Birthiversary Reflections

*Yeah, yeah, yeah, I tried to post this a week early. Poor Robin, I was trying to dance naked on her stage.  Whoops!   Sorry, ’bout that! Anyway…here’s my post at it’s regularly scheduled time:

Last week—Tuesday to be exact—I celebrated the most wonderful day. My birthiversary.

What exactly is a birthiversary you ask?

Well, One year ago, April 2, Emilia Mancini was presented to the world as a published author. Before that day, I didn’t actually really exist. I was a figment of my alter ego’s imagination, nothing but a name to blame for writing hot sexy romances.

A star (in my own mind) is born!

But as soon as The Rebound was released, I suddenly became real. I am now one year old—Happy birthday!—and I’m celebrating one year as a published author—Happy anniversary!—which means, Tuesday was my birthiversary!

I celebrated by submitting my newest manuscript, Seducing Kate, and am anxiously awaiting word on it…yes, I know it can take weeks/months for a response, but I am easily excitable.

While I’m still young, fresh, and new, that doesn’t mean I haven’t learned a few lessons this last year.

What kinds of lessons, you ask? Well, let me share a few with you.

• You’ve gotta have friends. The ladies here at LL&L don’t just toss out blog posts once very two weeks and an occasional free read. We are in constant contact with each other. Offer support, advice, laughs, and group hugs as needed. These gals keep me going when I want to give up, answer questions when I feel lost or confused, and remind me how lucky I am to have the career that I do, even if it is just starting out.
• *Never give up your dream. My alter, Marci Boudreaux, is about to release her next book, The Messenger after that little (not so great) masterpiece sat on a shelf for ten years.It was the second book she ever wrote and it went through a lot of rejection before being set aside. For sentimental reasons, which are never good reasons, she decided it deserved another chance. It was contracted and then she spent weeks frantically reworking the entire thing to make it worthy of release. Despite all that, the real lesson is even though it may take a decade to get published, it can be done. Never, ever, ever give up.  (On a side note, The Messenger shot to the #1 Bestseller on the publisher’s site and has been there all week! EEEK!  That makes me so very happy!!)

 Not only is this  now available …it has been the publishers Best Selling Contemporary Romance since it’s release on Tuesday!

*Yes, this was a bit of a shameless plug intertwined with a lesson learned…but that leads into lesson three.

• Not only are you a writer, you are a shameless attention whore. I walked into my first contract expecting my publisher to do, not all but a lot, of promoting on my behalf. Uh, no. Doesn’t work like that. They are busy finding new talent, publishing old talent, and editing your books. If you want people to know about your book, you best just get your little booty out there and tell them about it.  
• Keep writing. Okay, this was a hard lesson for me. I have a lot of irons in the fire and the thing that always gets backburned seems to be my writing. It took much to long to get Seducing Kate written and submitted. An entire year from my last release date? That’s too long. By the time this book is accepted, edited, and released, it could be eighteen to twenty-four months. Yikes! I will never wait that long again. As a matter of fact, I’ve already started jotting down notes for my next story.

Wow! That’s a lot for a one year old to grasp, don’t you think? And actually, I could probably go on, but something I’ve also learned?

That I need to stop while I’m ahead.