My Twisty Turny Road to Publication – Susan Crawford

I have always written. When I was a child, I had diaries jam-packed with angst and secrets, and, later, notebooks filled with fairly random thoughts, short-story parts, poetry. Writing was my escape as was reading. It was my therapy, my emotional purging, my joy. When my family exasperated me, an unhappily common occurrence, I would sneak off to my bedroom and write my confusion into a story or a journal entry or a poem, a process I continued. Through heartbreak and romance, travel, moving, marriage, childbirth, PTA meetings, a plethora of jobs and politicking, through the juggling of my many “hats,” writing was the constant in my life. I would sit through boring meetings or the tirades of an angry boss and my mind would wander to whatever story I was writing at the time, calculate the hours before I could get back to it.

Throughout the years, I thought of publication as most writers do – what a dream come true it would be to make a living doing what I loved, but I didn’t do the necessary research. I might submit a query letter to two or three agents and if they weren’t interested, I’d go back to the drawing board and start another story. I did manage to get two poems in a large anthology and The Sun Literary Magazine did publish something I’d sent in – on first loves, as I recall – but basically, I was writing into a void.

It wasn’t until my last child went off to college that I got serious about publishing. I joined a critique group, became a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, attended meetings, took notes, discovered that rejection slips are part of the process, and kept writing. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and read some of my poems aloud. I entered contests and when the Atlanta Writers Club held conferences with agents and editors I went to them. I had a couple of serious nibbles and for a while I had an agent on the west coast. She loved my book, but the handful of publishers she sent it to said it was a bit too “quiet” for a big debut. My agent veered heavily into online publishing and we parted ways.

Meanwhile, back at the Galaxy Diner . . . my critique group had somehow morphed from largely women to all men and me. Most of them didn’t “get” my literary fiction and a couple of them were outspoken about the lack of action. When one of my best friends agreed with them, I said, “Fine. The next thing I write will start out with a dead body,” although my only real foray into suspense was reading Nancy Drew books as a girl. I soldiered on. I was popular in my critique group again; I had fun piecing together my story like a 300-page puzzle, and in six months I was finished with the first draft of The Pocket Wife, twenty pages of which I submitted to an agent at the next Atlanta Writers Club conference.

She loved it! And then, after returning to New York and reading the whole thing, she didn’t love it after all. I really wanted to work with her so I asked if we might speak on the phone. We did. I rewrote the book from two points of view instead of five and turned it back over to her. And waited. And waited.

Eventually, and after another round of rewriting – and much more waiting – she took it on and had an offer on it within hours. After that, it went to auction, where it sold in a significant two-book deal to Harper Collins! Later, it was bought by Faber & Faber and several other publishers all over the world. It truly was a dream come true, but I didn’t have a lot of time to rest on my laurels. My second book, The Other Widow, was due the week The Pocket Wife came out, so the heady appearances and interviews were sandwiched into writing deadlines.

I do workshops now. I go to conferences and plan to do a lot more traveling. The first part of my next book is with my agent at the moment and I’m as nervous as I ever was about her reaction. Some things never change.

I hope to never stop learning, to never stop writing, to catch the sparkle of a look, a touch, a dream, and make it come alive through words because that’s it. That’s what makes the magic.

Everyone’s journey is different, but there are a few things that apply to nearly all aspiring authors:  

Be flexible, even if it means going outside your comfort zone or veering wildly from what you usually write. Your book might not be quite like the others in that genre, but this can be a good thing, a fresh take, a new voice!

If your dream agent turns you down, don’t walk away too quickly. You might be able to rewrite your way onto her client list. Agents are human, after all.

Be organized. This is one I still haven’t quite got the hang of, but it is important for writers for so many reasons, particularly the time aspect. Make lists, Make your friends and family understand your need to stay on track. Buy a good day planner, and turn off your phone from time to time.

Most importantly, find your voice. Write what you love. Write what makes you happy. Write from your heart and soul and never ever give up!

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Originally from Miami, Susan lived in New York and Boston before settling in Atlanta, where she raised three daughters and taught Adult Education for many years. An award-winning poet and best-selling author, Susan is a member of The Atlanta Writers Club, The Village Writers, and Sisters in Crime. Her two “literary psychological suspense” novels, The Pocket Wife and The Other Widow (Morrow-Harper Collins), gained international publication and acclaim. Now a full-time author, she lives with her husband and a trio of rescue kitties in Atlanta, where she is on her local planning commission and dabbles in local politics.

Find out more about her on her website susancrawfordnovelist.com.

Facebook author page: Susan Crawford Author

Twitter https://twitter.com/crawfordsusanh

About THE OTHER WIDOW

 

The author of The Pocket Wife explores the dark side of love, marriage, and infidelity in this sizzling novel of psychological suspense.

Everybody’s luck runs out. This time it could be theirs . . .

It isn’t safe. That’s what Joe tells her when he ends their affair—moments before their car skids off an icy road in a blinding snowstorm and hits a tree. Desperate to keep her life intact—her job, her husband, and her precious daughter, Lily—Dorrie will do everything she can to protect herself, even if it means walking away from the wreckage. Dorrie has always been a good actress, pretending to be someone else: the dutiful daughter, the satisfied wife, the woman who can handle anything. Now she’s going to put on the most challenging performance of her life. But details about the accident leave her feeling uneasy and afraid. Why didn’t Joe’s airbag work? Why was his car door open before the EMTs arrived? And now suddenly someone is calling her from her dead lover’s burner phone. . . .

Joe’s death has left his wife in free fall as well. Karen knew Joe was cheating—she found some suspicious e-mails. Trying to cope with grief is devastating enough without the constant fear that has overtaken her—this feeling she can’t shake that someone is watching her. And with Joe gone and the kids grown, she’s vulnerable . . . and on her own.

Insurance investigator Maggie Brennan is suspicious of the latest claim that’s landed on her desk—a man dying on an icy road shortly after buying a lucrative life insurance policy. Maggie doesn’t believe in coincidences. The former cop knows that things—and people—are never what they seem to be.

As the fates of these three women become more tightly entwined, layers of lies and deception begin to peel away, pushing them dangerously to the edge . . . closer to each other . . . to a terrifying truth . . . to a shocking end.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips, On Publishing