Tuesday, April 20, 2010

New Contract


The Wild Rose Press will be releasing a new series this fall called Jewels of the Night. It is a romantic suspense series and each story will contain a blue diamond. I first learned of this special submission call last fall when my friend, Autumn Shelley, told me about it. It sounded like fun, but no ideas popped into my head at the moment. So I put it to the back of my mind and didn't think about it anymore.

Then, around Christmas, an idea started to take shape. Just little bits here and there until I came up with a full-blown story idea. Characters and plot points danced in my head. The deadline (or so I thought) was March 31. That was 3 months away. I could write this story.

I was a little slow out of the gate. I submitted my first 15 pages to the Roses Critique Group in January and received the pages from 3 others that I had to critique. Imagine my delight when I found pages for a romantic suspense that featured a blue diamond. Those pages belonged to Rachel Lynne. We started emailing back and forth and decided to help each other along. We sent our chapters to each other for critique as we finished them. We spent time on AIM plotting out our stories and figuring out our characters. It was a lot of fun.

I can honestly say that if I hadn't formed this partnership with Rachel, I may not have the deadline. I can really put things off when I'm stuck. So, anyway, I finished my story ahead of time and sent it in a few days early. That March 31 deadline was to enter my submission in a contest. A story from the series will be chosen at random to be the kick off story and get lots of extra publicity. The Wild Rose Press is still accepting submissions for this series, if you're interested.

Blood Diamond was born, the story written, a romantic suspense novella set in the rain forest of the Congo and featuring Jill St. James, a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, and Mack Nichols, a former soldier turned mercenary. It's actually the first attempt I've made at romantic suspense that didn't involve werewolves and vampires, so I'm pretty excited about it.

Yesterday, I received an email from the senior editor of the Crimson Rose line, who is in charge of the series. She offered me a contract! It arrived in my email inbox early this morning while I slept. I am happy to say that Blood Diamond will be my first published work under the pen name, Riley Quinn.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great story and congrats on the contract. I'm a fellow TWRP author, and I can't say enough good things about our publisher. It's a pleasure to work with everyone at TWRP.

Happy writing, Donna L. Bolk

Katie Reus said...

Yay! Congrats on the contract :)

Carly Carson said...

I think my brain is still asleep because I didn't totally follow that. But, they are publishing your story-that's great! I hope they pick yours to be the kick-off story. That would be fun. Congratulations!

Gale Stanley said...

Congrats again! Thanks for sharing Riley. It's amazing how ideas come when we least expect them.

Suzanne Johnson said...

Congrats on the contract! Ideas out of the "blue"--I love it.

Rachel Lynne said...

YEAH Riley!! I gotta say if we had teamed up I'd have never gotten Ring of Lies off the ground much less finished and submitted before the deadline! Thanks for all your help :)

Rachel Lynne said...

Mean't to say hadn't teamed up! Boy am I a sucky typer :)

Eleanor Sullo said...

Good for you, Riley. A great acompishment. It's so nice to hear good publishing news these days. And the story sounds wonderful.
Ellie
TWRP: Too Damned Hot, March 5, 2010

Darah Lace said...

Isn't it great what a good kick in the pants from another author can do? Congratulations on the new contract!

Debra St. John said...

Congrats, Riley! The series promises to be a good one...

Rebecca Zanetti said...

Congrats - can't wait to read it! The book sounds fascinating!

Mary Ricksen said...

YEAH! Congratulations. This sounds like you accomplished two great things. You published a story and you made a great friend. Win, win, huh?

Kaylea Cross said...

Way to go, Riley! Welcome to TWRP, and I know you'll love it here.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Riley! Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of well-wishers. Partnering, whether one on one or with a group, IS a great way to keep motivated and accountable. Well done and best of luck with TWRP! Denise Golinowski

Riley Quinn said...

Thanks, everyone, for sharing in my excitement. Wild Rose is a great publisher. I have a new release coming out with them this week under another pen name. I had an awesome editor that challenged me and my story is stronger because of it. I'm looking forward to a similar experience.

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