My 10 Year Writingversary

Picture it: Madison, Wisconsin, December 2013.

My mom and I were traveling for her work, and while she was out doing business during the day, I hung out in Starbucks finishing my first ever book.

That book, a never-to-be-published Regency historical romance called Summer Sapphire, was not the first book I started. But it was the first one I finished. (Sorry, Club Scene, I don’t think I’ll ever get you to the end.) I’d started many manuscripts in many genres. This one, though, was different. This one, I entered in the RWA’s Golden Heart contest.

The magic of the Golden Heart contest is that you enter (and pay your fee) in November and you don’t have to submit the finished manuscript until December. So when you’re still optimistic in early November, you commit to the contest. Then come the end of the month you realize OMIGOD I HAVE TO FINISH BECAUSE I ALREADY PAID $50!!!

And I did.

That external deadline is how I finally finished Summer Sapphire, on a cozy sofa in wintry Wisconsin, while happily sipping away on Iced Passion Tea Lemonades…

As amazing as it seems now, that first manuscript actually finaled in the Golden Heart, which is why I came back to writing after giving up for a few months. But that’s a story for another day. (Remind me to tell it come July.)

It is mind-boggifying to think that I have been on this writing track for over a decade.

This is not an easy career and at times it feels like being on a runaway roller coaster of emotions and no wonder so many writers (and other artists) are depressed, neurotic, and/or unstable. Anyone who’s been around me for more than five minutes has heard me whine and complain about this crazy-making business, but the truth is… I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

*pictures jobs that require actual pants*

*shudders*

So, one decade down… and hopefully many more to come.