Do you want it?

Suzanne and I were talking about writing tonight. It got me thinking about goals. Being a published author has been my dream for as long as I can remember. Everything I’ve written when I was a child, even before I discovered romance novels, was a love story. Victoria Holt was the first romance author I ever read. I devoured her books. Then Jude Deveraux introduced me to spicier romance with The Maiden.

I kept a yellow three-ring binder with my stories. I wrote my own tv episodes to Beauty and the Beast (do you guys remember that show? Ron Perlman and Linda whats-her-face-terminator-chick). When I was fifteen, I submitted my first story. I’ve been submitting ever since (and I won’t tell you how many years that is). There’s a thrill in submitting, of waiting for an answer in the mailbox. Harlequin was the first house to request a full historical manuscript from me, and that has only fueled the desire to do more.

With each book I write, the excitement grows. Oh yes, I mourn when a book is rejected. I wallow in misery and wonder if I’ll ever be able to write another book because SOMEBODY THOUGHT MY BABY WAS UGLY AND REJECTED IT. But I do write that second book. And I fall in love all over again with those new characters.

Now, if I can just talk the art department into putting Daniel Day-Lewis on the cover, I’ll be set.