I spent most of my career writing for publishers and their guidelines. And I loved it. Those guidelines gave me a roadmap. I knew how far off-roading I could go.
But I had this story that nagged at me. It was a story that wouldn't fit into the guidelines of my publishers. It was a story that was definitely more of an off-roading story. So...
I wrote Just One Thing on my down-time over the course of a year. A friend said she set aside Sundays for playing with writing, and I liked that...so I started calling it my Sunday Book. I didn't worry about what a publisher would say...I just wrote it for me.When I was done, I sent it out to my agent and she loved it. She sent it out to publishers and we kept getting back the nicest rejections. They all said things like..."We loved it, BUT we don't know what to do with it." LOL
Finally, a publisher took a chance with it. And it turns out, readers don't always need to have a book that fits neatly into a category. Just One Thing was one of my earliest Romance+ books...books that focus on a heroine's journey. Her journey includes a romance, but romances isn't the reason for that trip and it's not her ultimate destination.I'd written two other more emotional books that in hindsight were my first steps into Romance+ market, even though I didn't know it at the time. Same Time Next Summer and Briar Hill Road set me off down that new path. And I'm still traveling down it.
(On a side note, for those who follow me here or on Social Media, you know I'm taking a ceramic class. You can see how much I wanted to try this art in Just One Thing...there's a wistful homage to it. And now that I'm actually taking it, I realize that this is a case where my fiction really inspired my reality!)If you haven't checked out Just One Thing, I hope you'll give it a try.
Holly
PS If you like Just One Thing, my Romance+ story, check out the rest:
Words of the Heart Series:
