's daughter would always ask when Abby was going to sell her first book. Depending on her mood the answer would be "I don't know, darling" or "Probably never." But after she was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart contest, she was feeling a bit more optimistic. So when her daughter asked again, Abby said, "I think it'll be this week."
But the week came and went. No call. Then early the next week the phone rang. Abby didn't want to get her hopes up, but then the editor introduced herself and told Abby they wanted to buy her book.
With a mixture of shock and joy she called her critique partner, Karina Bliss, who had sold her first Harlequin book just a few months before. Then she told her other critique partners, family, friends and anyone who'd listen! She also drove to her daughter's school to tell her the exciting news.
But the good times weren't over for Abby. Soon after she sold her first book, another one was accepted for the NASCAR series. Back on Track will be out in May 2007. She also has another Superromance submission currently under consideration.
Abby says she draws a lot of inspiration from the view from her window: a grove of olive trees. But she also says she is a "compulsive learner," picking up her craft through classes and how-to-books — and, of course, eHarlequin.com. "It's especially helpful for understanding what's going on with new lines or changes to existing lines, and for getting editors' views on what they're looking for," she says.
Her advice to other writers is not to "be disheartened — at least, not for more than a day — by rejections. Keep submitting."
Jeannie Watt
A Difficult Woman, Harlequin Superromance, October 2006
Jeannie Watt started her career in geology but quickly switched gears to education so she could spend more time with her kids. She focused on her children until they were in high school and then became serious about something she had been doing casually for years: writing.
She submitted her first complete manuscript in 2003. Although it was rejected, the line's assistant asked for more of Jeannie's work. So she submitted a second book in 2004. It was rejected as well, but with feedback and an offer to reread. So Jeannie worked on the manuscript and sent the story in again. This time she got a phone call — for another revision. Jeannie took the editor's advice and reworked the book, submitting it for the third time.
She was teaching a class when she got the call. "I was afraid it was one of my kids, calling (again) to tell me they'd had another fender bender, but no…it was (Editor) Victoria Curran and she wanted to buy the book," remembers Jeannie. After she hung up, Jeannie raced down the hall to tell her husband. He was in the middle of teaching a math class, so she whispered her good news into his ear. Then she emailed everyone she knew and spent the rest of the day in a happy haze. Her students thought it was great, too.
Jeannie says she found invaluable resources from eHarlequin during her journey. She read every article and Q&A and then joined in on a couple. As she lives in a remote area, there aren't a lot of writers around her, so she considers the eHarlequin Community as her critique group. "I made friends and found invaluable support in the Spa and in SubCare and, of course, in the Superromance thread. The people in the eHarlequin Community are awesome."
Jeannie lives in a small ranching community with her family — which includes horses, ponies, dogs, cats and parakeets. She loves the isolated nature of the area, as it offers all the peace and quiet she needs to write. She has submitted a proposal for another Supperromance and is working on more of a suspense story now.
Maxine Sullivan
The Millionaire's Seductive Revenge, Silhouette Desire, February 2007
Maxine Sullivan has been writing for over twenty years, but the sale of her book rested on just one paragraph. Those three sentences were Maxine's pitch in the Desire Pitch Challenge last November.
It was enough. Maxine was one of six authors chosen to pitch her book to the senior editor of the Silhouette Desire series in an eHarlequin.com chat room. The editor asked her to send in the full manuscript and she mailed it off mid-January.
On January 26, 2006, Maxine was having her morning cup of coffee when she read an email from her agent asking Maxine to call her. She had good news: the Desire line wanted to buy her book. The first person she told was her husband — at least, she would have told him if he hadn't been listening on the other side of the office door. "So we were laughing and talking and I was saying I couldn't believe it. I'm not one to scream and shout but you can bet I was happy, if not a little numb."
Maxine has since sold a second Desire book, tentatively scheduled for May 2007, and has started working on a third. To aspiring authors she says: "Learn all you can, try your hardest and don't stress too much if your writing career doesn't go the way you planned. There is a rhyme and a reason for everything."
