Blog by VONNIE DAVIS -- International, Award-Winning Romance Author: Adventurous...Humorous...Amorous.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Waiting and waiting...FINALLY THE OFFER COMES!

Publishing is synonomous with waiting...and waiting. For example, I thought my cover for Mona Lisa's Room would never come. But when it did, I was thrilled with Rae Monet's work--as always. After another month-long wait, my final galley arrived. I found two errors, so we're back to square one in that department. Once it arrives again, and I sign off on it, I'll be given a release date. Until then, I'm waiting.

Just so you have some perspective, I sent my finished manuscript for this book to my agent the last week of April, 2011. We did two rounds of edits, using tract changes. She submitted it to TWRP the middle of June. A contract offer arrived 3 months later. My actual contract took a month to reach me, and I signed it the middle of October. Thus, the span of time from my typing "The End" to my signing the contract was 6 months.

Mona Lisa's Room, a romantic suspense, is book one of The Red Hand Conspiracy series.

Rain is a Love Song is book two of the romantic suspense series involving a group of terrorists, called The Red Hand. I sent the finished manuscript to my agent on the 19th of December. She submitted it to my editor on February 4th. My contract offer came May 1st. You'd think by now, I'd be an old hand at waiting. Sadly I'm not. I will say that when the offer, the call from my agent, came I was just as shocked, just as humbled. "Really? They want it?"

How does Rain is a Love Song start you, might ask. Well, there's this French government agent working undercover who eases his Harley to the curb in front of a cafe. He's wearing angel wings that drag on the pavement. No, he's not a real angel--not by any stretch of the imagination. The wings are simply part of his disguise as he prowls the sex district of Paris.

Couldn't happen, you say.

Oh, but it did.

When we were in Paris 7 years ago, having lunch at a cafe across the narrow street from the Pompadieu Museum, a bike slowly eased by, the rider's shoulder length hair blowing back in the wind (no helmets required in France, it seemed) and his alabaster feathered wings dragging across the pavement. What a sight, and I found just the place to insert that traveling memory.

JEAN-LUC LeFEVRE

Gwen Morningstar makes Jean-Luc nervous, and that's not easy for an ex-Maritime Commando, the French equivilent of our SEALS. Currently, he's an expert at interrogation tactics within the counterterrorism unit of the French government. She teases him and knocks him off his granite perch.

Her daughter, Rhiannon, well, she's wormed her way so deep into his heart, he's inclined to give her anything, including the puppy she wants. But first he has to keep the child and her headstrong Mother safe. Not an easy task when Gwen insists she can take care of herself--and she does.

GWEN MORNINGSTAR

A single Mom, Gwen and her little girl, Rhiannon, are visiting family in Paris. Still hurting from the death of her husband years earlier in Iraq, she wants no emotional attachments, even with a gorgeous agent whom she enjoys teasing. Besides her life is in North Carolina, where she is a crime scene photographer. She has enough stress dealing with a daughter who wants a daddy and a puppy, especially when Rhiannon knows exactly which man and which puppy she desires. Oh, how that little girl can scheme...

RHIANNON
SHE CLAIMS JEAN-LUC IS HER GUARDIAN ANGEL.
HE FEARS SHE'S HIS.

COMING SOON:  RAIN IS A LOVE SONG

17 comments:

Autumn Jordon said...

Congrats on that awesome cover and new release!

Jannine Gallant said...

The waiting is HARD. Staying busy with new projects seems to help me, but it is frustrating because the fresh excitement has fizzled by the time the dang book comes out. My mind is on my current WIP, and it isn't alway easy to re-wrap myself around the characters in the book that's FINALLY releasing.

BTW, both these books sound great. I love suspense. Even when I'm not trying to write suspense, I always have to throw in a little mystery to keep things interesting.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Thanks, Autumn, I love Mona's cover. Rae always does such a great job.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

I couldn't agree with you more, Jannine. Since I've written MONA LISA'S ROOM, I've written two novellas and RAIN. I sometimes have to read over my synopsis to recall everything and the book won't be out for months.

