Gemma's Close Call

And the randomly selected winner of a signed copy of Alibi in High Heels and a spa set is.... Tori Lennox! Congrats, Tori! Send me an email to confirm your mailing address and I'll pop it in the mail to you ASAP.

Happy anniversary to us, happy anniversary to us, happy anniveeeeeeeeersary dear Killer Fiction…

Okay, I won’t subject you to my singing any longer. I’ll just cut right to the good stuff: today’s prize! I’m giving away a signed copy of ALIBI IN HIGH HEELS along with a cute little spa set of Sheer Freesia body wash, shower gel, and a shower puff. Smells awesome!

I have to say, I have been absolutely loving reading everyone’s “The Call” stories this week. It just goes to show that writers have wildly different paths to publication. Mine started out one fine day when I home alone, bored, and in desperate need of reading material. I’d never really read romance much before, but I’d read everything in the house except this romance book shelf that I’d gotten as a free gift somewhere. So, I figured I’d give the genre a try.

Two hours later I threw it against the wall. I’m sorry to say it was not a good romance novel. (No, I won’t be naming names.) In fact, it was horrible. Terrible. Sucked big time. I was so disgusted that I decided right there and then that I could do better than that. So, I did a little research online, found out what the publisher was looking for, what sort of books were out there, started reading romance in all my free time. I set aside two weeks to write my novel.

Well, turns out it’s a lot harder than I’d thought to write a terrible romance novel, let alone a good one. My two weeks turned into three, into four, into five… finally after three months I had what I thought was a pretty descent romance. So, I sent off a query to the publisher and they immediately responded asking to see the full manuscript. I was over the moon! I packed my baby off with loving care, sure I was on the fast track to the NY Times bestseller list, and waited for a reply. And waited. And waited. (Apparently it took a lot longer to read a romance novel than I thought, too.) Finally I heard back. She loved it… but it needed some work. Fix these things and resubmit. At first, I was crushed. What did she mean my masterpiece needed work!? But, by that time I’d joined some online writing communities who all told me I was nuts if I was upset by a request for revisions. This is a fabulous thing. So, I picked myself up, rewrote the thing and sent it back in.

Only to be crushed again when that editor left the publishing house and her replacement sent me a form rejection. Apparently my first manuscript was not to be my bestseller.

But by that time I was hooked. The writing bug had bit and I just knew I could do this. Like everything else about publishing, it just looked like selling was going to take a little bit longer than I’d originally planned. So, I gave myself a deadline. If I hadn’t sold a book by two years from that day, I’d consider writing a hobby and switch career focuses to something else.

And so, I kept writing. Even when my second, third, fourth, and fifth manuscripts turned out not to be my bestsellers, I kept writing. And getting rejected. By the time I was ready to sit down and start book number 6, my pile of agent and editor rejections was almost as tall as I was. With heels. I was at my wit’s end. I had no idea what publishers were looking for. I’d made 5 incorrect guesses and was beyond frustrated trying to figure out the secret formula to get in the door. So, I had a “screw-it” moment and started writing the book I wanted to write instead of the book I thought I could sell. I wrote about funny, poignant, taboo, and fun stuff. I had no idea if anyone else would like it, but I LOVED it. Once it was finished, I packed it off to a slew of contests and awaited the responses.

What do you know, it did well! Apparently when I turned off my internal censor, I could actually write something pretty decent. That manuscript won several smaller contests, and I was absolutely stunned and blown away when it finaled in the Golden Heart contest. (Along with Kathy!)

Being a Golden Heart finalist was like being queen for a week at the national conference. It was my first writing conference of any kind, my first time meeting other writers face to face, and my first time pitching anything to anyone in person. I was so nervous. I think my first pitch consisted of, “I wrote a book. I’m not sure what it’s about because I’m shaking too hard to read my notes. But it’s good. I swear.” Luckily, I got better. Luckily, I stopped shaking. And luckily, I pitched to Leah Hultenschmidt on the last day of conference and not the first. I think I had my pitch down by the time I grabbed her in an elevator and shoved a business card at her, telling her all about my Golden Heart book and this other little book, Spying in High Heels, that I’d been working on in the meantime. Another one where I’d turned off my internal censor and come up with this crazy idea to blend romance, humor, and mystery into one book. I’m not sure if she was just being nice, or really interested, but she asked to see both books as soon as I got home. I was thrilled! I didn’t think my conference experience could get any better.

Well, it did. Just a little. When my no-rules book won the Golden Heart that night. Yep, that’s me in the picture wearing my Golden Heart necklace just after the ceremony. Still looking a little stunned. (And, yes, that is a janitor closet behind me. Ah, the glamorous life…)


So, remember that two year deadline I’d set for myself after my first rejection? Well, the very day I hit the two year expiration date on my promise to myself, I got a call from my agent. He told me he had good news and bad news. The good news was that Leah loved Spying in High Heels and wanted to buy it. The bad news was I was now going to be a very busy woman.

That’s the kind of bad news I can handle.

I did a very professional, “Uh, huh. Sure, great,” then hung up and screamed like a banshee, jumping up and down on the sofa. (I am the original Tom Cruise.) When I calmed down, I called my critiqued partner… who then screamed like a banshee and we both jumped some more.

While that first sale was an amazing experience, I have to say that with each subsequent book sale, I still get that OMG-is-this-really-happening-to-me feeling. While there’s nothing like your first, it never gets old.

I’ve just learned now that when it comes to deadlines, to give myself a little more wiggle room in the future. ;) No more close calls.


~Gemma "Trigger Happy" Halliday