A former Associated Press reporter and TV columnist, USA Today bestselling author
Jacqueline Diamond has sold 100 mysteries and romance novels to traditional
publishers. Her 101st book, The Case of the Questionable Quadruplet, launches
her Safe Harbor Medical Mystery series. Learn more about Jacqueline and her
books at her website. Today Jacqueline joins us to talk about her talent for
failure.
A Talent for Failure
“How many books have you
written?”
That shouldn’t be hard to
answer, right? I’ve published 101 novels. Problem is, I’ve written way more
than that—thousands of rejected pages, including a few complete books plus
unsold partials and proposals.
Chalk them up as failures.
But only in a sense.
Throughout my twenties and
thirties, I turned out plays, screenplays and novels while working as a
journalist. My bed rose into the stratosphere as unsold manuscripts piled up
underneath (this was in the days of typewritten manuscripts). It sometimes felt
like I was receiving rejection slips from publishers I hadn’t even submitted
to.
At last, I sold a
Regency-era romantic comedy called Lady in Disguise, followed by another
three. Success at last!
If that had been the end of
my rejections, this would be a very short blog. But as it turned out, failure is
an option, even for published authors.
My editor rejected my fifth
Regency, A Lady’s Point of View. She said the plot was too complicated
and didn’t even request revisions (more about that book in a minute).
I moved on to writing
contemporary romances and other genres. Gradually, more books sold, including a
mystery (The Eyes of a Stranger) and a paranormal thriller (Echoes).
But others, equally loved by me, didn’t.
Looking back, I came up with
a few lessons worth sharing.
1) Although rejection hurts,
I learned from it. Sometimes, the concept just wasn’t strong enough. Or the
characters weren’t deep enough. Or the storyline didn’t fit what the publishers
or readers were looking for at that time.
2) Failure isn’t forever.
After a rewrite, my fantasy novel Shadowlight found a home at DAW and my
offbeat mystery Danger Music sold to Five Star Mysteries. A Lady’s
Point of View, after revisions, sold to another Regency line. All
three are now available as ebooks.
3) When life gives you
lemons, open a fruit stand. My Gothic romantic suspense Touch Me in the Dark
endured multiple rejections before selling to an epublisher named Triskelion.
The month it was published, Triskelion went bankrupt, and I didn’t receive a
penny. Eventually, I regained my rights, updated and self-published this book,
which has done well in its new digital life.
4) When life doesn’t even
give you lemons, plant your own lemon tree. My favorite unsold book was a
science fiction thriller called Out of Her Universe, about a woman with
no idea that, as a baby, she had been brought to this world from a parallel
Earth. Then, without warning, her life and those of people she loves are thrust
into danger. I loved writing it and published it as an original ebook that has
received outstanding reviews.
5) Taken together, lessons
add up to an education, which can pay off in unexpected ways. Take my latest
writing venture.
For my 101st
book, I was eager to return to writing mysteries with puzzle plots and offbeat
characters. As my experiences had shown, I no longer need an editor’s
permission to publish my work.
Rejections also taught me
that a concept has to be strong to appeal to readers. Being a fan of Grey’s
Anatomy and the author of a 17-book medical romance series, I decided to
feature a doctor as my amateur sleuth.
Thus the Safe Harbor Medical
Mysteries were born. I’ve published the first book, The Case of the
Questionable Quadruplet, and am well into writing the second, with several
more plots on tap. Without my failures, I might never have developed the
confidence or the market awareness to write and issue this series.
We all enjoy hearing of
people who succeeded in spite of their failures. In my case, I may very well
have succeeded because of them.
The Case of the
Questionable Quadruplet
A Safe Harbor Medical
Mystery, Book 1
Eric Darcy, a young,
widowed obstetrician, is stunned when the mother of triplets claims to have
borne a fourth baby, a quad, that was stolen from her years ago. When someone
murders his patient, Eric believes the police are dismissing a vital clue, and
teams up with his PI sister-in-law to investigate, never imagining his own life
might be in danger. This medical cozy is the first in the Safe Harbor Medical
Mysteries.
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