Paisley Kirkpatrick said...

Your book cover is gorgeous - bless Rae Monet. She designed my webpage and did an amazing job.

I do hate to wait...but, since it took me 22 years to find someone who loved my stories, another three months is nothing for me. I just got my first and second edits done and have heard from the cover artist. It does seem like it is really going to happen.

You have such a great writing voice, Vonnie, that your readers should be patient with you and your publication dates.

LaVerne Clark said...

Oh - I'm the Queen of impatience I think, so I think you're a SAINT Vonnie :)

I can't wait to get into your next stories, your readers are eagerly waiting too, let me tell you!

I'm currently waiting to hear whether a publisher wants a story. They said 8 weeks and its just gone 5. The days seem to drag....
But you're right - that feeling of, 'Will they love it as much as I do? Please love it - please' feeling comes over me each time. Hence the reason I think us writers are as far from egotistical as you can get. We're always filled with doubt!

Great post as always. I love visiting your blog.

Nancy Jardine Author said...

One wait over...another begins-the mantra for the author, I wonder? I had an amazingly short wait for the contract I signed 2 days ago, 5 weeks after submitting it. The full story is that I've been trying to sell my historical for a couple of years now, it being my first completed novel. Patience is rewarded! The cycle begins anew... I look forward to your new releases, Vonnie.

Susan Macatee said...

Sounds great, Vonnie! I'm waiting on a cover for my contracted time travel book right now. And I'm still waiting for reviews for either of my two new releases as well as word on short story I submitted to a magazine. Seems I'm always waiting for something.

Such is the life of a freelance writer.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Thanks, Paisley, you're always so supportive. I can't wait for your book to come out. It's on my auto-buy list.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Oh, LaVerne, dearheart, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Three more weeks to go? I'd like to say they're fly by...but I won't lie to you. If you want to vent along the way, email me. I'll try to make you smile.

Thanks for your kind words about my writing.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Nancy, you hit the nail on the head. Yes--and YAY YOU!--you got a contract offer in 5 weeks, but you've been pushing it for a couple years. Few writers are overnight successes. Few people know the journey. Thanks for commenting.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Susan, are you familiar with justmarkets.com and freelancedaily.com? They're sites for free lance writers and give writing opportunities, such as magazines seeking articles, etc.

I'm wishing you luck on getting reviews and on those contracts.

Loretta C. Rogers said...

I believe there is a song with words like, waiting is so hard to do. Lot of truth to those words. I once waited 24 months to finally get a reject letter from HQN. I have a lot of "waiting" on publisher and agent stories, as I'm sure all writers do. TWRP has definitely spoiled me because they are so much more "timely" than other publishers. Love your book covers, Vonnie. Great post.

Ilona Fridl said...

Vonnie, I have to agree with you on the waiting game. Where everything else is geared to right now, publishing takes its own sweet time. But I'm not complaining about being published. Your book looks very interesting!

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Loretta, I've heard other horror wait stories about publishers. My husband had a "full" with an editor for 14 months when another publisher came along with a "we love this book." The best thing to do while waiting is to work on something else. I usually try to write a novella for a change of pace.

I love that TWRP says, you'll hear back from me by "XYZ" and they honor that time commitment. I think that speaks highly of them. Thanks for stopping by.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Thanks for commenting, Ilona. You spoke some words of wisdom there. I think you zeroed in on the reason behind writers' frustrations with waiting. We ARE geared to instant everything, aren't we? Waiting is almost an obsolete mentality.

Vonnie Davis ~ Romance Author said...

Hi Sylvia, welcome to Vintage Vonnie. I'm looking forward to the "Western Roundup Giveaway." I do love my cowboys, whether contemporary or historical. I've written and contracted one of each. When I'm through with my current WIP, a Western historical I started a couple years ago is demanding my attention.