EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

I’m taking a vacation from this blog for two weeks, but wanted to end 2012 on a high note. It turned out to be spectacular.


On Thanksgiving day my husband and I had dinner with four neighbors and then spent a relaxing evening enjoying the balmy California desert weather on the host’s beautiful patio. So it was after nine when we came home. My computer was still on, so I went into my office and clicked on my e-mail. I found a message from an editor to whom I’d sent the entire manuscript of EYE WITNESS, a woman-in-jeopardy mystery novel, more than four months before. In it, she offered a contract to publish the book.

I rushed to tell Hubby and then read the sample contract the editor had thoughtfully provided. A good one, with excellent terms and generous e-book royalties. In fact, no problems that we’re warned to watch out for. My friend and co-author agreed.

Carole and I wrote this book many years ago, when I still lived in San Francisco. She and I met in a writing class and soon realized our styles were complementary. She’s a “word” person and I’m a “story” person. First we “brainstormed” the plot of the book and then I wrote the first chapter. I called it “down and dirty.” Then I gave it to Carole and she used her language skills to improve it, adding descriptions, images, metaphors and similes. We wrote the entire book that way and, over the years, as each of us learned more about writing, we revised it a bit. Sometimes a rejection provided improvement ideas as well.

We wrote three books together, the first, SOUTHERN STAR, finally published by Avalon Books in 2010. I wrote about it on this blog, pointing out that I sent the book out nineteen times (twice to Avalon) before it sold. As of October, Amazon having bought Avalon Books, it’s a Montlake Romance and available in both paperback and e-book instead of only hard cover.

EYE WITNESS was our second book and I sent that one out--via query, partial or complete manuscript--forty-one times since 2005. Twice we were offered contracts, but something happened and the deal fell through. It’s due out in August, and our publisher is on the Mystery Writers of America approved list so we should be eligible for an Edgar Award. (I can dream, can’t I?)

The third book is a romantic suspense novel and--between forty-five submissions since 2002--has been rewritten more times than we can remember. Dare we hope for another contract for 2013?

But, wait, there’s more.

Five days after Thanksgiving, I received another e-mail from another publisher about another book, this one a contemporary romance written solely by me. Once more, the contract is author-friendly and the book is due in March. Carole’s second solely written novel, THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU was released in November and she’s working on her third. Could any two authors have such a happy holiday season?

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year will bring you the same kind of joy we’re so thrilled to report.