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We left off at the point where I spent sixteen months on my first true novel, one of those genuine “books of the heart.” First, let me say that as an agent, I usually sigh when I hear that phrase, but as a fellow writer, I *get it*. Books of the heart are generally novels that don’t quite work in the market as it currently exists. They are often beautiful, lyrical, unusual, risk-taking, but the truth is, publishing is a market-driven business. Does this mean that said heart book won’t ever sell? Not at all. But it might mean that you have to set it aside for a period of time.

I, for one, think it’s not only ironic, but mildly funny that when this, ahem, AGENT set out to write her first novel, she came up with an incredibly difficult book to publish. Just goes to show that, despite common wisdom among some, agents are flesh and blood people, too. Anyway, at last I had finished BUTTERFLY TATTOO, and with great pride handed it off to my own agent, Pamela Harty, who shopped it aggressively and passionately.

It went out on a Friday and by Monday morning at 9:15 a.m., she was already getting a call from an editor. Now, here’s the kicker: I sent it out pseudonymously. Why? Because I wanted to know true reactions from editors in NYC, not what they might say because they didn’t want to offend me or whatever. Anyway, that Monday a.m. I was on the way to the beach and I can honestly say that, to this day, having Pamela call me while I was at a gas station halfway to Florida was one of the highest points of my writing career. It wasn’t an offer, that wasn’t the key—it was that an editor had read my novel and loved it! Overnight I’d transitioned from that place of writing for myself and in fan fiction to learning if I had the chops. Here’s the best part: the editor wanted to know more about the pseudonymous writer who had penned this manuscript. Then Pamela said, “Well, you won’t believe this, but it’s actually… Deidre.”

The editor was mind-boggled. It wasn’t anything that she could have ever expected—and she did absolutely love the novel! So began the torturous weeks of waiting, and ultimately, this publisher did not acquire the novel. Too different, too risky, too out there. And that was pretty much the bottom line from a number of other fabulous publishers: They loved elements of it, they loved the voice, but they didn’t know how on earth they could ever market it.

Tears were shed. Doubts grappled with. And then a hurricane knocked down a 200 year old pecan tree, taking out both my cars completely, including a brand new SUV and a Volvo I’d just inherited when my stepmom passed away.

More tears. And then… I did what I tell so many writers to do. I put my bottom back in the chair (or bed, in my case, where I tended to write at the time with my laptop.) Opened a new world file and said, “Okay, I love writing. That’s why I do this, to tell the stories. I’m going to tell another one, one that I want to tell for me. Hopefully it will be more marketable.”

The trick of getting published and having a vibrant career is to stay in the game, keep shopping out your projects, keep writing books, keep publishing them. If you stay in the process long enough, work hard enough, then I’ve discovered—both as agent and author—that ultimately you will reach at least part of your goals.

Oh, and by the way? BUTTERFLY TATTOO sold this past year and will be published next year by Samhain! They love it and e-publishing is just the right place for this emotional, offbeat romance.

Also, be sure to visit www.GodsofMidnight.com to learn about my upcoming series with immortal Spartan warriors. Book one, RED FIRE publishes in October. I’m in love with these men, heroic alpha heroes who have endured a lot over the past twenty-five hundred years.