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Over the years I have written far more novels and novellas than I have short stories. To me, a short story doesn't give me nearly enough space to develop a character from start to finish. I knew from the beginning that I would write novels, even though some people had told me that it couldn't be done. I mean, didn't those people live in Hollywood with huge mansions?

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Several years after I started writing, it was suggested to me that I should actually try to publish my stories. Up until that point, I was writing purely for fun. The idea of being published was a strange and foreign world to me. I didn’t have any connections, and had no clue where to start.

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Hello everyone.

First of all, I would like to give a big 'Thank-you' to Novelspot for giving me an opportunity to post about my experience with the writing industry. My name is Natasha Bennett, and I write science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I have two books published and also a variety of short stories. To talk about the writing process, I need to start from the beginning, as there were already a number of events which defined my career from day one.

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It was June, school was finishing up, and I was still writing. When I went to the teacher's parking lot and opened the car door, I found a long steamed yellow rose with a note from my husband. An editor had requested the rest of the book.

I don't remember that drive home, because I was delirious. After three years, someone was asking to see the rest of my writing endeavor. I sent the rest of the book, waited for the phone call I knew would come, asking to buy my book. I waited and waited. I'd already written a second book and started a third.

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I was disappointed but not daunted. So if Pocket didn't want my book, I'd get an agent to represent me. But the story was the same. They didn't want me. Now, the rejections started to hurt. Nobody liked my book. But why?

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One day I began a book which became the genesis for my passion to write historical romances. The book was well written - I thought. But I found problems half way through the book. The heroine's eyes changed color twice. A mother-in-law who played a small part disappeared, never be heard from again. An important character suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and I remember thinking at the time, where did he come from. I sat in our bedroom, my reading corner and stared at that book. I could do a better job, I just knew it.

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With my own children growing, I discovered the romance genre. The publishing world had embraced the paperback romance and hundreds of books were available. Books half the size of one of Michener's classic. With growing children and less time to read, I turned to the genre and found I loved the feel good, happy endings you always got with romances.

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After college, I began my teaching career. Of course, I still made time to read, but what no time to write anything but lesson plans and letters trying to keep up with friends. No internet back then.

I also met the love of my life, married and began our family. As a teacher of Home Economics, back in the day when most classes were about teaching cooking and sewing, I decided to put the recipes I'd developed or inherited, into a book. I loved the title - "Things my mother-in-law didn't tell me". Somewhere in my boxes of stuff saved over the years, there's a partially finished cookbook. My husband still claims it was a good thing it never saw the light of day. He may be right.

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In the eighth grade, one of the local organizations offered a scholarship award, a whole fifty dollars, based on the best essay. I deserted poetry and turn to writing essays. I worked for hours on that particular piece of prose and it paid off. I won the scholarship. I knew then I would be a writer. The question - what would I write - never entered my mind. I would be a writer.