I was thrilled yesterday to learn to that my latest release, Just Wicked Enough, is included in a LifetimeTV.com feature about fate and romance novels. You can view the piece here.
While I had written something else to share with you today, it can keep. It just seems that in light of the above that today I should talk about Fate and my journey to writing romance novels.
Unlike most writers, I was never a reader. Growing up, I read a couple of Nancy Drews. (I think my sister read them all.) I read a few books where the main character was a horse or a dog. Sometimes, I’d rewrite a portion of the book. (Somewhere in my memento box I have a rewritten Billy and Blaze.) I loved to write. I just didn’t like to read.
I wrote in a diary. I wrote loooonnng letters to any relative who was kind enough to give me an address. I wrote, I wrote, I wrote.
In high school, I had a wonderful English teacher. Mrs. Meyers took me aside one day and said, “You have a talent for writing. You need to take journalism next year.” And so I did. I loved it. Writing, writing, writing. My senior year I had a conflict and, much to my disappointment, I couldn’t take journalism and work on the newsletter staff. So I took Yearbook and was co-editor with one of my best friends. Not as much writing, but enough to keep my happy.
I went off to the University of Texas with plans to major in journalism. When I finally had the prerequisites out of the way, I signed up for my first real journalism class. Imagine my dismay when the professor held up the Daily Texan, the university’s newspaper, and announced that we had to read it every day, front to back. I enjoyed reading the features. I liked reading the comics. But the sports page? The actual news pages? Business? World Events? State Events? Every day? Read, read, read? Just so I could write, write, write?
I dropped the class. Changed my major to psychology. I’m not someone who believes in looking back with regrets, but I will admit that decision was one that I often look back on and wonder about.
What do you do with a psychology degree? Well, I went to work for the government. The Treasury Dept. Oh, all right, it was actually the IRS, which is part of the Treasury Dept. But Treasury Dept. has a much nicer ring to it, don’t you think? More mysterious? Ten years into what would be a 24-year career with the government, I found myself working in the training department, writing coursebooks and computer-based training courses. I loved it! I was writing again. And I wanted to excel at my job so, on my own time, I signed up for a Technical Writing Class at the local college.
The first night of class—as an icebreaker—the instructor wanted us to introduce ourselves by telling the class what we would do if money was no object, if we could do anything in the world. As fate would have it, she called on me first and I said that if money was no object, I would buy a house in the hill country. I would have an office on the second floor that was one wall of windows looking out on the hills and I would write novels. Everyone in the class looked at me dumbfounded. Write when you don’t have to? Are you insane? They were all heading for the Bahamas.
On the drive home, I had an epiphany. In reality, the teacher had asked each of us to reveal our dream. I hadn’t had to think about my answer. My dream was to write.
So I went home and typed out three pages of a story, using an old electric typewriter. Three pages of what I thought probably needed to be a thousand. How many pages was a novel anyway? Too many. So I wrote a few children’s books. Received some very nice rejections letters. Wrote some first person pieces for Parents—the only magazine I read because I had children and was interested in advice. Received nice rejections.
Then in 1990, I had to go to Chicago on business. I was traveling alone and I decided I needed to take a book to read. Now I did occasionally read books—1 or 2 a year. Sidney Sheldon. Ken Follett. But no way would I ever read a romance novel. I saw the covers. I knew what went on in those books. I wanted something with substance.
So I went to the bookstore, which had a lovely section where they displayed New York Times bestsellers. I figured if it was a New York Times bestseller, it had to be good. A book with flowers on the cover caught my eye. The blurb sounded interesting. I bought it. Started reading it as I was waiting at the airport. On the way to Chicago, as I got more involved in the story, a startling thought occurred to me. Was I reading a romance novel? The book was Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer.
I loved it! The characters, the emotion, the conflict, the prose. Read it three times before I got home from my trip. Went to the bookstore. Searched the fiction section for another book by Ms. Spencer. Nothing. So I went to the clerk to see if I could order one of her books. He directed me to the romance section. Apparently, I had misjudged the substance of romance novels. They had everything I could possibly want in a story.
