Part #4 of our chat with author @allietherin LUV: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? How did you embark on the journey to publication? Do you have any suggestions for others who want to write romance? Allie: I don’t think I ever knew I wanted to be a writer. I was a voracious reader growing up but “author” never seemed like a path that was open to me. But when I got out of law school and into the workforce, my brain needed a creative outlet, and I turned to writing. LIAR CITY was my first short story, and then eventually became my first book. I was querying LIAR CITY to agents while I wrote SPELLBOUND, and had just finished drafting when I happened to catch that one of Harlequin’s imprints, Carina Press, was doing a Twitter pitch contest for romance novels. I pitched SPELLBOUND, an editor liked the pitch, and Carina Press ended up acquiring it in a 3-book deal. It worked out better than I could have ever anticipated; I’m now currently working on my seventh book with the same team and feel so lucky that I found my wonderful editor and amazing readers. My suggestion would probably be to make author friends! Publishing can be rough, whether you’re “traditionally” published or pursuing self-publishing. When you have author friends, you have each other’s back; you can celebrate the highs together, and be each other’s shoulder to cry on during the lows. You can give each other advice or just be there to talk out difficult decisions. And my other suggestion would be to remember, if it gets tough, there is always room for you and your books. Romance is for everyone; you bring something unique to the genre and you belong here too.

Posted by LUV Team at 2023-04-27 14:01:08 UTC