Submitted!!

Whew! Done with my run-through of the rewrites for my vampire romance. Yay!

When I mention I'm writing a vampire romance, almost EVERYONE these days says, “Oh, like Twilight (by Stephanie Meyer)!” They get so excited, and yet for some reason the reference kinda erks me. Not that Ms. Meyer doesn't deserve the kudos…I like the books just as much as anyone else. However, I started writing MIDNIGHT CONQUEST a LOOOOOONG time before Twilight came out, so I feel like people are lumping me into the “You're writing it because of Twilight” category. I'm sure Ms. Sherrilyn Kenyon might feel worse than I do if someone makes the same reference to her as she has more than a DOZEN vampire romances on the shelves as we speak (and I've read almost every one of them).

Just for the record, I've bulleted points in the history of “Bonded By Blood – Book 1 – Midnight Conquest” to see what one journey looks like (I hear I'm not the only one who's been through this). 😉

• 1991 – Started working on the book idea – back when it was Bonded By Blood and a single title
• 1992 – Sat down and wrote the book in 3 months – 365 manuscript pages
• 1992 – Had a New York agent interested in it and she made suggestions for revisions
• 1994 – Went through 1st divorce and put book in the drawer
• 1996 – I took 2 weeks off of work and finished the rewrites
• 1996 – Resubmitted manuscript to agent, she didn't like what I did with it, but gave me 4 pages of feedback. GREAT (good sign as she was interested in my writing, but not the story and asked for other stuff), but I got discouraged.
• 1998 – Married husband #2, who frowned upon my writing (I didn't know it at the time we married, but there you have it)
• Didn't write romance for almost 10 years >.< BUT did work on the ideas in my head and started developing other book ideas
• 2005 – Went through divorce #2 and pulled Bonded By Blood back out of the drawer, re-read the critique. WOW! Was that a crappy book! No wonder she didn't like it! LOL
• 2006 – Started reworking the story and renamed it MIDNIGHT CONQUEST. I also blended the other book ideas into one series…with a possibility of continuing, depending upon the interest. Series now called BONDED BY BLOOD.
• 2007 – Put writing aside while I worked on Enchanted Woodz
• 2008 – Finished writing Midnight Conquest and got the interest of The Wild Rose Press. They made suggestions for revisions (deja vous – 1992)
• 2009 – Finished revisions and resubmitted manuscript…17 years later! Ouch!

Well, everything happens for a reason, they say. Even though I didn't write hardly any fiction after 1998, I did write a lot of technical manuals, web site and print marketing materials, corporate communications, diaries, letters, articles, some copyright, etc. With that being said, I've never stopped being a writer, in spite of what my ex-husband tried to squash in me. I am now with my romance novel hero who is the most encouraging and supportive person I have in my life, next to my mother. Because of my continuing efforts in writing, I was able to hone my craft, continue reading what I love to write and I feel it's made Midnight Conquest a better book.

I'll keep you posted on what happens when the publisher gets back to me. Will I get a contract?  DUH DUH DUH!!!!!

TO BE CONTINUED!!

How about you? Can you give a timeline of your first big contract and what you went through? Tell me what you've been pouring your blood, sweat and tears into! Post a quick sentece here, but provide a link to your blog where I'd like you to post your full time-line. Looking forward to reading them!!

That's my two pence…

Arial 😉