Story Time (With Red Velvet Cake)

So I sold a book. My FIRST book.

Am I excited?

You bet your sweet bippie :-)

Now before I break into the long, drawn out, possibly boring story of THE CALL, I want to entice you with some of this wonderful red velvet sheet cake. (The recipe will have to wait until next week)

Go ahead and eat all you want, it's on the house. (Just don't tell Ruthy)

When I started writing, some eight and a half years ago, I just knew I was destined to be the next Nora Roberts.

Then I joined a writer's group and got a nice dose of reality.

Back then, I was writing for the secular market. Shoot, I didn't even know there was such a thing as Christian fiction. No, that's not true. I had heard of it, but they were all prairie romances (no offence intended), and I was not a prairie romance kind of gal.

But God had other plans. And He used whatever avenue necessary to let me know that He wanted me to write for Him.

About that same time, I heard about a group completely devoted to Christian fiction and that people wrote just about everything that was in the secular market, but from a Christian worldview.

So, in 2006, I joined ACFW and have never regretted the decision to write for God's glory.

In 2010, my first novel, a romantic suspense, finaled in the Genesis. But it still wasn't good enough for publication. And today it still sits on my shelf because I had another calling--romance.

Oh, how I love to watch people fall in love. And what better place to do it than in a breath-taking setting like Ouray, Colorado. I fell in love the first time my MIL introduced me to the small alpine town where her parents' homesteaded in the 1920's.

Fast forward to ACFW Conference 2011, a conference I almost missed because my husband broke his back ten days before I was due to leave. He could barely get out of bed on his own, let alone dress himself. Nonetheless, he was determined that I was going to go.

So I did.

I pitched my Ouray story to Melissa Endlich and she requested the full manuscript. I'd never had a request for a full before, so this was VERY exciting.

I came home, polished that puppy, got it out the door in early October, and waited. And waited. Which turned out to be a good thing since, through the broken back, they discovered my husband had kidney cancer and had to have his kidney removed. Long story, just know that it was contained and he's cancer free.

Long about last spring I received a revision letter from Melissa. I brainstormed, rewrote, and sent it back to her this past October. Again, I waited, knowing that God's timing is perfect, and I would sell in His time.

So Friday morning I had just finished my quiet time. I was still in my comfy quiet-time chair, checking emails on my Ipad, when a new email popped up. Oh, my gosh. It's from Melissa Endlich! And she wants to talk to me!

My serene moment was over as my heart about pounded out of my chest. I rushed up the stairs to my husband's office.

"I just got an email from Melissa Endlich."

"So email her back." (like I wasn't going to)

When she called, she said those words I will never forget. "I'd like to offer you a contract."

I guess I had spent all my excitement before she called, because I was surprisingly calm. But then I screamed as soon as I hung up the phone.

So my book will come out THIS September, I'm fixin' to be neck deep in revisions, I finally get to see what an art fact sheet is, and I have no idea what my title will be.

But I got THE CALL. And it's every bit as exciting as I dreamed it would be. Actually, even more so, because by Friday's end, I had signed with Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency as well.

The publisher of my dreams, the editor of my dreams, and the agent of my dreams...all in one day.

God is so stinkin' good to me.

Oh, and in case you want to know a little bit of what my story is about:

Dr. Trent Lockridge came to Ouray, Colorado for a fresh start. What he finds is a son and the woman he betrayed ten years ago. Having grown up in the foster system, Trent’s greatest desire is to have a family. Is he destined to be alone or is love strong enough to overcome the past?

How about another piece of cake? You know you want one.