Road to writing.....
Friday, 14. August 2009, 23:05:21
I'm a housewife and a writer of romance. You'll always find me jotting down notes because--writing is one of my passions. I grew up in Brooklyn Heights, New York spending summers and holidays between Europe, the Catskills and East Hampton, NY. I now divide my time between New Jersey/New York and still visit Greece and Italy every year.
My life before marriage: After working for a company in Clifton, NJ for a few months, I was offered a position with the teamsters union at 20. Through my work at the union I met and became close friends with many interesting and powerful men on both sides of the law. Many exciting years later and three years of evening classes in accounting and business management I accepted a safer position as an accounting/office manager. Regardless of my work, I always found time to write.
I recall how I absolutely hated, but now appreciate one of my father's strict rules for the summer while growing up, read books and write essays on them. Romance novels weren't part of the mix, but I managed to sneak in a couple. Those romance novels were my secret, until now. Through that experience I realized how much I loved writing and learned how to reflect my life's experiences into my writing.
I finished my first novel, A LOVER'S BETRAYAL AND REBIRTH in 2008 and am about ready to send it out to publishers.
I'm now in the process of tweaking the first series of my second novel, HARD ROAD TO LOVE which is a two part series.
As for romance, I feel writing romance is a form of cleansing the heart and soul, and reading it is a wonderful way to be taken away, if only for a little while. I truly believe in this one thing, LOVE NEVER DIES.
New news....
Funny thing..... Today a friend brought to my attention a Wiki post where some person out there was upset because the Wiki folks didn't think I was news worthy. Nevertheless, to that sweet person who fought a good fight for me, thank you. You made me feel very special and I hope you will contact me.
UPDATE:
A publisher who was interested in the manuscript, practically changed the whole novel. I was floored when I went to the New York office and sat with the Author Liaison and a couple of their reps and was told that they made 'a couple of changes here and there' in attempt to shape the novel.
Shape the novel? Shape it into what? It wasn't "a couple of changes", it was a thorough hack job! To say I was livid is an understatement. They changed almost everything! So why accept the manuscript if you're going to change it all? NO. I would NOT accept that. They turned my vision, my thoughts and ideas into garbage. I had to do something and demanded they give me my manuscript and take their check and shove it up their mothers $#@ and I meant it. We ended up in a mediators office and I would NOT budge. The publisher said the way the manuscript was, no one would believe it. Ah, excuse me, but experiences of my own life were woven into that manuscript and what's worse they took a story of love and turned it into some ghost love story. That was not my vision.
I already had plans on a supernatural story for the future and I resented they hacking my book like that.
They had no choice but to give me back my rights to my manuscript and they even let me keep the money. With a catch of course. I cannot say who they are. That's fine by me.
The day my attorney and I walked out of the mediators office, a woman introduced herself to me. Sara Prentis. A marketing director who was engaged to an author. She asked I meet with her and her fiance for dinner that night to talk about my book. I did.
After a very pleasant evening, I put my manuscript in their hands and have not regretted it at all. This gentleman suggested I publish one of the novels through lulu. Thought it was I good idea because I had control. And those who know me well know, I MUST HAVE CONTROL!!! I did begin that process and recently recieved a call from an agent who advised me to pull the novel from lulu and have him send it out to publishing houses instead. Was going to go through with it, but decided to stick with Sara and Jim.
We added a few new twists to the novel and renamed it A Lover's Betrayal & Rebirth. I've done a few book signings and a childen's charity asked if I would do a book signing with a couple of other authors. They were authors, I was just the new kid on the block who enjoyed writing. The other three women were true blue blooded authors. I was a novice amongst royalty and we all got along. How fun is that.
Two production companies have showed interest for this novel and all of this would never have been done if it weren't for Sara and Jim. I thank you both every day. You've made a dream come true for me and I will continue to write, for now anyway.
My life before marriage: After working for a company in Clifton, NJ for a few months, I was offered a position with the teamsters union at 20. Through my work at the union I met and became close friends with many interesting and powerful men on both sides of the law. Many exciting years later and three years of evening classes in accounting and business management I accepted a safer position as an accounting/office manager. Regardless of my work, I always found time to write.
I recall how I absolutely hated, but now appreciate one of my father's strict rules for the summer while growing up, read books and write essays on them. Romance novels weren't part of the mix, but I managed to sneak in a couple. Those romance novels were my secret, until now. Through that experience I realized how much I loved writing and learned how to reflect my life's experiences into my writing.
I finished my first novel, A LOVER'S BETRAYAL AND REBIRTH in 2008 and am about ready to send it out to publishers.
I'm now in the process of tweaking the first series of my second novel, HARD ROAD TO LOVE which is a two part series.
As for romance, I feel writing romance is a form of cleansing the heart and soul, and reading it is a wonderful way to be taken away, if only for a little while. I truly believe in this one thing, LOVE NEVER DIES.
New news....
Funny thing..... Today a friend brought to my attention a Wiki post where some person out there was upset because the Wiki folks didn't think I was news worthy. Nevertheless, to that sweet person who fought a good fight for me, thank you. You made me feel very special and I hope you will contact me.
UPDATE:
A publisher who was interested in the manuscript, practically changed the whole novel. I was floored when I went to the New York office and sat with the Author Liaison and a couple of their reps and was told that they made 'a couple of changes here and there' in attempt to shape the novel.
Shape the novel? Shape it into what? It wasn't "a couple of changes", it was a thorough hack job! To say I was livid is an understatement. They changed almost everything! So why accept the manuscript if you're going to change it all? NO. I would NOT accept that. They turned my vision, my thoughts and ideas into garbage. I had to do something and demanded they give me my manuscript and take their check and shove it up their mothers $#@ and I meant it. We ended up in a mediators office and I would NOT budge. The publisher said the way the manuscript was, no one would believe it. Ah, excuse me, but experiences of my own life were woven into that manuscript and what's worse they took a story of love and turned it into some ghost love story. That was not my vision.
I already had plans on a supernatural story for the future and I resented they hacking my book like that.
They had no choice but to give me back my rights to my manuscript and they even let me keep the money. With a catch of course. I cannot say who they are. That's fine by me.
The day my attorney and I walked out of the mediators office, a woman introduced herself to me. Sara Prentis. A marketing director who was engaged to an author. She asked I meet with her and her fiance for dinner that night to talk about my book. I did.
After a very pleasant evening, I put my manuscript in their hands and have not regretted it at all. This gentleman suggested I publish one of the novels through lulu. Thought it was I good idea because I had control. And those who know me well know, I MUST HAVE CONTROL!!! I did begin that process and recently recieved a call from an agent who advised me to pull the novel from lulu and have him send it out to publishing houses instead. Was going to go through with it, but decided to stick with Sara and Jim.
We added a few new twists to the novel and renamed it A Lover's Betrayal & Rebirth. I've done a few book signings and a childen's charity asked if I would do a book signing with a couple of other authors. They were authors, I was just the new kid on the block who enjoyed writing. The other three women were true blue blooded authors. I was a novice amongst royalty and we all got along. How fun is that.
Two production companies have showed interest for this novel and all of this would never have been done if it weren't for Sara and Jim. I thank you both every day. You've made a dream come true for me and I will continue to write, for now anyway.
WIDGETIZE