Fiona Harper
Blind-Date Marriage, Mills & Boon Tender Romance, October 2006 (UK), Silhouette Romance, December 2006
Fiona Harper was lucky with her submission process — she didn't have to go through one. After finishing her first serious manuscript, Fiona wanted to submit it, but thought she should get some feedback on it first. So she sent her manuscript to the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) critique service. Six weeks later she was told that the first reader loved it so much she had sent the book to a second reader. Only a couple of days later, Fiona found out that the second reader liked the book just as much as the first, and they wanted to submit it to the Harlequin Mills & Boon editors.
But the editors were already interested in Fiona's book. They had read the first chapter when Fiona had entered it into a competition and wanted to read the rest of the story. About a week later on November 16 — only three months after she had submitted her manuscript for critique — she got the call from Editor Kim Young. They wanted to buy her book.
That night they announced her sale at the RNA's Winter Party, also telling Fiona that she had won the first chapter contest, too. "The euphoria finally hit on the train ride home from London, where I attempted to restrain myself from jumping up from my seat and announcing my news to the whole carriage. (Of course, I managed — I'm British!)."
And she says she couldn't have done it without the Community members and resources of eHarlequin.com. "I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would not have had the courage to submit a novel if not for eHarlequin.com. It was the knowledge that many of the other aspiring writers were women like me — with a part-time job and small children — that made me realize I wasn't crazy to think I could write romance," she says. "Not only that, but I know the wealth of knowledge I found on the site helped improve my writing, and helped me develop a story I knew would fit the guidelines of the line I was targeting."
Fiona is now working on her second book — this time on her new laptop.
Tawna Fenske
Avalanche, Silhouette Bombshell, December 2006 (tentative)
It only took Tawna Fenske three tries to become published. Tawna first tried her hand at fiction in 2002 for an Intrigue contest. But when Silhouette announced the launch of the Bombshell series, she realized that it was the right line for her manuscript. Though they rejected that first book and the second, the third time was the charm for her.
On May 19, 2005, Tawna was at work at the end of her lunch break. She was talking on the phone with her husband so she ignored the call waiting. After she finished talking to him she saw that she had a message — it was from a Bombshell editor telling her the good news that they wanted to buy her book.
"I think I wet my pants. My hands started shaking so badly that I had to try three times before I dialed the number correctly. When I finally got through, my heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to pass out. I think my greeting was a very intelligible 'uregoeholkuw.'" While Tawna and her editor were talking over the details, she was simultaneously posting her good news on the eHarlequin.com SubCare board.
Over her submission process, Tawna had learned a lot from her fellow board members about writing and submitting. She's a regular on SubCare, the Bombshell Writers threads and monitors the NEXT thread, the line her critique partner is targeting. "Just knowing there are so many others out there going through the same agonizing process of submitting and waiting and waiting some more, has been incredibly helpful to me," Tawna says of the eHarlequin.com boards.
Tawna's other loves include her husband, globe trotting, the outdoors and her day job as a publications coordinator for a medical center. She's also currently working on two more Bombshell books, including one with a heroine competing in the Iditarod. For more information on Tawna and her submission process visit her web site at www.tawnafenske.com.
Jenna Bayley-Burke
Just One Spark, Mills & Boon Modern Extra Sensual, May 2006 (UK)
Just One Spark was the first book that Jenna Bayley-Burke ever completed. Though she'd been composing stories since she could write, she had never finished a story until 2004. She says she was hung up on finding that perfect word or description, but once she let that go she was able to write the entire story — and Just One Spark was born.
But once it was finished, Jenna had another dilemma: the query letter. She found help on the eHarlequin.com forum, wrote the best query letter she could and sent off her manuscript to the Blaze series. And was rejected. Again she found solace on the boards, and learned some more strategies for how to sell her work.
When Mills & Boon announced a new, younger line to replace Temptation, Jenna saw it as a sign and resubmitted her book. Four other books later (not to mention courses and submissions), she got some encouraging news: Mills & Boon had asked to see the rest of her manuscript. After dancing around the street, she shipped off the manuscript. But it would take another couple of months before they asked her for revisions and two more weeks before she heard the news she'd been waiting to hear.
