How it’s going…
I was working the insane hours that is the lot of every reality television producer. But I was also writing in my (very limited) spare time. It was tough going, writing into the void. I figured I needed to be discovered. So I looked around for a competition. And that’s when I came across Romance Writers of Australia.
Put aside your Mills & Boon snobbery and stereotypes. Think about it. Almost every novel has an element of romance.
RWA is a place that welcomes and nurtures every kind of author.
But of course, I didn’t know that at the time. So I wrote the first three chapters of a perfectly appalling romance involving an Arabian prince.
I finished in the bottom third of entries and I deserved it. But I also read the judges’ comments. One contest at a time, I became better at my craft and I started writing about issues and people who were relevant and important to me.
RWA throws a bloody good party. But more than that, it gives you access to people in the industry. You meet fellow writers who are incredibly generous with their advice and encouragement. (A shout out here to the wonderful Catherine Evans). And you meet loads of agents and publishers.
That’s how I crossed paths with the fabulous Rachael Donovan of Harlequin Harper Collins.
At the RWA annual conference, you get the opportunity to pitch your ideas to people who can help turn your manuscript into a real book.
Unfortunately when I met Rachael, I had decided I was the new Jane Harper and would write outback mysteries.
I had clearly learned nothing from the Arabian prince debacle.
But I had her email and I had another book idea… one that was true to me.
On August 2nd, 2024, I signed with Harlequin HarperCollins. My novel “Eva Reddy’s Trip of a Lifetime” was going to become a real honest to goodness book.
Unfortunately for my husband Murat, August 2nd 2024 was also his 60th birthday.
I upstaged him.
