“Send Wicked Ways to Brava,” Jane Porter suggested.
I stopped in mid-rant about the publishing industry and looked at her like she was nuts. I knew better than to dream that big, but Jane thought otherwise. She told me what to put in the proposal and insisted that I send it right away. I nodded my head as she went on and on, having no intentions to follow her directions. Why? Because I’m not one to get hog-wild about a project that will guarantee instant rejection.
But there is something about Jane that people don’t realize. When she gets an idea, she can be very tenacious about it. Annoyingly so. When I started getting a bunch of “Did you send it?” emails from her, I went ahead and sent the first three chapters – otherwise known as my unagented, unsolicited, not a snowball’s chance in hell partial – of Wicked Ways to Kensington. Yep, I subjected myself to a big, fat “No way. Are you kidding me?” just to shut Jane up.
Right away I got an email from Kensington. I truly thought there had been some glitch in the submission system. The publishing industry doesn’t work that fast, not even for an instant rejection. (”Instant” in Publishing Standard Time can mean months.) It came as something of a shock when the email said, “… and I want to make an offer on Wicked Ways…”
So I did what any author would do in that kind of situation.
I screamed.
Loudly.
The kind of scream reserved for when I see a spider.
I also left random and incoherent messages on answering machines across the country. The one thought that kept running through my head like a ticker tape was, “Don’t they want to read the whole thing first?” Didn’t say that aloud, though, thankfully. When the editor asked what else I was working on, I sent them some paragraphs about my other “Wicked” ideas.
The editor and editorial director called me the next day and told me my ideas inspired the “Wicked” Woman concept. Not only am I now a Brava author, but apparently, I also spawned a multiple-author series.
O…kay, sure. I can go with that.
I didn’t even scream. But only because I was too busy strutting around my home Singing “I’m Too Sexy”. Off-key. Waaaay off-key.
So, after finishing all the happy dances my body could take, I realized three things:
- While on the telephone, spider-only screams can hurt the eardrums of the unsuspecting.
- Never, ever, ever disregard Jane’s ideas.
- It’s okay to dream big and if you can’t, then let your stubborn friends do it for you.
