And why failure isn’t what it appears to be.

Warning: Rambling story ahead…

I’ve been writing for almost 14 years (24 years if you count that one time in first grade when I decided I could write a better Care Bear book…but I digress). I wrote (bad) paranormal fiction in high school and a little into my early twenties, but it wasn’t until I met some amazing women at the LUNA forum in eharlequin that I considered picking up the pen and writing again.That was four years ago and I haven’t looked back since.

Cynnara Tregarth talked me into attending a class called Writing the Novella. The instructor was the amazing (and strict task-mistress) Morgan Hawke. I was thrust deep in the world of creative writing and marketing. I had a secret, though. Of all of the writers in the class, I seemed to be the only one without anything published. When I mentioned it to Ms. Hawke via email, she replied with something I’ll never forget…”If you weren’t ready to write, you wouldn’t be here.”

Hmm. Something to think about. In that brief but brilliant three months I was filled to the brink with amazing knowledge. Morgan promised hard lessons and difficult homework assignments. She pulled no punches and egos had no place in her classroom. I liked that. A lot. The environment taught me to write under pressure and keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Every one of us struggled with our own writing demons and in the end, we were amazed we’d survived.

Most of my classmates went on to start or continue very successful careers. I cheered from the sidelines but didn’t finish anything. I honed and honed. I’d write a bit of a story and submit it for critique in contests or reader’s forums. I was a member of a writing group where we’d challenge each other to write really fun stories based on a theme or picture.

The League of Amazing Writers asked me to become a member and I was thrilled!

A year rolled around and I finally finished a story. It was a wicked vampire story based on a nightmare I’d had as a teenager. The story was vivid and wonderful. Perfect in my mind…(I’m sure you can see where this is going…)

So I subbed it to Changeling Press, one of my favorite E-Publishers to buy from. At the time Samhain or Aspen Mountain Press hadn’t come on the market. Loose was another favorite.

It was rejected.

And I was devastated. All that hard work? For nothing? So I turned to other things in my life and reopened those lessons from Morgan. I learned and worked. Kept playing with stories in my head and celebrating with each of my friends’ successes. It was a rocky time in my personal life so I used the time to figure things out.

It took me six months to work up the nerve to read the polite rejection letter with any objectivity. And another six to straighten out my life enough (I was having a baby!) to try again.

In 2006, Nikita Gordyn asked me to write something for fun. Just a quick read to get me over the fear of writing again. I did, and Own Me came to be. With her encouragement I submitted it to Aspen Mountain Press and on Christmas Eve 2006, I received my first acceptance.

Since then I resubmitted to Changeling (almost two years to the DAY of the first submission) and was accepted. Oh the cheering session on that one! The support from my former classmates, my husband, and my critique partners have been the major reason for my return to writing. With new releases came the readers and let me tell you, there’s nothing in the world like receiving an email from someone who enjoyed your book.

I’m a slow mover in my writing career. I’ll get to know an editor/company/product before submitting and I’m enjoying every step of the way.

The original story still sucks and may never see the light of day. Be thankful…it’s REALLY bad.  I’ve been rejected a few times but accepted far more and I’ve learned a lot about my limits as a writer. This writing life isn’t easy, at least not for me, but I have to tell you…I’ve got the best readers in the world.

I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my career…whatever it may be.

So what about you? Name one thing in your life that started out bad but became a blessing in disguise.

Dawn Montgomery