It’s what we all want isn’t it? The trilling of the telephone, probably at night, when we’ve settled in with a glass of wine (or one of Jackie’s magnificent cocktails) and that nice warm glow is starting to coat our skin.
You pick up the phone, expecting the neighbour to be complaining about how your dog ate their rubbish again and instead you get:
“Hello? Is that my all time favourite debut author? I just loved your submission and I can’t wait to make you so famous you’ll have to hire an assistant to keep track of all your fan mail. Oh, and when you’re ready I think we should talk about film rights.”
Dream.
Okay, so I don’t know any publisher that would start a conversation like that. No one knows what is going to make a best seller. If they did publishing would be a lot less challenging (and probably slightly boring) and there wouldn’t be so many self help books on how to write a best seller. Doesn’t stop us all dreaming though ;-)
There have been three memorable ‘calls’ for me. My very first publication call was for a short story. It was a finalist in a competition, along with the stories of EVERYONE in my writing group and came out in a neat compilation book. Rather than making it less special though, the shared glory was, well, glorious. And it was the first step in me believing that writing really was something I could do.
The second call was for my first novel. The managing editor from my mainstream publisher called me himself and I could tell he loved making these calls. Unfortunately for him I was in a meeting and had to hold back my excited yelping until after I left the building. I called him back and we had a little on-the-phone happy dance together in a stairwell. Well I happy danced. He probably chuckled.
And when I finally ventured into romance and signed with Entangled Publishing for The Boss and Her Billionaire I didn’t even get a call. I got an email. A shiny, happy dance email. That one was a bit of a dream. And a bit of right time, right place. I submitted. An editor came back to me within a week asking for the whole MS and then they accepted it really quickly. As it was the first romance I’d ever written I was over the moon. It had a few holes in it (no doubt because of my lack of experience in the genre.) But they have worked with me to hone it to its shiny steamy self. Now I’m doing quite a lot of happy dancing as I watch the rise and rise of the Entangled Publishing catalogue – and my book with it.
I guess that’s the thing about doing what you love. When you put yourself out there and someone comes back confirming that the thing that you love is something they love too, it’s magic. But even a small confirmation is enough sometimes. If you’ve been writing for years and feel like you’re never going to get anywhere maybe it would be helpful to stop a moment and check out just how far you’ve already come. Because if you keep writing, keep honing your craft, you can’t help but improve. And maybe with your newly trained eyes you might see the holes in something you wrote years ago. Take it out. Shake off the dust. Fill in the holes. And submit it. Getting a short story published was enough to make me keep going. And going.
For you it might be something different. But I think the call is waiting out there for most of us. What do you think? Would publishing a short story be enough to make sure you didn’t down your pen again? Or will nothing less than selling a novel suffice?
Thanks for stopping by
X Michele
Cruise director Michaela Western has everything she wants—everything
except a sex life. But there are no secrets on cruise ships. She risked
her job once for a dalliance with the Captain, and won’t do it again for
a few minutes of toe-curling pleasure. Until a devilishly handsome new
staffer with a body made for sin tempts her to walk on the wild side...
Investment billionaire Dylan Johns always gets what he wants. He is used to giving orders—not taking them—until he’s forced to go on hiatus from his investment company. To bide his time and carry out an old dream, he takes a job on a cruise ship—and ends up taking orders from his gorgeous, but uptight, new boss. He is determined to loosen her up with a fun onboard romance, but their no-strings fling turns serious and Dylan is forced to confess his lies.
When the affair threatens to shatter Michaela’s own career dreams, she finds herself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Buy Michele's book here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Contact Michele here:
www.micheledewinton.com
http://micheledewinton.blogspot.co.nz/
https://twitter.com/MicheledeWinton
http://www.facebook.com/michele.dewinton
You pick up the phone, expecting the neighbour to be complaining about how your dog ate their rubbish again and instead you get:
“Hello? Is that my all time favourite debut author? I just loved your submission and I can’t wait to make you so famous you’ll have to hire an assistant to keep track of all your fan mail. Oh, and when you’re ready I think we should talk about film rights.”
Dream.
Okay, so I don’t know any publisher that would start a conversation like that. No one knows what is going to make a best seller. If they did publishing would be a lot less challenging (and probably slightly boring) and there wouldn’t be so many self help books on how to write a best seller. Doesn’t stop us all dreaming though ;-)
There have been three memorable ‘calls’ for me. My very first publication call was for a short story. It was a finalist in a competition, along with the stories of EVERYONE in my writing group and came out in a neat compilation book. Rather than making it less special though, the shared glory was, well, glorious. And it was the first step in me believing that writing really was something I could do.
