April 2016 will mark my 9th year as a member of the Headwaters Writers' Guild. I can honestly say I owe my writing career to the amazing members of this group.
When I first joined the group, I had already been writing for many years, but always afraid to publish the things I wrote. I never believed I was good enough. The members of this group were as gracious with their praise as they were their criticisms. At each meeting, I gained strength and belief that I did have a little bit of talent and worked hard to stitch together the things I wrote to create my first novel The Bookstore Lady, which I shopped around to several publishers. In 2010, I won a writing contest sponsored by Wynterblue Publishing. From there, my writing career sprouted fledgling wings.
It wasn't until I met a lady in an online critique group that I was introduced to my current agent, Dawn Dowdle at Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Dawn sold my first book to Books We Love, Ltd and my first series, Wild Blue Mysteries, was born. What a great celebration to hold that first book in my hands and be able to share it with the rest of the group. That was quickly followed by two more books with two more on the way.
When I first joined the group, I had already been writing for many years, but always afraid to publish the things I wrote. I never believed I was good enough. The members of this group were as gracious with their praise as they were their criticisms. At each meeting, I gained strength and belief that I did have a little bit of talent and worked hard to stitch together the things I wrote to create my first novel The Bookstore Lady, which I shopped around to several publishers. In 2010, I won a writing contest sponsored by Wynterblue Publishing. From there, my writing career sprouted fledgling wings.
It wasn't until I met a lady in an online critique group that I was introduced to my current agent, Dawn Dowdle at Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Dawn sold my first book to Books We Love, Ltd and my first series, Wild Blue Mysteries, was born. What a great celebration to hold that first book in my hands and be able to share it with the rest of the group. That was quickly followed by two more books with two more on the way.
Then in 2013 I submitted a second book to my agent. In no time, we'd secured a contract from Gemma Halliday Publishing for my Gilda Wright Mystery series. As I write this, I am awaiting the release of the third book in this series on April 11, 2016.
I am also in the process of writing an entire new book based on Gemma Halliday's Danger Cove series. For the first time ever, one of my main characters is an English Sheepdog found by protagonist Laken Miller. Should be a fun ride!
Thank you to all of my great friends here at the HWG! Without your love and support, I wouldn't have all these great stories to share with the world. What an amazing group we have!!
1 comment:
It wasn't until the Headwaters Writers' Guild got a hold of me that I started to see myself as a writer. I'll never forget that. On occasion I forget to be a writer so it's good to visit this space of yours and be reminded!
Much love,
Rich
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