It Finally Happened!

Jennifer signed a new book contract...

While I don’t make a lot of money at it, writing is my full-time job. I’m lucky enough to have a very supportive family who believes I should pursue my dream, even if the financial payback isn’t there. I have children who are interested in what I write, tell their friends about my books, ask me questions and actually pay attention to my answers—if any of you have teens, you’ll know how amazing this is. And so, I dedicate a lot of my time to doing it.

I treat it as a job. I schedule time for it, and with some exception, I write even if I don’t want to do it. Which is why my dry spell was so tough to deal with. I was writing, I was editing, I was submitting, and I was getting rejected. It’s normal and it helps to develop a thick skin (those wrinkle slower, right???) But it’s frustrating.

So I made a plan. I had two stories I was going to finish pitching. If those two stories were rejected and there was nowhere else to go, I was going to try my hand at self-publishing one of them. And then I was going to give up. Because there's only so many times I can bang my head against a wall.

I submitted them, and I heard back from The Wild Rose Press. They were interested! I’d been eyeing them for years but the timing had never been right. Well, apparently all the stars aligned and the timing was right, because I signed a contract for one of those two books, Addicted to Love, on my birthday! I’ve spoken with several writers (Hi, Debra!) and they love working with them, my interactions with the editors have all been wonderful and they are the most communicative publishing house I’ve ever seen.

I don’t yet have a release date, but I did fill out a cover art request—those are scary. I always think I’m ready for them, and then I start to answer the questions and I draw a complete blank. My heroine? Who is she? My hero? Is there one? Luckily I make Pinterest boards for each story I write, so I pulled up the board for Addicted to Love and suddenly everything came back to me. J I do need to fill that board up with other pins, but I had enough of them to help me out and I can’t wait to see what my cover looks like.

In the meantime, I’m writing and editing and remembering not to give up. Because just when you’re about to is when good things happen.