By the end of the month, I’d read everything LaVyrle Spencer had written up to that point. And I moved on to other authors: Jude Devereaux, Judith McNaught, and more. I was obsessed with reading romances. I, who read 1 or 2 books a year, was now reading 3 or 4 a week. I loved romance! And not only did I want to read it. I wanted to write it. I wanted to bring as much reading pleasure to others as these authors had brought to me.
And so my journey into writing romance novels began and I can’t help but believe that Fate had a hand in it.
So share with me: If you could do anything in the world, anything at all, money was no object, what would you do? And if you’re already doing it, what was the defining moment that made you reach for that dream?
If I could do anything, money aside, I’d be what I am right now. I’m a stay at home mom and wife and I’m finally, finally taking my writing off the back burner and concentrating on it as much as I concentrate on doing laundry, dishes, cooking, picking up after my kids and loving my husband.
I became a stay at home mom 6 years ago, when I had already had enough failed relationships I could count on both hands, and had believed I would never get to be the mom, wife and writer. An ex had once broken up with me with the excuse that he couldn’t love me if I didn’t have a job.
Then I met the man I now call my husband. I was working at a grocery store in my hometown by that time, figuring that’s all I’d ever have going for me, but as he and I got to know each other and fell in love(we met through an online dating site), he asked me to move to be with him and his 2 1/2 year old son shortly after we met IRL, and he had no problem with my dreams of being a wife, stay at home mom and writer.
And so I did fulfill two of the three, but the writer part of me still got pushed aside while I took over caring for my stepson and then having our daughter. I’ve wanted to write since I was about 10 years old and I had started a novel in my early 20s, but had only been able to work on it sporatically for a decade.
I finished it last year in September and have since done some revisions, though I know there’s more to come. I participated in last year’s National Novel Writing Month(NaNoWriMo)in November just to see if I could write a novel in less than 10 years. LOL
That was the real defining moment for me. At the end of the 30 day writing challenge to write a 50K novel, I had a first draft, 80K, 2nd novel. I’ve taken myself out of the box in the past year or so. I’ve come in contact with a variety of wonderful writers, wrote my 3rd, first draft, novel in July/August and I’m planning to write my 4th novel during this years NaNo in November.
I’ve yet to submit because I’m still working revisions on my finished novels, but I’m finally taking myself seriously about following my dream. I don’t want to come to the end of my life and say I never even tried. Even if nothing I write ever gets published, at least I will know I did pursue it. Right now I’m getting my ducks in a row.
Taryn: Congratulations on finishing the drafts and working hard on the revisions. (Also on the wonderful family). Especially wise to get your ducks lined up and to already be aware of organizations and events that provide support and encouragement for writers. I wrote in a vaccuum until I was published. There was so much I didn’t know that it’s a wonder I got published.
Best wishes on reaching that final dream!
Ah, Lorraine, good for you. So many people who went from two books a year to three a week would have entered a Twelve Step Program. But you had the good sense to start writing a book.
I started to write, inspired by my ten/eleven year old daughter who wrote a ‘book’ for a school assignment. It was about ten pages long but it was pretty darned good. A really really cool concept semi-sci/fi about the Bermuda Triangle.
I asked if I could steal her story and try to make it a full length book.
NO!
I still love that story and hope she’ll write it someday…she’s 26 now.
And
I had a friend who wrote a book. She got this notion to go around our county and interview all the surviving WWII vets. It was very simple and straight-forward. I loved it. It reads a lot like Studs Terkel’s The Good War. Much shorter. But really well done. She had it self-published and it’s still for sale fifteen??? years later in the Burt County Museum in Tekamah, NE.
I thought, if these two can do it, I can do it.
And … slip through a lost decade here when I probably should have gone through a twelve step program and … voila I got a book published.
Oh Lorraine - I so enjoyed your tale of how you became a writer. I will admit to being amazed that you weren’t a reader and how you finally found romance novels. I too, became a writer because of LaVyrle Spencer. Of all the wonderful authors of the time, her books touched me the most. Morning Glory was a favorite also, but then I I’ve read and re-read so many of her books countless times.
Congratulations on Just Wicked Enough making Lifetime.com. I enjoyed reading the article.
