Writing Journey #9 – Another Dip in the Road
And then there were two!
When you find the end of one story, then it’s time to move on to the next story. That’s what I did. You already know that The Forbidden Yearning was actually the third novel I wrote, just the first one to find a publisher. Shamrocks, my working title for the first book I wrote and my cattle drive book never made it off the reject shelf but they gave me practice coming up with characters and stories and romances and whatever else was in those long ago stories. So long ago, I can hardly remember that I wrote them. I really can’t remember a lot about my first two published books except that I was on the writing road and I was more than excited to have two books accepted and published by a national publisher.
But wow, did I have so much to learn! I was so very young and with no experience with the publishing world. I had a great editor at Warner Books named Fredda. She called me on the phone several times to talk about the first book. Said she loved the story and what author isn’t happy to hear that from anybody but especially an editor. I kept detailed journal notes about every part of that early publishing path. The editor wanted to change the name to Forests of the Heart. She said that showed the wilderness and the romance. As you can see, her title was eventually pitched out for The Forbidden Yearning. There is a forbidden romance in the story after my character promises to marry one man but ends up with another. I’d have to read the story again to remember how that happened. Not sure I’d want to do that. I’d see how much my writing needed to improve.
Even skimming through the journal entries is a little cringe worthy. As I said, I was so young. But I was happy as my book began to find its way out to stores. I was supposed to get a box of copies, but for some reason that I guess I didn’t know since I don’t have that in my journal, I didn’t get them until months after the book began to be in stores. I worried that the winter would be snowy like some of the recent ones had been and that no one would be able to get to the stores to find my book. I have to shake my head at myself now.
I became quite the sensation in my little hometown. I had a tea at the library. My hometown paper wrote an article about my book and me. The two daily papers in the state interviewed me. The picture one of them used – the reporter took it – was terrible. I looked like some kind of nut. Thank goodness the other paper put a picture of the book instead of me.
No bookstore in my little town, but the two drugstores got copies of my book that sold out fast. People began asking me to autograph copies. I read my first review. It was awful. I said I’d never read another, but of course, I have.
People in my hometown, some who had never read a book, read mine. It was fun when they told me that. I was fun when other readers gave that best of all lines an author wants to hear. “I couldn’t put it down.” I soaked up the good words like a sponge. I was in writers’ heaven especially after I sent off the book I’d written while I was waiting for the first one to come out and Fredda bought my second book a week after my agent submitted it to her. I was a two book author.
One of my aunts asked me if it was harder to write the second book than the first. Of course, it was really my fourth instead of second, but I had to think about her question. In some ways it was harder since I had to think of new ways to describe things and people. But mostly it was harder because of being afraid I might not write a book as good as the first one. I’m not sure I did. I think I probably didn’t, but it too was on the publishing path. The setting was a horse farm during the Civil War. It had history, but centered on the love story and the horse farm. I liked the title they picked. It described the divided thoughts that many Kentucky families were feeling during the war. But once it was safely on the way to being published I was ready to start book 5. When I looked around for Kentucky history, I noted the Shaker Village first established here in Kentucky in 1805. I also worked in history of the War of 1812.
That second book, A Heart Divided, got stalled at the publishers and the release date was put back a year. While I’d been expecting the book to be out in 1979, now it was scheduled for the end of 1980. But I kept writing and finished my Shaker book that I think I titled A Gift of Love. I always referred to my books in my journal by only the main female character’s name. So this Shaker book was Gabrielle. I sent it off and then those dreadful weeks of waiting to hear what my agent and then editor thinks began. When those weeks turned into months, I knew things weren’t going the way I wanted.
They didn’t. Fredda who had been so excited about my other stories did not like this one. I was back on reject road. My agent was sorry but would try other publishing houses. Unfortunately, other houses didn’t grab it up. Eventually I talked to Fredda again about the book Warners was publishing, A Heart Divided. She still seemed interested in reading future work if I could make the story work. She said I had a gift for “tenderness.” Gabrielle didn’t find a publishing home for many many years. But that’s a story for another episode of my writing journey.
The main thing at this point in my journey was that I had already started down the road of a new story. New history. New characters. And although I was very disappointed about the Shaker book being rejected, I was neck deep in a new story that I was excited about. So when I was out and about in town and people asked me if I was still writing, I always said I was working on a new story. I didn’t say so, but perhaps they were able to see on my face that I hadn’t given up hope. I was keeping on keeping on.
I had been on a high with a book out on the market and with another due out soon. I could hide my low about the rejection for a while and I was especially excited about the new story. I learned a valuable lesson for a writer. For anyone, I suppose. When one thing doesn’t work, that doesn’t mean you have to give up. It just means you have to give it another shot. As the hockey player, Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”
I wasn’t about to not try to take another shot at getting one of my stories out there for readers.
Remember, the giveaway is still going on. I’ll pick two winner who will win their choice of one of my autographed books. The deadline to enter is August 23, 2025 and you need to be at least 18 years old to enter. Any comment on a new post before the deadline will get you another entry into the giveaway. Any comment will do, but I do enjoy hearing from you all.
Have you ever been hit by a setback that made you have to stand up, dust yourself off, and try again?
