USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
How long did it take you to become published?
Ten years. Ten years, four manuscripts, two finaling nominations in RWA’s national writing contest, and one critique partner.
As a stay-at-home mom, I wrote whenever I could find the time. But the effort was only me—one woman—toiling away alone. Looking back, I kept my work too close for too long. It wasn’t until I buckled down and found a critique partner that my writing shifted into high gear. (Thank you, Cheri Allan!)
Through it all, I never really considered giving up. I just kept going back to it, again and again, despite rejections or reaching the end of a book and still feeling it wasn’t ready.
I had a casual goal of being published by age 40, and I missed it by two years, but I didn’t sweat it. My attitude has always been: There’s no deadline on life…until you’re dead. And I wasn’t dead, I simply hadn’t made it yet.
All tolled, it took me ten years of writing, pitching, and entering contests to get published. Another manuscript I wrote during those years, a contemporary suspense called “Good Guy in Disguise,” has still never seen the light of day.
The first book I ever wrote became The Virgin and the Viscount. The Earl Next Door was the third manuscript I ever wrote, but my first published book.
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