Mary: I had a lot of catching up to do on the reading when I finally got started! I hope your daughter will make that story a full-length book someday. And I admire your friend for her book on interviews with WWII vets; she might be able to interest a major publisher in it now. There is so much interest in the World War Vets now because we have so few still with us. I think it’s wonderful that she recorded the history. And congrats on your own achievements!
Charlene: I think my lack of interest in reading was simply because I hadn’t stumbled onto the type of stories that held an interest to me. My husband reads a lot of nonfiction; very little fiction. He did recently discover Lee Child and has taken more of an interest in fiction. Right now I’m trying to lure my younger son away from the dark side of not being a reader. He’s reading Joe Hill’s The Heartshaped Box and really enjoying it. I think the secret to creating readers is finding what appeals to them.
Interestingly, after devouring romance novels, I do read other genres now and take enjoyment in them, but romance is still my favorite.
And the lifetime.tv piece was such fun to see.
If money were no object, I’d travel then write stories about my travels or set stories in the places I’d traveled to. First stop in the US would be the West, then the Northeast, then I’d make my way around the circumfrance and visit a friend in Alaska. Then I’d head overseas to Ireland, The UK, Greece, Turkey, Italy, and then I’d think of more places to go. ]
Like Taryn, I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo this year but it’ll be my first time trying. My friends and I started writing stories in high school about characters we created (think X-men crossed with Dungeons and Dragons) and a few of us still wrote stories up until a few years ago when life got too busy. One of those friends is now a published romance author. Guess I figured I’d give it a shot now, at least it might get all these stories and characters out of my head!
Lorraine, what an honor to have your book included on Lifetime.com’s ten best romance books!! That’s wonderful. I can only imagine how thrilled you are. And you’re very deserving of recognition. I became a fan when I read your “Always to Remember.” You pour so much emotion into your stories and they make me feel as if I’ve taken a journey through my own soul. I’m shuddering to think of how awful it would’ve been if you’d never listened to fate. The world would’ve missed a great writer.
Strange that you should mention LaVeryl Spencer. I’m almost halfway through “The Gamble” and I can’t imagine out of all her books that I missed this one! LaVeryl’s books are timeless. If only one day I can write half as good.
I didn’t even have to stop and think when you asked the question about having all the money in the world and what I’d do. I’d buy a cozy house on the beach somewhere around Galveston. It’d have lots of windows overlooking the ocean so I could watch for the storms of life. Writing all day listening to the sound of the waves, the seagulls, and the sound of my heart, I would be in heaven.
Great post!
Lorraine, congrats on being featured! Awesome news! And I loved reading how you fell into loving romance.
Let’s see, if money were no object, I would dump the day job in a heartbeat, buy a house away from the big city and write all day long. I’d grow a garden and have lots of room for the grandbabies to come play. And I’d (learn how to) ride horses, too. Oh, the freedom!!!
Lynn: I suspect you’ll find that once you start writing more stories and characters will fill your head. They’re never ending. Thank goodness!
Linda: You are so sweet. Thanks for the kind words about my stories. I remember “The Gamble.” Great read. What was the name of the book with the train robber? Keep a close watch. The characters from that book have a walk-on in The Gamble.
I might not have noticed if I hadn’t been reading her books one right after the other.
Love your cozy house on the beach scenario. May have to rethink my house in the hill country. You painted such a lovely image that now I want to head to the beach. My parents owned a beach house for a while. I love the sound of the surf at night.
Thanks, Pam.
I once rode a horse along the beach, so may add riding horses to my new beach scenario. I’ve ridden horses but there was always someone there who knew how to keep the horse under control.
Thanks so much Lorraine and I love reading everyone else’s ideal “if money weren’t an issue.”
(Lynn/Elsandra- what’s your id on NaNo? If I can find you, I’ll buddy you.)
If money were no object I would go back to Hawaii and stay for as long as I wanted to.
I forgot about the “If I had money question.”
Yikes. I’m such a tight-wad. I wonder if I could go on a spending spree? Seriously, it’s like embedded in my DNA to pinch pennies.
My life is really structure now with the constraints of a job and I’m afraid without that structure I’d stop finding time to write. I mean, if I was lying on white sand somewhere, would I keep typing????????
What would I do?
