This week, LUV's spotlighting USA Today Bestselling author @MelindaCurtisAuthor LUV: Tell us a little about yourself and your author journey. Melinda: I’m a full-time author who writes sweet romance and romantic comedy. I’ve hit bestseller lists (USA Today, Amazon) and won awards along the way. I was also lucky enough to have a TV movie made from one of my books – Dandelion Wishes – which was the 2020 release titled Love in Harmony Valley, starring the incredible Amber Marshall. I’m married to my college sweetheart and have three kids. As for how I got here – from working at a Fortune 500 company to retiring my pumps and business suits for leggings and flip flops – it was a journey filled with twists and turns. I’ve always been an avid reader who also loved to write stories…stories that never went anywhere. But one weekend, I was trying to enjoy a book and couldn’t find one that caught me up. I was literally power reading through my TBR pile and had hit 4-5 duds when I happened upon a Harlequin Desire by Susan Crosby. It was steamy and emotional, and I immediately turned to the “Dear Reader” letter at the front of the book to learn more about her. Imagine my surprise to find she lived 45 minutes from me in remote California! I wrote to Susan (back then authors included P.O. boxes because the internet was in its infancy). My letter went something like, “How does a supermom learn how to write books?” Because I had reached my limit on bad reading experiences and thought I could do better. Susan very graciously wrote back! And – double bonus – she invited me to join her writers group. I learned a lot in the next few years about writing craft. During that time, I was submitting and getting rejected. But one editor at Harlequin took an interest in me. I wrote and rewrote a story for her until I finally sold a book. To this day, I don’t think I was ready to sell that first book. In fact, I experienced the sophomore slump and couldn’t get another contract for close to 18 months afterward. I had to learn how to write a book without an editor telling me – this is where the character growth needs to happen. My advice to beginning authors is to find your writing posse, study storytelling craft, and be open to revision. A writing career is a marathon, not a sprint.

Posted by LUV Team at 2022-07-25 19:00:07 UTC