Thursday, August 12, 2010

Good things come to those who wait...

...and work hard.

Tonight, three of my chapter mates/friends and I will celebrate.

One of us (not me) is at the top of her game. She's sold a book. Two actually. One hits the shelves this month, the second in February 2011. On top of that, she won the Golden Heart for her category with the manuscript of the first book. A dream for most aspiring romance writers.

My friend has wanted to write romance novels for Harlequin since forever. Her husband supported her dream from the beginning, allowing her to be a stay-at-home mom and writer even when money was tight for them. Since I've known her, she's had ups and down with her family, as we all do, and she even took a couple of years off, sort of, from the writing to deal with family issues and to enjoy her youngest child's senior year in high school.

Once said child was situated with college, my friend got back into serious writer mode. She worked hard. Revised the manuscript she'd been tinkering with for years. She finished it. She polished it. She entered it in contests. Last year (2009), it won several, including the Daphne du Maurier, a big one in the romance writer world. From that contest, it was requested by an editor at Harlequin. She got an agent. Harlequin called and said they wanted it. She entered the MS in the Golden Heart. She signed the contract. This was all back in November 2009. Then in February of this year, with the help of her agent, she sold the second book to Harlequin.

So since February, she's revised/completed the first book and written/been revising the second and waiting for the RWA National annual conference. GH winners are not announced until the awards ceremony on the final night. Just like the Emmys or the Oscars, most everyone's dressed up in their finery.

So here we are chapter mates and friends, celebrating the good fortune of one of our own. It can take a long time in this business. And it takes a lot of hard work. And it takes perseverance.

The same for any dream. And my friend will tell you, the wait and the hard work was absolutely worth it.

Congrats, Angi!!

Angi Morgan

Hill Country Holdup (to be released any day now)
.38 Caliber Coverup (February 2011)

11 comments:

Angi Morgan said...

THANK YOU !!

HUGS and I can't wait to celebrate tonight !! It's totally worth the wait.

~~Angi

LizbethSelvig said...

I love your story, Angi. And I'm very proud to know you! Celebrate with gusto and here's to many, many more dream Harlequins to come! Can't wait to read the first!
Liz

mtnchild said...

How absolutely wonderful for Angi!!

Now, dear daughter, YOU'RE NEXT!!!!! You know you can do it, and I know you can. Keep that dream flying high.

Love you,
Mom

Elisa Beatty said...

Congrats again, Angi! I loved that you brought your husband up on stage to help you accept your Golden Heart! You were both beaming--a testament to a wonderful, strong, supportive marriage! I hope you both enjoy many, many years together enjoying your writing success!!

Nan Dixon said...

you and your FRIENDS. Wow I hope I catch my errors in my manuscripts!

Nan Dixon said...

Wow - I'm really making a mess of this.

Congratulations! I hope you and your friends have a wonderful celebrations - and many more!!

Nan

L.A. Mitchell said...

Yay, Angi!!

So happy for you. Celebrating is always more fun with CPs, right? ;)

Jen FitzGerald said...

Wow, look at all these visitors!

Thanks for stopping by.

Jen

Wendy S Marcus said...

Hi Jen!
Your time will come. You have to believe it and work hard to achieve it!

Jen FitzGerald said...

Thanks, Wendy. :)

Regina Richards said...

Congrats, Angi! You inspire us.