Writing Success Built Through Connections By Janis Robinson Daly

Writing Success Built Through Connections

By Janis Robinson Daly

Networking isn’t just for suits in a C-suite. Why it’s important for authors in attic garrets, too.

Picture the stereotypical scene of a writer. An attic room, locked away for hours, months, years, toiling in an endless loop of a solitary existence, writing, revising, reading. According to author Tom Robbins, it’s an art form. “Any writer worth anything has mastered the art of solitude.” While self-imposed solitary confinement may be necessary during writing, beyond those hours, authors need to interact and engage with the world around them.

Proclaimed introverts reading this article, you can stop hyperventilating. It’s okay. I was once you until I realized if my dream of publishing would ever come true, I needed to take small bold steps. But not alone. Like a toddler clutching her mother’s hand, I needed to reach out, steadying myself to move forward.

After I completed my manuscript for THE UNLOCKED PATH, one blank page remained. A title evaded me. With a background in marketing and sales, I turned to market research for input from potential readers. Which few words would grab them, entice them to read a blurb, buy the book? I composed options using various combinations of key thematic words, putting them out in polls to family, friends, and beta readers. As a coming-of-age story of a young woman who enters medical school at the turn of the twentieth century when less than five percent of doctors were women, the words “career path”, “unlocked”, “new” emerged as final contenders.

I settled on THE UNLOCKED PATH, yet one last research task loomed. Did the title already exist? I held my breath as I entered those three words into the Amazon search bar. HURRAH! Only three returns included “Unlocked”, none combined it with “Path”. Two non-fictions and one fantasy. No historical fiction in sight. Exhale.

One of the non-fiction entries appeared as a Business Mentoring title: UNLOCKED: How Empowered Women Empower Women by Jane Finette. Featuring graduates of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania as the main characters, women helping other women is a central theme in THE UNLOCKED PATH. Further, as the graduate of at the time a woman’s college (Wheaton College in MA), the premise for UNLOCKED intrigued me. I ordered the paperback and dove into the Ten Keys to Unlock the Potential in All Women. By the end, I zeroed in one key, “Connection is a first step to taking progress into our own hands.” 

To progress my manuscript on to a publishing contract, I knew connections would be critical to my success. But where would I find those connections? Networks of other women, knowing many have heeded the statement made by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that “there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” 

First stop: Wheaton College. From interviewing pre-med students for character development research, to emailing alumnae who were published historical fiction authors for guidance, to finding a copy editor, to tapping classmates for pre-launch marketing assistance. Each woman I contacted validated the first of the ten keys in UNLOCKED: “What is the simplest thing we can do to help a fellow sister? ‘Just say yes’”. 

Second stop. Female-centric associations. I’ve found incredible support from two women’s groups as I wrote, pitched, and sought endorsements of my writing. The Women’s Fiction Writers Association offers a slew of workshops, mentors, writing groups, and other resources. Not only do they focus on developing the women’s fiction genre, but with most of their membership comprised of women writers, the opportunities to network are boundless. I’ve joined a sub-group of historical fiction writers where we share ideas, marketing successes and failures, expertise, blurbs, and ARC reviews. I try to coordinate my work schedule to Zoom with these women every Tuesday at 1pm EST, filling my notebooks with tips.

As I neared the end of manuscript polishing, I felt compelled to connect with one more group: women in medicine. With no background in medicine and barely passing my Bio101 college class, doubts crept in that my novel wouldn’t be authentic to a woman doctor’s experience. Taking a page from a woman boss in sales, who advised to swing for the fences when facing a difficult prospect, I stepped up to bat and swung. I emailed Eliza Lo Chin, M.D., Executive Director of the American Women’s Medical Association, and asked if she would read my manuscript. Two weeks later, she replied with a “YES”. Her endorsement means the world to me: “A story of resilience, empowerment, and coming of age. Eliza’s journey and discovery of ‘the why’ echoes a story that we all carry in our hearts. Great historical fiction is timeless.” 

As my main character Eliza Edwards sits at her graduation luncheon in 1901, she reflects upon her four years at the Woman’s Medical College: Today they celebrated their futures. They would not be bound by constraints of tradition but directed forward with joy in their hearts and the bonds of sisterhood. Forevermore, they would champion each other with a sense of connectedness and commitment. The success of one was the success of all.

I encourage every woman writer to step beyond her solitary existence. Reach out and ask other women for help. I guarantee that ninety-nine percent will respond, “Yes, what do you need? What can I do?” It’s only by lifting others that we will all rise.  

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Discovery that her great-great grandfather was a founder of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania inspired Janis Robinson Daly’s writing of The Unlocked Path. Balancing authenticity and rich historical detail with a flair to create emotional connections to fictional characters, she seeks to unearth the stories of women whose lives have remained in the shadows.

A graduate of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, at the time, an all-women’s college, stimulated a fond appreciation of the supportive relationships established between students, faculty, and alumnae and a heightened awareness of female-centric issues. Both directed the writing of The Unlocked Path. Splitting her time between Cape Cod, New Hampshire, Florida and hotels along Route 95, more adventures beckon Daly to document other women in history whose stories need to be discovered. Daly can be reached at www.janisrdaly.com.

THE UNLOCKED PATH

Meet a “New Woman” of the 20th century: educated, career-minded, independent Eliza Pearson Edwards. In 1897 Philadelphia, after witnessing her aunt’s suicide, Eliza rejects her mother’s wishes for a society debut, and at a time when five percent of doctors are female, she enters a woman’s medical college. With the support of a circle of women and driven by a determination to conquer curriculum demands, battle sexism, and overcome doubts, Eliza charts her new life path. Combining science and sympathy, she triumphs to heal others and herself.

Organic Chemistry may slay her, if the strain of endless study, odoriferous labs, and gruesome surgeries don’t claim her first. As a young intern, she summons a forthright confidence asserting her abilities to those mistrustful of a woman doctor. Through her work with poverty-stricken patients, she defines her version of suffrage work to champion women’s rights for and beyond the right to vote. Love is found, love is lost. During a visit to the fairy-tale-like city of Newport, a new relationship may fulfill her desires. When global events devolve into chaos with the 1918 influenza pandemic and a world war, Eliza renews her vow to help and heal.

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