My Writing Life
Wings to Fly
was my first romantic comedy. When writing the novel in early 2005, I got hooked. Being a writer is wonderful: You can dream your dreams down to the last detail, rip off the people with whom you are angry leaving no one the wiser, and rewrite the whole thing if something goes wrong. Wouldn’t it be nice if normal life was like that too?
But as soon as I had finished, I knew I needed advice. Professional advice, no holding back, no gentle “Um, yes, I like it.”. I needed to learn the craft from the bottom up. So I decided to invest some money and looked for a
Professional Editing Service
I found Elizabeth Lyon and sent her my precious manuscript. After a few agonizing weeks, I received her full report. It was almost longer than my novella, and it told me how to get better on virtually every point. But the funny thing was that it didn’t discourage me. It fired me on, and I couldn’t wait to re-write it.
Looking back, I think that was the true start of my career. I want to learn. I want to be professional. So I opened my ears wide and listened to any advice I got.
- I subscribed to Writer’s Digest and The Writer’s Magazine,
- I haunted writer’s web sites,
- I read books on how to improve the craft and how to market my books.
- I made friends with other writers via the net and ever since, the air is whirring with hot manuscripts that scurry to and fro filled with corrections.
- I committed short stories to writing competitions.
- I sent query letters to agents, publishing houses, and magazines and got plenty of rejections but also some positive replies (refer to chapter Publications).
- I became a member of the Romance Writers of America
In between, I worked on new novels. You can see my published work in the chapter Publications .
If you’re interested in reading an interview with me, check out this link: Maddie James
