Rejection and Revenge

If you read the inside flap of my latest release, Kismet's Revenge, you'd see the book is dedicated to Bertrice Small with the caveat that the book wouldn't exist without her. Well, it's true. In a weird way.

Allow me to 'splain. My first attempt at writing a full-length historical novel, in its initial inception, was more than 800 pages long and packed with details totally unnecessary to the story. What did I know? I was completely new to the writing business, raw and totally on my own. Undaunted (or ignorant--take your pick), I sent a query off to an agent on a Monday morning. The agent in question had a direct link to my idol, Bertrice Small. By Thursday I had my first rejection: a postcard that gave me the usual apology for the impersonal reply but he had too many manuscripts and not enough time to send a personal rejection, yet after careful consideration, the story was not for him. And boy was I mad! Not that he rejected me. More that I knew there was no way that if he had too many manuscripts on his desk he could have read my 800 page tome and sent me a rejection postcard within four days. (I told you; I was ignorant.)

The good thing about anger (at least for me) is that it energizes me. Makes me want to prove someone wrong. I started doing research, found critique partners, found Romance Writers of America, and learned.

I still believed in my story, but knew it needed tremendous work if I ever wanted to see it in print. But with my resentment at that agent still bubbling, I decided to write a sequel to my 800 page story. Yes, even after 800 pages, I still had plenty of story to write. Since this was a story for revenge, I titled this new work, Kismet's Revenge.

And it's available now at The Wild Rose Press. So there you have it. What's that old saying? "Living well Getting the book published is the best revenge."