An Epic Year – And Things I’ve Learned Again

As 2013 draws to a close I’ve been reflecting as one is wont to do. Personally, we’ve had an intense year with parental health issues, but fortunately, right now everyone is sitting in great health and things are going out much better than they came in.

Professionally? I think I’ve had the most incredible, new, exciting year I’ve had since that first book sold back in 2009. I’m going to throw in the more reader pertinent things here at the beginning, the writer stuff is on the end. And if you’re interested in both yay *confetti*

As many (most…all) of you know I started out writing Harlequin Presents which are still my first love. Because sheikhs, dude. And emotional angst and sexy alpha heroes and as you all know, I’m contracted to keep writing Presents for…*counts on fingers* a lot more books. So while things are changing, and growing, I’m still sticking to my roots.

In the New Year I have a sheikh and his kidnapped, forbidden American heiress (Forged in the Desert Heat, January) we have Xander…(Pretender to the Throne, March) Alexios and Rachel (One Night to Risk it All, May) and there will probably be another sheikh thrown into the mix. Watch this space.

But in diversifying news…I also have two Cosmo Red Hot Reads coming this year! Crazy, Stupid Sex and one with the working title Urban Cowboy. They’re funny and sexy and very different to my single titles and my series books. And I’ve had a blast working on them!

I’m also wrapping up a series (for now, you never know what will happen in the future!) my last Silver Creek books are coming out this year. Two novellas, and two single titles, the last of which will be in print this summer. And I’m starting a NEW series (which won’t release in 2014, but I’ll be working on it through the year!) Pine Ridge Falls, which is releasing in print and e with HQN.

And then I have that Secret Project which is slowly leaking onto the interwebs. (don’t look on Amazon. You might SEE things.) It’s also quite different to my other stuff. Very dark. Very twisted and very fun.

It’s a LOT of things. And to be honest, while some of it I was working toward, some of it came out of the blue. Or rather, it seemed like it did. But looking back it’s amazing how things all worked together.

I yammer on a LOT about the importance of keeping your eyes on your own path, because no two writer’s paths are the same. And there have been a lot of opportunities that came up last year, or in previous years that I know were the seeds for the wonderful things to come this year.

There were a lot opportunities that seemed small, that became the first step into some of the things I’m most excited about.

I think it’s easy to look at other people (especially on the internet!) and think that things simple COME to them. That their success is instant, or easy. And sometimes…for some people…that is true. But usually there are a lot of other things going on behind the scenes that we never see. And whether or not you’re on a slow crawl to ‘success’ (in quotes because success can be defined in many different ways) or you shoot there on the tail of a comet, hard work is always the bottom line.

I also think it’s easy to become so consumed with what OTHER people are doing, or what THEY might do in a certain situation, that you miss the unique opportunities that are in front of you.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking a contract that isn’t your ‘dream’ contract. It’s not a failure. Sometimes it’s a step.

Someone asked on twitter a while ago: Is it better to have bad tomatoes, or no tomatoes. And most people said no tomatoes. But someone said: Bad tomatoes. Because you can grow good tomatoes from the seeds. And I absolutely see the merit in that. Sometimes, from situations that don’t seem ideal, you can grow the most amazing things. But I think you have to do it intentionally. I think you have to be watching for those new sprouts so you can cultivate them.

I’ll be honest and say that digital first wasn’t what I had in mind ideally for Silver Creek, but Berkley and my editor there, really believed in the books. And when we went back to contract the second time, it was for print, which was what I had wanted for the series in the first place. So while it wasn’t a bad tomato per se, it was something that I felt initially closed off to, but something I’m VERY glad I pursued in the end because A) it allowed me to bring these books, books I’m very proud of, to my readers, and B) DID eventually lead to a single title mass market deal.

Sometimes immediate gratification (monetary particularly!) isn’t the name of the game.

Watch for your own opportunities, don’t watch for the opportunities being given to other people. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned this year.

When Cosmo Red Hot Reads became A Thing I didn’t even think about submitting to it because it just didn’t seem like I would be a fit. And then my editor asked if I would be open to writing and submitting a partial for consideration. I thought…why not? I honestly didn’t think they would buy it, but I wrote the partial with abandon and I had so much fun with it. I had no expectation for it. And after a bit of a wait, I found out they wanted it, and that they wanted TWO from me! So exciting, and not something I was looking for. But something I’m SO glad I pursued now.

I also had the chance to work on a novella for a charity anthology, and through that met the editor who helped inspire/develop the Pine Ridge Falls series, which is probably the thing I’m most excited to be working on in the coming year.

I guess the bottom line is this: know your goals, keep your eyes open, and keep writing.