Having just returned from RWA’s National conference and seeing so many lovely first sale ribbons I’m reminded of my own first sale. I know there are many of you out there who are aspiring writers and perhaps need the encouragement and for you readers well hopefully it will be an entertaining story. I started out reading romances the way many of you probably did. I was in high school and my mom was a big romance reader and she suggested I try one. I grabbed Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s A Rose in Winter and I devoured it. To the point of staying up way too late and not studying for finals. But hey, what were they going to do? Fail me? I’d already been accepted into college. Reading that book not only transformed my reading habits and choice of books, but it answered a question I’d been struggling with for a few years.

I’d always known I wanted to be a writer, but I hadn’t yet found WHAT it was I was meant to write. Reading A Rose in Winter, it was like the gears in my brain shifted and I had an immediate A-HA moment. So I began my quest, which for the first few years primarily meant I read a lot of romances and went to a few conferences and took notes. I didn’t really start writing with any consistency while I was in college. I thought I was too busy. (feel free to roll your eyes) Seriously, what was I doing with my time? In any case, I read a lot, which is always a good place to start when you’re trying to narrow down your writing focus.

The one thing I kept hearing when I’d go to workshops of conferences was, “write what you know.” So the first novel I started was an historical set in Texas because I grew up in Texas and when you grow up in Texas, you know Texas history. But as much as I’d been told this, I longed to break the rules because I wanted to write British historicals. Well, I wised up after a trip to England and realized what they should be saying is, “know what you write.” Once this became my new motto, I put my Texas book aside and began my first British historical.

It took me entirely too long to write this book (2 years), mainly because I wasn’t writing consistently. I wanted it to be a priority, but I didn’t know how to make it that way. Eventually, it took, after joining RWA and spending time with other writers and going to more conferences. And one day I woke up and realized I was really on the track to pursuing my dream. It took 5 manuscripts and 7 years, but eventually (on June 12, 2004 to be exact) I got “the call” from Avon.

My sale is one of those you could consider a “slush pile” sale because I was un-agented at the time and my original submission was requested in a group appointment at an RWA National conference. The kind of appointment where the editor doesn’t remember you. Eventually I followed up on that proposal and she got back to me quickly and requested the full and then a few months later the call came.

And then came the total, utter disbelief. I’d done it. I’d made it. Sold all on my own. I couldn’t believe it. For months, it was still unreal. Even after I got my revisions and had to turn in a new proposal, it was still unreal. I got my first cover in the mail and it was so cool and yet, still unreal. I guess it caught on because next week my 5th book comes out.

I think my road to publication was unique to some degree since I didn’t have an agent at the time of my sale. Not only that, but I’d never done well in contests – only placed in 2 with the book I sold and always came in last place. ☺ I also never stopped getting form rejections that you hear will eventually go away when you get close. Never happened that way for me. Oh, I got some “good” rejections, but the others never stopped completely.

Just another reminder that the road to publication is as unique to each of us as the way we meet/met our spouse. No one’s story is the same as someone else’s and in that way we’re all special. But more than that, we all have something to offer the writing community.

Tell me about your own call? What dream have you worked toward that came true? As readers do you enjoy hearing about how your favorite authors broke into the business? Make a comment today and you might just win an autographed copy of Seduce Me which hits stores next Tuesday, July 28th!