Seven Year Itch

Writing itch, that is. Yes, it was seven years ago this Easter I decided to try and put my dreams of publication into practice, by actually sitting down and doing some writing.

My very first effort was a category length romance with weirdy paranormal overtones. The first publisher I sent it to was very enthusiastic and gave me a couple of rounds of revisions. Ah, I thought. Excitedly. At this rate I'll be pubbed by Christmas! And had great fun mentally spending all the dosh I was bound to make (yes. I was either incredibly naive or laughably stupid!!)

Unfortunately, between being offered a contract and said contract arriving, the publisher went into liquidation and although I tried other publishers it seemed weirdy paranormal cats weren't flavour of the month. Year. Decade...

Then I tried targetting Harlequin Mills and Boon and learned weirdy paranormal elements weren't encouraged so I turned to straight contemps. And over the next four years I wrote (and revised) at least a dozen mss, got to grips with Emotional Punch, sucked up a huge amount of invaluable information from the Harlequin website, but, most importantly, met lots of like minded people (ie writers! and romance writers at that!) including the three fabulous witches.

A couple of years ago I decided to try my hand at writing single titles (still straight contemporaries, although I did dabble with first person present - OMG! That was fun) but at the same time could no longer put off a story that had been driving me demented for at least four years. A dark paranormal short, that I sent off to a romance magazine which promptly folded. Sigh.

I wrote another two straight romances, while paranormal got hot. And hotter. And finally it dawned on me... I could go back to my first love of mixing romance with weirdy stuff.

So, it's been seven years and I'm once again writing about reincarnation, witches, psychics and strange magic. I know everything happens for a reason and the universe works in mysterious ways, but I sure hope this time the planets align long enough to snag me a fantabulous contract!