May 17 2010

My First Sale by Lydia Dare

By Jane • First Sale, Interviews • • Tags:

Lydia Dare Authors PhotoWelcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between.   Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

Sourcebooks is sponsoring a giveaway of 2 sets of Lydia Dare's trilogy: A Certain Wolfish Charm; Tall, Dark and Wolfish and The Wolf Next Door. 2 random commenters will be selected.

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A Certain Wolfish Charm CoverMost people know by now, but for those of you who don't, there are two of us who make up the writing team better known as Lydia Dare. So our "Getting the Call" story is a little different than most people's. One of the best things about writing with a partner is there's always someone who understands where you are in your process. You're not alone on the path to publication.

Normally, when you get a rejection letter, you feel it in the pit of your stomach and suffer alone. Sure, your friends, family, and critique partners are there and lend their support (sometimes there's talk about voodoo dolls or hitmen- Well, not really. But you get the idea.) – but it's not the same. It's a solitary suffering that only you understand.  You labored over your characters, your plot, your dialogue, your "big black moment", etc – and no one feels that rejection the way you do.

Conversely, the same is true when that magical call is received. The joy, the elation, the "This is really real" feeling that encompasses you. Everyone you know is happy for you and excited that you're going to be famous. (Fame is a relative term, and after you get that call – everyone around you is certain the term applies to you, no matter your own doubts – but that's another blog topic.) And though there is a sense of euphoria, the success is solitary.

Tall Dark and Wolfish by Lydia Dare CoverBut when you write with a partner, you get to share all of those experiences. The highs as well as the lows. And there's something special about sharing that magical moment with someone who gets completely what all of this means to you, because it means the same to her.

Thorough out this process, you might disagree about a character's motivation or a plot point. You might even disagree about what color the heroine's hair should be; but when you make that first sale you're on the same page in every way.

Wolf Next Door CoverFor us, our first sale was for a Regency/Paranormal trilogy to be released back-to-back-to-back.    A Certain Wolfish Charm – April 2010;  Tall, Dark and Wolfish -May 2010, and  The Wolf Next Door – June 2010. We're in the midst of the release whirlwind right now. We've gone to conferences. We've worked on edits. We've sold another contract which includes a single release in November,  To Tame a Wild Wolf, and then three more books the following spring. We've done book signings. We've done book club meetings. We've blogged. We've talked to readers. We've met booksellers. Through it all, this journey has been nothing short of amazing and we get to share it every bit of it with each other.

You hear all sorts of stories about what authors do when they get "the call."   Now multiply that times two and you get what we did!   Squeals X 2.   Laughter X 2.   Frantic phone calls to tell people X 2. You're not alone on that wild roller coaster ride when you write with a partner.   Thank goodness.

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