Perseverance is key!

Ten years ago, last spring, after a lifetime of creating stories in my head and on paper, I decided to seek publication. A friend overheard me talking to a coworker in the next cubicle. She walked over and asked me "Are you serious about wanting to get published?" I answered "Yes!". She then told me I needed to join her local romance writers association. So, I did, and I wrote all summer on a book I thought was great. I didn't get it all finished, but I signed up for a pitch appointment, to an editor only three months away. Those months, I spent (outside of my day job), learning how to create a blurb, and expectations of an editor during these appointments. I even read all about my assigned editor. I saw other books he published and loved them. They were a bit darker than my story, but all the same, they rocked. At the conference, I went to a special session to make my pitch even more perfect than I thought possible. Soon, it was time to meet with the editor!

I sat down, said five words and the editor stopped me. He told me, kindly, that he wasn't interested in my type of story. Well, after all the research I'd done, I wasn't going to leave right away. I took the time to thank him for coming, then went on to say how I researched other books he’d published. I mention a few I liked and in a moment of utter surprise, I told him I had an idea for a book that involved dead bodies and dead languages, since I studied linguistics in college. His eyes widened and he pointed to me saying "Now, THAT's a book I'm interested in."

This was in October 2010. I spent all November (using National Novel Writing Month to help) and wrote that 72,000+ word book. Unbeknownst to me, I was still in the early stages of learning the craft and had a long way to go. January 2011, I sent off my manuscript. The following April, I received my first rejection letter. Again, unbeknownst to me, it was more of a revise/resubmit. But I didn't know that. I only read that it wasn't acceptable. So, for the next nine years, I fiddled with it on and off, while I wrote more books and more stories. In 2016, I submitted a different story to a different publisher and it got accepted. I'd become a published author. Then I wrote another in that series and it got published in 2018. Both of these books had characters I wrote in that first rejected book. So, when it came time to submit a third book of the series, I finally had the chance to bring this book to life! Talk about happy dancing! It's finally getting published!

Dead Bodies, Dead Languages is now available for pre-order! Release date is perfect as it is set for October 28, 2020! Since the book takes place around Halloween, this is the best release date I could hope for. This is, by far, my favorite of the series and I hope it will be yours too. Check it out and know I'm giggling just to see it live!