Why I Love RWA, Harlequin and Caro Carson

Many years ago I was an aspiring writer in Orange, Texas struggling to craft a coherent sentence. I didn’t know a single published writer and imagined them to be glamorous goddesses, who lived in Manhattan and lunched with publishers.

After I’d written nearly a million unpublished words, a worried girlfriend, a lab tech, said, “Hey, maybe you should try to meet somebody in the business.” Eventually I attended a writer’s conference in Houston where I met Rita Estrada, Sondra Stafford, and Parris Bonds and become a part of a group of writers who founded Romance Writers of America (RWA), an organization conceived to nourish romance writers, shorten their journey to publication and success, and to support a published community of romance authors.

More than thirty years later at an RWA conference after I’d become a multi-published Harlequin author, I met Caro Carson, a younger, unpublished writer. We’d both signed up to volunteer at a luncheon. When we weren’t needed for the event she told me she’d graduated from West Point, had been an officer in the Army and now dreamed of being published by Harlequin. At the time she’d been working to achieve her dream of publication for many years. I admired her more than I can say.

          Caro had a dream.

          She struggled.

          She kept perfecting her craft.

          When she failed to sell a story, she either rewrote it or began another.

          She did this for ten years.

Her story is the story of many beginning writers and that of many giants in the romance publishing industry.

Nobody is born published. Romance writers who succeed are smart, determined women who keep working and keep perfecting their craft until they break out. If they don’t believe in themselves, nobody else ever will either.

Since she published, I have read Caro’s Doctor, Soldier, Daddy, as well as the first two books in her Texas Rescue Series:  Not Just a Cowboy and A Texas Rescue Christmas.

I have loved every one of her books. Caro writes about real people with real problems. Her characters connect almost immediately on a soul-deep, authentic level. Caro writes about the kind of love many women can only dream of finding. Books like Caro’s will nourish their dream.

Caro specializes in heroines who are intelligent professionals like her main character in Not Just a Cowboy.  If you like virgin-romances, I was blown away by the tenderness in her truly touching virgin-sex scene in A Texas Rescue Christmas. The hero in this book may see himself as handicapped or damaged, but his talents at loving with a true heart make him an unforgettable character.   I wish Caro Carson was a stock I could invest in because she is definitely a rising star.

I love RWA because it supports writers like Caro have faith in themselves and hold onto their dreams. And because it gave me the opportunity to meet her.

I love Harlequin for bringing this talented author to its worldwide readership. Since I belong to that readership, I became her fan.

Being a writer is about constantly re-inventing oneself. So, even though I've been a writer for a long time, I feel like a beginner who has a big dream, a writer who's willing to work and to fail and to continue working--all in the hope I'll succeed one day.

Like Caro, I’m beginning a new career, only this time in self-publishing. Once again I’m a beginner who has a big dream, a writer who’s willing to work and to fail and to continue working—all in the hope I’ll succeed one day.

I salute your talent, Caro. I’m so glad you had the courage and determination to believe in your writing ability long enough to become the wonderful storyteller you are. This wasn't a selfish battle. Romance readers everywhere who are inspired by love stories like yours will be the richer for it. Writers everywhere will also be inspired by your dedication, talent, and success.

With only a handful of published books to your credit, I am in awe of the excellence, originality, and heart-warming quality of your love stories.

You inspire me to work harder at my own craft, and I’m sure you will inspire other writers.

I dedicate this blog to all struggling writers who have big dreams like you and equally beautiful stories to tell.

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Looking for more romance stories? Check out Ann Major's recent publication, HER PREGNANCY SECRET. A thrilling story of innocence, betrayal, and love that will have you gripping from beginning to end. 

Romance in Texas

I want to welcome you to my blog by telling you a little bit about myself. As a child, I always loved stories. I loved reading them and making them up. For many years, I had trouble telling the truth. I tended to embellish, let us say.

My father wanted me to major in French and Spanish, but in second year French, I rebelled and quit going to class because I didn’t want to learn to say the same thing I could already say in English and Spanish in another language. He said, “What do you want to major in?” and I said, “English.” He swore I could never do anything of any value with an English major. But I’ve had so much fun.

I taught English until I had my first child. Suddenly when he was born and I was home all day, I thought that if I ever wanted to write, now was the time. Incredibly with a small baby and real estate to manage I wrote 8 hours a day. I really don’t remember ever dreaming that some day I wanted to be a writer, but I liked lots of creative pursuits.

Babies nap and have their quiet spells. I trained my darling son to a playpen, and he would play in the late afternoon at my feet while I typed. I did this even though my mother-in-law warned me he would be stupid because I wasn’t stimulating him enough. I believed that he needed to develop his imagination. He turned out just fine, and I became a writer.

It took me three years and a million words to get my first book, MIDNIGHT SURRENDER, published. And I’ve been writing ever since. Not that there haven’t been a lot of bumps in the road, the latest being, I bought myself out of my last multiple book contract and have decided to self-publish.

 

This is my most recent book.
Find it on Amazon here!

 Having a publisher that gets you onto bookshelves all over the world has been a wonderful experience. But I’ve had to write to very specific guidelines for the lines I’ve written for and, therefore, had to fulfill very specific editorial visions. Vast as my ignorance is in the self-publishing arena, what I am enjoying the most is having more control, especially about the kind of stories I choose to tell.

In the near future I will be publishing a series of contemporary romance novels set on a legendary ranch in Texas that will not be all that different from what I was doing for Harlequin and yet they will be completely my own.