Time to celebrate another Throwback Thursday!
Here’s another oldie but a goodie. I first published the following blog post on the Sisters of Suspense group blog.
[Oops, I accidentally published this blog on my website on April 29/19 – a Monday, not a Thursday]
Being part of a fun and supportive writing community got me thinking about the power of friendships and group collaborations…and where they can lead us.
How I became an Unsinkable & a Lucky 13…
When I started writing, I had no contacts, no credentials, nothing. My love for my previous career as an animator making images come alive had morphed into an obsession breathing life into written words. As an animator, I’d show my creations to my co-workers to gauge their reactions and ask their advice on how I could improve my work. But how does a new writer (sitting at her solitary desk) get the help necessary to grow and thrive?
For me, one way was entering contests. I entered my first book, Between Heaven & Hell (published in 2014), in as many contests as I could, including the prestigious Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® for unpublished writers. To my surprise, I was a finalist. To my even greater surprise, I won for Historical Romance.
A few years later, I was a double finalist when my second novel, Between Love & Lies (published in 2015) and my third, The Shadow Hour (a work in progress), were nominated for the Historical Romance and Romantic Suspense categories respectively.
When you’re a Golden Heart finalist, the biggest perk is getting to know your fellow nominees. Romance writers are the most supportive people I’ve ever met and each year Golden Heart finalists start the bonding process by choosing a name: Unsinkables for 2010 (because of a flood that year) and Lucky 13s for 2013 (because why not?)
Strangers became lifelong friends. Then two of those friends asked me to join them in writing an anthology.
How the Steam! Romance & Rails collaboration was born…
It’s an anthology. It’s a story in three parts with interlinked characters and an over-arching plot. It’s inspired by AMC’s TV show Hell on Wheels.
That’s how fellow Golden Heart finalists E.E. (Elisabeth) Burke and Jennifer Jakes roped me into writing an anthology with them. To be honest, they had me at, “Do you want to join us in—” Enough said. Whatever “in” is, I’m in!
The rest, as they say, is history both in the process and on the pages of our Passion’s Prize anthology (published in 2013 and featuring three standalone but also linked novellas about three women caught up in an 1870 railroad race).
In my novella Adella’s Enemy (about an ex-Rebel spy turned government rabble-rouser who matches wits with the steadfast Irish foreman whose railroad she’s determined to sabotage), readers will meet Elisabeth’s heroine, Kate (in Chapter 2) and Jennifer’s heroine, Eden (in Chapter 3). But that’s just an introduction. Kate and Eden get to star in their own stories in the novellas Kate’s Outlaw and Eden’s Sin (while my characters then get to make guest appearances).
Looking back on this creative collaboration, I might call it: real-life strangers become friends and then write about fictional strangers who become friends. It all comes back to possibilities!
AND NOW BACK TO PRESENT DAY
What do you love about your friends?
I’d love to hear your comments. The first thing that pops into my head is: I love my friends because they make me laugh and relax, but they also push me to do things I never dreamed I’d have the courage to do ❤
