Plot Monkeys

Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.

Okay. I’m NOT. :o I’m referring to that old Meredith Baxter Birney hair color ad. (Jeez, I totally just dated myself!) But since Julie sometimes gives me crap about this, let me re-phrase:

Don’t hate me because I sold the first book I wrote.

Here’s what happened.

It was late 1996/early 1997. I was a stay-at-home mom with 3 girls under the age of 7 and I was going out of my f’ing mind. My hubby came home one day with an article cut out of the local paper, advertising a class called “How To Write A Romance Novel.” It was taught by a former Harlequin/Silhouette editor at a local used book store. He knew I’d had a long interest in writing and I read romance novels. So he basically put the phone in my hands and ordered me to enroll in the class. Then he pushed me out the door every Tuesday night for 8 weeks to make sure I went.

It was one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. Not as great as him–or our 3 girls–but definitely up high on my “best of” list.

During the very last session of the class, everyone had to give a scene they’d written to the rest of the group for evaluation. When I got my scene back, everyone, including the teacher, absolutely raved about it. They all encouraged me to finish this book about a cute girl-next-door living a double life as a super-sexy radio deejay. We also all decided we wanted to keep getting together every Tuesday night–not as a class, but now as a critique group.

So we kept meeting and I kept writing. And by the summer of 1997, I’d finished the book, which I called PASSION LINES.

That July, the RWA national conference was held in Orlando. My critique group and I enrolled and commuted every day over to the conference. I went to one workshop taught by Harlequin editor Brenda Chin (I think it was on doing revisions.) The workshop was packed–I was in the very back of the room and couldn’t even see Brenda, but I sure did hear her. I loved what she had to say, and decided then and there that SHE was the editor for me, even though I never met her, never talked to her (and no, I had no idea what an editor appointment was.)

So, after the conference, I went home, printed off the manuscript (all 260+ pages of it) and mailed it to her.

You read that right. No appointment. No query letter. No synopsis. Nothing. I just slapped that thing together and mailed it to her, and to add insult to injury, I LIED in the cover letter and said I’d remembered her saying that anyone who attended her workshop could go ahead and send her their full manuscripts. (She would NEVER say such a thing…still makes me–and her–laugh to this day about what a brazen little hussy I was!)

Okay, fast forward seven months. I wrote two more books and mailed both of them to Brenda without querying. Then that May, 1998, I had gone to a program at my daughter’s elementary school. Hubby took the day off to go with me. When we got home and I checked the messages, there was one from Brenda Chin, who said, “I think this one might have a chance.” I started to cry, which made my hubby think somebody had died. He asked me, “Who is it?” (meaning: “who died”) and I said, “Brenda Chin.” And he looked at me like I was crazy since he had no idea who that was. Then I told him and we both screamed and jumped around for a while.

I called Brenda back and she told me the story had great potential but needed some revisions, including re-writing the last 1/3 of the book. She said she’d send a revision letter, but believe me, I did NOT wait for one. That very weekend, I rewrote the last third of the book, and added some other stuff she’d wanted, including a prologue.

I eventually got the revision letter and slung that revised ms right back at Brenda. Then the waiting began again. Finally, in November 1998, she called around 11am one Thursday morning and offered to publish the book. I remained totally cool and collected, then hung up and freaked out all over the place.

It was-is-will always be-one of the most exciting moments of my life. I will never forget how happy Brenda sounded to be offering me this incredible opportunity and how my heart absolutely lodged in my throat with the joy of it

Here’s the funniest part…Brenda told me she had been a little skeptical about my book before she ever read a word because of the way I lied in the cover letter. Then she started to read…and during one part, where the heroine is thinking back to how much she’d loved Land of the Lost as a kid, she began to really get interested. Because Brenda loved the show Land of the Lost as a kid! (as did I!) And when she read on, to the scene with the heroine wearing a devil-red bikini, cooling herself off with an ice cube, she knew this book was something special. (Check back Monday if you want to see the scene for yourself!)

How funny. That was the very same scene my teacher and critique group had read the last week of my class…the one that had them convincing me I could actually do this crazy thing…writing a romance novel.

I guess they were right.

So, to sum things up:

She bought that book, which was re-titled NIGHT WHISPERS. It was released 9/99.

For some reason I still can’t fathom, it was a huge success. It won the National Reader’s Choice Award for Best Short Contemporary Romance of 1999. It won me the Notable New Author of the Year Award. Was named a Top 10 Romance of the Year in the Barclay Gold competition. And finaled in a couple of other contests. That was all way cool…but it wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t been able to sell another dang book!

You see, Brenda did NOT buy the 2 books I’d finished while waiting to hear from her, or the third I wrote & sent to her while waiting to hear about the revised version of NIGHT WHISPERS. There was a big 15 month lag between my 1st and 2nd books…so while I sold my “first ever” book, I wrote three more that have NEVER sold…and really sweated that second book sale. From what I’ve learned since, that’s not too uncommon, but oh, boy, were there a lot of nights when I was certain I was going to be another “one book wonder.”

Anyway…
I’ve gone on to work with Brenda on another 25+ books.
She is still the best editor I’ve ever known and one of my dearest friends.
She still gives me shit about lying in my cover letter.
We still laugh about LAND OF THE LOST–especially now that we both have the entire series on DVD.

I am still thankful, every day, to my hubby for pushing me out the door. And to the “Tuesday Night Group” (including former editor Pat Brocato who taught the class, former Silhouette author Mia Maxam, Marilyn Ivison, Laurie Cooper and Gayle Wilson) for convincing me to GO FOR IT.

Thank you. All of you. From the bottom of my heart.

PS: That first book? Just reprinted–THIS WEEK–with a fabulous new cover that doesn’t make me cry when I look at it. (click on the cover if you’d like to make my day and order a copy!)

Compare that to the original–I really did cry the first time I laid eyes on it. It became the “John Boy With Pecs” or “The Manssiere Man” cover:

Finally, I just have to say…when this business starts getting me down, I let myself think of that crazy/wonderful time in my life and acknowledge that, along with being Bruce’s wife, and Caitlin, Lauren & Megan’s mother, there’s absolutely nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.