Grueling work...of the best kind

My debut novel, Caught in Cross Seas, is available on e-book! The paperback is coming soon.

I’ve always been a voracious romance reader. Yes, I’ll admit it for all to see. I love a good romance novel. I love all the tension and drama, the fights and making up, the black moments when you think, “This just can’t be saved,” and those wonderful happily-ever-afters. I love a good story. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking this story would be better if…the ending would be better if…the hero would be better if…the heroine would be better if…and I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. Easy, right?

Twelve years, a bookshelf full of writing books, and countless rewrites later, I’d say, no. There is nothing easy about this. It’s grueling work of the best kind.

I wrote my first novel on yellow pads while hiding in the bedroom. Even my husband and kids didn’t know. Needless to say, like most first novel attempts, it stunk and will never see the light of day. Note to descendants: there is a reason that unpublished manuscript was found stuffed in the back of a desk drawer. Your author ancestor knew it was crap. Light a match to it. Don’t publish it.

The idea for novel number two came from the radio. I love country music and hadn’t read any books with a country music hero. I decided to give it a try. It took at least five revisions that I can remember before I was sure I had a winner. My beta readers loved it. Even people I didn’t know loved it. I sent it to literary agents. They liked my writing, disliked my heroine, and thought the story line cliché.

Back to the drawing board.

I tossed everything but the country music hero and the location, Angel Beach, a fictitious beach town on the Oregon Coast. Gone was the cardboard heroine and in her place landed Harlie Cates, a multidimensional and fun character in plaid Converse All Stars. She rocks, if I may say so myself. The rewrite was an arduous task, but I loved every minute of it. So I present to you: Caught in Cross Seas, a romance/mystery. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.

re-posted from June 2014