I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that my author copies of Born Again Virgin arrived by UPS man yesterday. It was a great surprise because I wasn't expecting them. I thought they'd arrive closer to release date of March 25. But yesterday I held my first published book in my hands and it looks really pretty. Yay! Well, I needed something to cheer me up, which brings me to the bad news. My editor didn't go for In Charm's Way. Fortunately she gave me detailed feedback as to why, which gives me fuel for thought when it comes time to re-write once again, when I can bring myself to read the thing from start to finish again with an objective eye, not a defensive one. Not sure when that'll be.

Never fear, I'm certainly not one to throw in the towel easily. In Charm's Way will be published, but now I'm just not sure when. Even BAV, a much simpler book than ICW had a long and winding road to publication. It all started sometime around 1999 when I wrote the first draft in a matter of weeks. Soonafter I received a rejecion for another story I'd written the previous year, a requested full ms I'd sent to Harlequin. The confidence having taken such a blow, I didn't feel up to submitting BAV anywhere right away. I put it aside for what turned out to be several years while I went to uni and had every functioning brain cell otherwise occupied.

It was 2004 before I picked up again. I thought it still had some good stuff in it, and figured my best chance for publication was with Mills & Boon Sexy. I re-wrote the story, targeting it more to that line. I got the really fast rejection letter, the one that comes after only six weeks. It said my book wasn't suitable for their line. This was not a surprise, as I never actually felt right about the re-writes. I started thinking about other lines. Harlequin Temptation was the one I thought most suitable. Then I read that Temptation had changed their guidelines. Now they only wanted urban stories. No place for my baby there. Silhouette Desire, I thought. What? They've changed their guidelines too? Now they only want stories about wealthy heroes. Where, thought I, do all the stories about regular joe carpenters go?

E publishing, I responded to self. I once again did a re-write. I pretty much returned to the style and feel that was in the original draft because I'd felt all the re-writes morphed the story into something it was never meant to be. What I ended up with was basically the first draft, but much better. I liked the look of Samhain Publising, so I sent it off.

I'd never had an acceptance in my life. I had to read it at least four times, while I searched in vain for the dreaded sentence that began 'Unfortunately...', 'However...', or 'On this occasion...'

I couldn't believe it. There wasn't one. And yesterday I held my published book in my hands. If I think about it, really hard, it still seems surreal to me.

I wonder how the rest of In Charm's Way's story will go?

Sami