News Alert! News Alert!

You can say that you heard it here first. I recently signed with a New York based publishing company, The Wild Rose Press, for my contemporary romance novel, Orange Blossoms—Love Blooms that will be released next year. As the date draws near, I’ll be sharing more information about how you can pre-order the book for yourself or for gift giving to friends who love to read heart warming stories, with lots of twists and turns, about strong women who fight to overcome obstacles on their journey to find love and happiness.

Getting to this point has been a journey and I’ve learned a lot along the way. Learning how to write a novel is just one part of the process. Notice that I said ‘learning’ how to write a novel. I was once one of those people that assumed that all you had to do was sit down and start writing what you wanted to say. Hmmm. If only it were that easy. While it is a necessary first step, there is so much more. But let’s face it, the saying that ‘we don’t know what we don’t know ‘is accurate, which is why I heard that an aspiring author’s first manuscript is often not publication worthy. Although, the writer doesn’t initially believe that, not after all the hours of they’ve put into telling their story. I balked at the idea that my first manuscript would and should stay stashed under my bed for eternity. I sent it out into the world and was surprised that a publisher didn’t pick it up. After all, I had cried and laughed at different times when I wrote certain scenes. Sure, I did, but did anyone else even care about those first characters. And if not, why?

Now that my book has been picked up, I’m getting a lot of questions about traditional vs. self-publishing, editing, agents, plotting, pen names, etc. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I have learned a few things, that may assist you on your writing path. I made every ‘rookie’ mistake that could be made on my first unpublished manuscript. I’ll share them with you here, so you don’t have to stumble over some of the common pitfalls that aspiring writers encounter. Check back frequently for regular updates.

Happy Writing and Reading

Dalia