The second call was for my first novel. The managing editor from my mainstream publisher called me himself and I could tell he loved making these calls. Unfortunately for him I was in a meeting and had to hold back my excited yelping until after I left the building. I called him back and we had a little on-the-phone happy dance together in a stairwell. Well I happy danced. He probably chuckled.
And when I finally ventured into romance and signed with Entangled Publishing for The Boss and Her Billionaire I didn’t even get a call. I got an email. A shiny, happy dance email. That one was a bit of a dream. And a bit of right time, right place. I submitted. An editor came back to me within a week asking for the whole MS and then they accepted it really quickly. As it was the first romance I’d ever written I was over the moon. It had a few holes in it (no doubt because of my lack of experience in the genre.) But they have worked with me to hone it to its shiny steamy self. Now I’m doing quite a lot of happy dancing as I watch the rise and rise of the Entangled Publishing catalogue – and my book with it.
I guess that’s the thing about doing what you love. When you put yourself out there and someone comes back confirming that the thing that you love is something they love too, it’s magic. But even a small confirmation is enough sometimes. If you’ve been writing for years and feel like you’re never going to get anywhere maybe it would be helpful to stop a moment and check out just how far you’ve already come. Because if you keep writing, keep honing your craft, you can’t help but improve. And maybe with your newly trained eyes you might see the holes in something you wrote years ago. Take it out. Shake off the dust. Fill in the holes. And submit it. Getting a short story published was enough to make me keep going. And going.
For you it might be something different. But I think the call is waiting out there for most of us. What do you think? Would publishing a short story be enough to make sure you didn’t down your pen again? Or will nothing less than selling a novel suffice?
Thanks for stopping by
X Michele
Cruise director Michaela Western has everything she wants—everything
except a sex life. But there are no secrets on cruise ships. She risked
her job once for a dalliance with the Captain, and won’t do it again for
a few minutes of toe-curling pleasure. Until a devilishly handsome new
staffer with a body made for sin tempts her to walk on the wild side...Investment billionaire Dylan Johns always gets what he wants. He is used to giving orders—not taking them—until he’s forced to go on hiatus from his investment company. To bide his time and carry out an old dream, he takes a job on a cruise ship—and ends up taking orders from his gorgeous, but uptight, new boss. He is determined to loosen her up with a fun onboard romance, but their no-strings fling turns serious and Dylan is forced to confess his lies.
When the affair threatens to shatter Michaela’s own career dreams, she finds herself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Buy Michele's book here:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Contact Michele here:
www.micheledewinton.com
http://micheledewinton.blogspot.co.nz/
https://twitter.com/MicheledeWinton
http://www.facebook.com/michele.dewinton
10 comments:
Thanks for posting Jackie! This whole journey is pretty exciting.
xMichele
It is eh?? Hope yours is a wild ride!
Gorgeous cover, Michele. And I do love a good billionaire story so this is going on my wish list :)
Good luck with your career, and to you, too, Jackie. Can't wait to read all your fab stories!
Thanks Amanda,
I hope you enjoy Dylan's Billions! I've been very humbled by the incredible responce this book has garnered. Happy reading.
xMichele
Thanks for introducing me to another fabulous Kiwi author Jackie!
I'll pop over to her blog after I've caught up on yours!:))
Best wishes to the both of you ladies.
Thanks for stopping by Jess. I'll just go lay out the welcome mat for you ;-) Still very (very) new so there shouldnt be too much dust!
Michele
Amanda - Gidday, m'dear!
Jess - yay! And no worries. It's a fab book let me tell you.
Hi Michele, love the happy dance in the stairwell ;-) Selling a short story would've been enough to keep me going, except that I don't write them. #slightproblem. I kept going anyway so it worked out in the end.
Congrats on your success to date, and wishing you lots more!
Thanks Robyn. I have my pompoms primed for you. Just let me know when you want me to use them ;-)
Michele, the story sounds fabulous! Hope the writing journey continues to take you long and far and to some fun places.
Getting the short story published didn't do it for me, sadly. That happened twenty years before I really started to write seriously. It took me a looooong time to learn that a crappy first few chapters didn't mean I should give up. I tend to "write my way in" so the first few chapters of every first draft are almost certain to be stuff that gets chopped from the final draft!
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