Lori is a fellow Rebel and online friend of mine. Today, she's talking about how she became a published author.
My Road to Publication
As I prepare
my latest release, I reflect back on how I got to this point.
I wrote my first full length novel, Black
Night, in 2007. When my best friend said I should try and get it published. I
began sending written and e-mailed query’s to every agent I could find. I don’t
recommend this now since I learned the hard way it only wastes paper, postage
and time if you don’t research the Agency or Publisher first. I made a huge
mistake early on and it cost me both emotionally and financially. So, I decided
to ask for help and was told, by more than one author, I should join RWA and my
local chapter. I joined in time to attend the National Conference in San
Francisco. A short time later I became a member of SVRWA where I made many
friends and continued to learn my craft. By 2008 I had written two more books
making Black Night a Trilogy before changing gears and writing my first
suspense. I continued to submit both Black Night and Victim of Circumstances,
only to be rejected. At one point I would get at least one “Thank you for
submitting…” letter a week and twice the auto-reply e-mails. Still, I kept
writing and kept submitting and even attended several meetings that involved
pitching to an agent in person. Let me tell you I was shaking in my boots when
my turn came. Most of the Agents I met were polite and asked for a partial
submission. Some I heard back from, again thanking me for my interest, others I
never heard a word. Was I discouraged? You bet. Was I depressed? Absolutely.
Still I couldn’t give up. I was reading the RWA magazine one day when I saw an
ad for Rebel Ink Press. I figured they must be safe if RWA gave them a spot and
what could it hurt to send them an e-mail. I’m not ashamed to admit the morning
I got an e-mail saying, we’d love to offer you a contract for Victim of
Circumstances, I literally danced around the living room. I was carrying on
so much my husband and the dog’s thought I’d gone crazy. I’ll never forget the
way I felt on March 1, 2011 when Victim of Circumstances was released. It was a
mixture between fear and excitement. I went to work with my head in the clouds
that day. Since then Rebel Ink Press has published 6 other titles for me with a
seventh due out in October 10, 2014. And even though I know I worked hard to
get there I still have moments when I can’t believe I really made it. Thank You
E, for taking a chance on an unknown and inspiring me to become the best I can
be.
Office Hours Blurb: Emily
Winters was looking for a new job, not a new lover. Answering and ad for office
manager she found both. Life is good until her ex decides he isn’t finished
with her. Soon Emily finds herself caught in a web of lies as she tries to hide
her past lover from her present one. Just when she thought she was safe the two
men encounter each other in the most embarrassing meeting of Emily’s life.
His father’s unexpected death hurled Ryan Rose into the
president’s seat of the family business. When his retiring manager hires her
replacement, a woman who says she doesn’t believe in office romance, Ryan does
the only thing he knows to win her over, retire. Preparing to sell his share,
he discovers a connection between the buyer and his secretary, a connection
he’s not sure he can forgive.
Together the couple learns love’s not always sex and roses.
Excerpt: Leaning
back in his chair, Ryan Rose frowned. The unexpected death of his father turned
his life upside down. He missed him every day, but days like this he cursed the
man for leaving him in charge of the family business.
Besides dealing with his mother’s
break-down over her husband’s death, he’d found himself hurtled into the
president’s seat of Frank and Son’s Construction. The company his dad added him
to weeks after his high school graduation. Because Ryan never took the time to
learn the business end, he never intended to be the boss, at thirty-one he was
scrambling to run the company he now owned.
Ugghh! He
wasn’t cut out for the responsibilities that came with owning a company. But
every time he mentioned selling, his mother sank deeper into depression. Selling what your father sweated to make a success would be unforgivable.
The words often haunted him so Ryan let it go. For now. Once his mom recovered
they’d definitely visit the subject again. He didn’t plan on spending years
behind a desk to please her.
He wearily eyed the two stacks of
employment applications sitting on the old oak desk. Pile one reminded him he
needed to find a replacement for his father’s long-time secretary and office
manager, Betsy Reynolds, who’d decided she couldn’t continue working for the
company since Frank’s death. Pile two belonged to those interested in a job as
his mother’s aid and companion. Losing her husband of forty-two years had made
Lois Rose far too dependent on him.
Since his sister still recovered from
her own tragedy he’d been left to deal with his mother’s break-down on his own.
When he threatened to send mom to live with his sister and her fiancée Lisa
suggested they hire a helper. Knowing his mom would hate moving from the home
she’d lived in for over forty years, Ryan agreed to hire someone to help Lois
with the daily chores and get her out some. If things worked out he’d be able
to move from the house he now shared with her. He had one problem. He knew
nothing about hiring a babysitter for
a sixty-eight year old widower. And even less about finding someone to run the
office.
The buzzing intercom nearly toppled
his chair. “Ryan, your one-thirty interview’s here. Shall I send her in?”
Shit! Had he
known about an interview at one-thirty? Frantically checking the desktop
calendar he noted the appointment he’d penciled in but hadn’t bothered to note
the name or position the applicant was applying for. If he took the time to
study the applications now, or ask his secretary for help, the ever efficient
Betsy would know he wasn’t prepared. He’d never hear the end of it. And he just
wasn’t up for another one of her your
father would have lectures. Grabbing a random application from the top of
pile two, he replied, “Send her in please.”
Author
Bio: Lori, Lori J
Gordon resides in Northern California with her husband and two dogs,
Skittles and Bandit. She began writing seriously in 2006 and published her
first e-book in March 2012. Since then she has published six books with Rebel
Ink Press, the seventh releasing October 10, 2014. When she is not reading or
writing, Lori works as a Retail Supervisor.
Jennifer, thanks so much for letting me visit and share my new release.
Welcome to the blog, Lori!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for inviting me over today, Jennifer!
DeleteHi Jennifer and Lori! I liked your story of how you got published, Lori. I went through that too. Back in '83 I had both agent and traditional publisher, yet I found it hard if not impossible to get a second novel published. Until RIP. Good luck and can't wait to read Office Hours.
ReplyDeleteHi Joanne, thanks so much for stopping by. I didn't realize you were published back then.
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