Three Year Drought
by Susan Vaughan
Imagine my thrill when I got that first Call that Silhouette Intimate Moments
wanted to buy my book. It was even a bigger thrill when I saw
Dangerous Attraction on the shelves.
The book, sold well, received good reviews and even won two awards. Little did I
know that it would be three years after publication before the second Call came.
Here’s a sampling of what went on.
“Hi, Susan, this is Silhouette. Your editor has retired. We’ll assign you a
new one soon.”
Months passed while I waited for a decision on my new submissions.
“Hi, Susan, this is Silhouette. Your editor has left the company and she seems
to have misplaced the two manuscripts you submitted.”
More months passed while they assigned me a new editor.
I resubmitted to the new editor.
More months passed.
“Hi, Susan, this is your new editor. Unfortunately, we must pass on your new
submission. Your hero is too over-the-top alpha. We can’t see the reasons beyond
sex that these two people should be together. And the plot overshadows the
romance. But do submit something else soon.”
Let me add to the above that I’ve greatly condensed and edited the events. My
flip little dialogue is a generalization, but basically true.
The bad news was that nearly two years passed with submitting, revising,
resubmitting, and mucho waiting. The good news was that I continued to write new
stories. The even better news was that my new editors saw something in my
writing that sparked their interest. First Susan Litman and then Shannon Godwin
were interested enough to work with me on revising what is now
Guarding Laura, an August 2004 Intimate
Moments release.
Certainly one of the reasons for the delay and for the rejections was the
constant turnover of editors. But the main reason could be found in my writing.
I had written Dangerous Attraction
without examining what exactly made the story and the characters mesh so well. I
needed to analyze my writing more thoroughly so that I didn’t make the same
mistakes that caused the rejections. When I make new mistakes, I’ll have to
analyze again. I needed to learn to create emotional complexity in the internal
conflicts without making my hero too extremely alpha, and I needed to focus on
the romance more than the external plot.
You may ask what kept me going during this long drought. I’m not sure I know.
There were some real down times with tears and anguish, but I never considered
for more than a minute giving up writing. I have those stories in me, after all.
My husband, my critique partners and my Maine RWA chapter were wonderfully
supportive and encouraging. Other writers reminded me that only in the romance
genre are authors expected to publish every year and even twice a year. Many
others have years between books with no one wondering if their publishing days
are over. Of course, having new editors who both praised and made suggestions
kept me going. I had new revisions to work on all the time. And deep down, I
believed I could learn what I needed to learn to make that next sale. I believed
in my stories and in my characters. Hope never died totally.
So when the Call came recently that Silhouette wanted to buy a third book, did
that mean I’ve turned the corner? Does it mean I can relax and sell, sell, sell?
Hardly. Each new book begins with a blank page. Each new book is a challenge.
And with each book I want to improve my craft, delve deeper into my characters
and write a better story. I’ve already revised those rejected manuscripts and am
ready to resubmit them. And I’ve started a new project I’m very excited about.
As a former teacher, I know that we never stop learning.
I hope readers will look for Guarding Laura
in August 2004 and the next book in the series, Code
Name Fiancée, in January 2005.
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