A bigger boat. My husband would really like that.
Two bathrooms. I’d really like that, although it would have meant more when the four girls lived at home.
I’d fix up my basement–it leaks after a hard rain. We’re afraid of the mold and mushrooms that flourish down there. Also rodents.
That’d probably TAKE all the money in the world, so then I’d be done.
Oh, I might stop driving my 1993 Tempo with a slightly different shade of bright red on each and every fender and door panel (How COULD there be so many shades of red for one model of car???) to work and maybe buy a car from this century. But the wheels turn so I keep driving it. Did I mention I’m cheap?
Wow–what an interesting journey, Lorraine!
If I could do it all over, I’d sure loved to have known I was a writer long before I figured it out–I always thought I was schizophrenic :)I’ve always been a daydreamer but I never thought to capture my daydreams on paper, not until I got my first computer seven years ago. I spent a lot of years working decent good-paying jobs, and thinking everyday, “I’m meant to do something else…” Then I got the best gig ever–Stay-at-home-Mom, at which point I became at professional volunteer for a solid five years and being active with my boys too away some of my restlessness over finding a career–until my oldest started kindergarten. Then I went back to college, thinking teaching might be my thing–I did enjoy being a substitute preschool teacher. My first day back to college was on my 30th birthday *lol* Talk about feeling some pressure
But after a couple courses of American History and my vivid imagination, it only took one night of trying to capture those images on the scene to answer two major questions in my life–what was I meant to do, and why do all these voices live in my head *lol* They’re characters! And they’d finally found their outlet–what a relief. I absolutely love being a writer–just wish I could have started putting my fingers to the keys much, much sooner 
OMG, if money was no object….wouldn’t that be a DREAM *lolol* I’m another writer who found romance through writing aspirations and not the other way around–boy was I missing out
What fun it’s been reading everyone *dreams* I love to read but have no interest in writing. I’d love to have a beach home but it would have to be here in Northern CA especially after watching Southern CA fires and having a brother in San Diego, he lives close to the beach, and thought he would have *guests* the evacuated family but thank goodness no one was evacuated. I can sit and read by the hour, mostly romance but I do read others. Off to read Stacey Kayne’s 3/07 HH MUSTANG WILD. I went to the Sacramento Valley Rose Reader’s Luncheon and got this adutographed :)-
I love these stories-they give a woman hope ;0).
If money were no problem I would fix up my house. We bought a 106 year old house and have been slowly fixing it up, but it needs so much more work, it is 106 years old :0).
I have always dabbled with writing, for as long as I can remember I’ve wrote stories. In high school, I, too, discovered the books of LaVyrle Spencer and, also, Kathleen Woodiwiss, and my stories turned into romances. For years I had a phobia about letting anyone read my stories, my sister was the only one to read them. Last year, I am still not sure how I got the nerve (I think it was the anonymity of the internet), I joined Avon’s Fanlit and met the ladies that became my critique group. I am currently revising my first completed manuscript and hoping I can work up the nerve to start submitting it, since I’ve always wanted to see a book with my name as the author.
Thank you, Barbs! I hope you had as much fun at the luncheon as I did. Julia Quinn was a great speaker
Hope you enjoy MUSTANG. The fires down south are scary–we have family in San Diego, the devastation is very heartbreaking. I’m glad your brother’s home is safe.
If money was no object, I’d be a world traveler–I’d take my boys to see the pyramids in Egypt, the Mayan ruins in South America, the wilds of Africa, sheep counting in Ireland *g*, to dig for fossils in Utah…and I’d never cook or do laundry….well, I might bake cookies and chocolate cakes
Thanks, Everyone, for joining me today. I really enjoyed reading all of your stories, learning about your dreams, and sharing the day.
Hi Lorraine,
I’m late in getting to read this and therefore replying, but I loved reading about how you came to start writing romance. The fact that you weren’t always a reader was surprising, (in fact, I was expecting to learn that you dicsovered later that you were dyslexic–oh, that writer’s imagination working overtime)but your story gives me hope for my oldest daughter, who seems to have no interest in reading.
Thank you for sharing, and for the many hours of reading pleasure,
Juliet Burns
Hello…Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts ! it was a great Friday