Just One Spark will be published in the UK in May 2006, accomplishing Jenna's goal of being published before her 30th birthday. Right now she has a proposal and a revised draft with the Mills & Boon Modern Extra line (a NaNoWriMo manuscript she wrote with the eHarlequin.com group), a partial with the Blaze series and a single title book that she is circulating with agents. Jenna is also a recipe developer and recently won the grand prize in Better Homes & Gardens 2005 Prize Tested Recipe contest.
Fiona Lowe
Pregnant on Arrival, Harlequin Medical Romance, July 2006 in the UK, August 2006 in Australia and New Zealand
Fiona Lowe's writing philosophy has been to start a new book as soon as she mails off the last one to the publisher. It's a strategy that has paid off for her. After nine long months of revisions, she sold her first novel, Pregnant on Arrival, to the Harlequin Medical line. And when they asked for more, because of her "mantra," she was able to give them another book. That one sold soon after. She now has a third manuscript with her editor, and she has just started another story. Fiona's treat to herself during this exciting time? She imported a bottle of Moet and Chandon champagne into Australia (where she lives). Despite the large tax, Fiona says it was a wonderful luxury.
Given this strategy, it's not surprising that Fiona's advice for aspiring writers is: "write, write and write." She adds, "Find a Critique partner, enter some competitions, hone your skills and keep submitting. Elapsed time isn't important…honing your craft and acting on editorial advice is!"
She also credits the support (and chocolate) of her writing groups the Melbourne Romance Writers' Guild and the Romance Writers of Australia, as well as the Subcare group on eHarlequin.com. But no one is more supportive or excited for her than "her boys," her husband and two sons.
Now if only she had a bit more time between all that writing, her family, her sons' school and her job, she would spend it on the tennis court or curled up in her chair reading. Visit her website www.fionalowe.com to learn more about Fiona and her books.
Paula Graves
Forbidden Territory, Harlequin Intrigue, June 2006
The editor who called Paula Graves to tell her that Harlequin wanted to buy her book was surprised by how calm and collected Paula was. But she did scream after she hung up the phone — a cyberscream.
Paula had waited a long time for that call. Though she says that she's been writing since she could hold a pencil, she started writing seriously around 1991. Then in 2004, she entered a RWA contest called "Hearts of the West." Her entry won the contest and the editor judging the contest asked her to send the full manuscript. They offered to buy Forbidden Territory only a few months after that on August 3, around 3:45 p.m. Paula's first indulgence after she got the call: chocolate.
Paula would have told her mother the good news first, except that she had left for a beach vacation only that morning. But Paula happened to be instant messaging with a critique partner at the time of the editor's call, and so they shared a cyberscream over Paula's hard-won fortune.
Sharing her "call story" with the eHarlequin.com Community was another highlight. "eHarlequin.com's Community is amazingly supportive," Paula says. "I got a lot of great advice, a lot of handholding through the process of submitting, revising and waiting for news, and it was so sweet to be able to share my call story with the people who'd been nurturing me along in SubCare and on the writing boards."
Currently, Paula is working on a sequel to Forbidden Territory, and her editor is looking at another of her manuscripts to be optioned. When not writing, Paula works as a graphic designer for an advertising agency and calls herself a "rabid" fan of the University of Alabama football team. She's a member of the RWA as well as both of the Alabama chapters, and is part of a small online critique group.
Her advice to aspiring writers: "This is a hard business, and you have to be tough to succeed. So if you can walk away from writing, do it. Go find your passion elsewhere. But if you're like the rest of us, who can't stop writing, dig in and just do it. Write. Write some more. Polish. Submit. Listen to advice and critiques, keeping what makes sense and discarding what doesn't. And just keep writing."
Michelle Styles
The Gladiator's Honor, Harlequin Historical, September 2006
Gall stones made Michelle get serious about her writing. She'd wanted to be a writer since she was a teenager but had never committed herself to it until those gall stones landed her in the hospital. That's when she realized she could just talk about her dream — or she could make it come true.
Still, Michelle says that she would never have kept at it without the people and resources of eHarlequin.com. She made it a policy to read through the Q & A sessions — something she continues to do. The people she has met on eHarlequin.com's Community, especially in SubCare, Ask Dr. Ola, M&B Editor's Club, Struggling Writers, the Mouse and Pen and the Library, became her support network, both in the online world and the real one. "Through my darkest writing times, eHarlequin.com has kept me going," says Michelle.
But those dark times were only temporary. After one of her manuscripts caught the attention of a Mills & Boon editor, Michelle began submitting manuscripts directly to the editor. She encouraged Michelle to write in an ancient time setting. Although that editor left Harlequin, she did pass on Michelle's manuscript to Linda Fildew, the senior editor of Harlequin Mills & Boon Historical.
Ms. Fildew called on Friday, June 10, at 5:30 in the evening to say that they wanted to buy Michelle's book. "I started to cry. I heard my husband saying in the background, 'why is she screaming?'" But the first people Michelle told were her children and then her husband, who she just caught before he left for a run. Next came the calls to her mother and sister and then she emailed Rae at eHarlequin.com. "The eHarlequin.com Community had been with me through my many ups and downs," says Michelle, "and I knew they would be the ones who would truly understand what this meant to me."
Although Michelle grew up just outside of San Francisco, she now lives in the UK with her husband, three kids, two dogs, two cats, three bee hives, hens, ducks and an overgrown garden. She has another manuscript set in ancient Rome (like The Gladiator's Honor) with her editor now, and she has started working on a third.
Yvonne Lindsay
A Passionate Merger, Silhouette Desire, November 2006
Yvonne Lindsay became an avid romance reader at the age of 13, and started writing her first romance novel at 15 — a sorry attempt that still languishes in the back of her filing cabinet. Several years later Yvonne became serious about the craft and started writing and submitting, mostly to Mills & Boon. That was 13 years ago.
In February, she posted her query and synopsis to Silhouette. Two weeks later she received a request for the full manuscript and sent it back at the end of March. Three weeks after that on April 21 at about 7:30 in the morning, she got The Call!
Yvonne was in the bathroom getting ready for work. "When my husband called me to the phone I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Silhouette wanted to buy my book. Once the family realized that I wasn't crying because someone had died, they all lay on the bed watching me talk to my new editor, frantically taking notes on everything she said. The makeup, by the way, was a total wreck by the end of the call. I haven't stopped grinning since!" she says.
When she thought about how she'd react on hearing the news, Yvonne swore she wouldn't cry. "Guess what? I gushed. I cried. I told my editor it was the happiest day of my life." She called a couple of writing friends and then headed to work — a half hour late but she wasn't in the mood to care — or work, and spent at least an hour on the phone to family and friends and emailing her news around the world.
Yvonne has found eHarlequin.com to be a great resource for writers, as well as a place where she's discovered comradery and friendship to ride what she calls the roller coaster of successes and disappointments.
She's just sent away two more proposals to her editor, hoping she'll love them as much as Yvonne does. After Yvonne completes the revisions on her sold manuscript, she'll continue with a new manuscript that she started before she sold.
Her advice: "Never give up. Ever! Keep your self-talk positive. Dream a big dream and be open to continually learning more about the craft of writing. Take ownership of what you do. Be proud about your writing. I believe in romance; I believe in what I'm doing and I firmly believe in the power of love in all walks of life and at all ages. There's nothing to be ashamed of in that."
Janet Edgar
The Inn at Shadow Lake, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense, December 2006
Children's book editors advised Janet Edgar to try her hand at women's fiction, and at first she wondered if she could really do it. When she moved to Colorado, she decided to take that leap of faith. She joined the Colorado Romance Writers and went to all the chapter meetings and workshops. "I also joined a good critique group that was about an hour and an half drive each way," she says.
While attending an ACFW conference, Janet had an editor meeting with executive editor of Steeple Hill Books, Joan Marlow Golan. "We had a wonderful meeting and she asked to see everything I'd ever written!" Janet says. She sent her The Inn at Shadow Lake, which editor Diane Dietz then handled. On January 8, 2004, at 11:43 a.m., Janet got "the call" from Diane!
After spreading the good news, "I received so many congratulatory emails, all I could do for the next couple of days was read them and cry. The happiness and joy for me, expressed by my writing friends is like no other experience in the world, because we all know what it means to work so hard and persevere and have our writing dream come true," Janet says.
Janet passed away on May 17, 2005.
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