Blog Post

“The Call” Blog Hop

| Amy

Every published author has a story to tell about when they first got the call that they were signing with their agent or publishing house. I wish I could tell you this fabulous story about getting the call from Mary Sue Seymour of The Seymour Agency and it being so totally unexpected that it took my breath away. But that’s not how it happened.

TheCallBlogHopActually, it went a little something like this…

I had sent out 16 (yes, 1-6) query letters to agents.  I had decided that if I was going to get anywhere in the writing  business, I needed an agent on my side. And I was determined to find an agent. Thankfully I did, and  one of the the best. (Waves to Mary Sue).

But as with most transactions in the  writing world, there was a lot  of “hurry up and wait” that went on. I sent her my query. I got a letter back  saying she would like a partial. I sent her a partial. I got a letter back  saying she wanted to see the complete. Squeee…I sent it out. And I waited.

Now, I have to tell you that every time I’ve gotten back my manuscript over the years, it has never been good. Nev-ver. So when I got home and saw a big fat envelope-package waiting for me, my heart sank. I didn’t even have to read the  return address to know who it was from. I trudged up the stairs to the mail box and pulled it out, telling myself for the millionth time in my days of trying to publish that one more rejection wasn’t going to break me. I wasn’t all that disappointed. (I was crushed, but I wasn’t going to admit  it).

I didn’t even open it. I didn’t want to read what she said. If it was anything like my previous letters it would say how my writing was good, but it needed “more”. More what I hadn’t figured out and it was looking like I never would. I sat the package on the dinning room table and walked away.

My son, at the time young enough to covet any unclaimed mail, asked  me if I was going to open it. I shrugged. Did I really need to be told again that my characters were lovable and sympathetic but…

“Can I open it?” he asked.

“Sure,” I  said, with another half-hearted shrug.

Let me just say that I am so glad I  had a young reader! And to think that I had almost shoved it in the filing cabinet without even seeing what Mary Sue had to say.

Not a breath taking moment, but momentous all the same.

Want to read about how other authors received their “call.”? Check out our The Call Blog Hop. Details and a full list of participants are available here: http://www.tonyakuper.blogspot.com/ Be sure to check  it out, there are several giveaways along the hop.

My giveaway? A copy of Saving Gideon and a Bag of Swag. To be entered all you have to do is answer this question: Have you ever thrown away an important piece of mail? Or maybe shoved it in a drawer, unopened and forgotten?

Be sure to check my Facebook fan page more ways to increase your chances to win. The winner will be contacted after Friday and so everyone knows, This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Lillard-Author/177732292332322?ref=hl

Good luck!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

| Amy

Christmas tree 2012

I love Christmas and I adore my  Christmas tree. All my decorations are one of a kind  and many. It takes me days to decorate it, but instead of a chore, it’s a walk down memory lane. Not all of my ornaments are special. Some are just Christmas balls that I have picked up over the years, but the majority mean something, even if only that shopping trip with my mother and finding another must-have addition to my tree. But others are so special they bring a smile to my face as I get them out of their boxes each year. I have an ornament from every year that my husband and I have been together. There’s one for our first and our first married, the year we lived in Texas, and the year we moved back to Oklahoma. There’s also one for each year we lived in the Caribbean.  I have two for every year since our son was born. That’s one for me and one for him when has a home of his own. I ‘inherited’ a fourth of my mother-in-laws collector Santas from Hallmark.

I say each year that I need Christmas intervention, but is it really so terrible to love the holiday? I think not. But soon I’m going to have to rank the ornaments in order of importance in order to make them all fit. Or buy a bigger tree, which in turn would need a bigger house. Hmmmm…

What’s your favorite part of Christmas?

Contest Time!

| Amy

holly‘Tis the season for giving and I’m giving away books! Just in time for Christmas I’m running a contest. The ‘rules’ are pretty simple. All you have to do is leave me a comment here (on this post) or on FaceBook (Amy Lillard ~ Author) and tell me the name of a friend that you would like to win a copy of Saving Gideon. On December the 18th I’ll draw  one of the names that were submitted. If your friend wins, I’ll send you *both* an autographed copy of Saving Gideon. And just in time for the holidays! Your friend can be your sister, your grandmother, your niece or just the lady down the street. That’s up to you to decide.

Here’s to wishing that everyone has a happy and safe holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

On Regrets

| Amy

The hardest thing about the road not taken is that you never know where it might have led.― Lisa Wingate

At the ACFW this past September, I attended a class about marketing. Or course branding was discussed which in turn led to themes in an author’s writing. One of the instructors of the class said simply that each writer, whether they realize it or not, has an underlying theme to their work which outlines their greatest fear. Hmmm…

It took me a while, I really had to think about it. After all, my books are romance novels. What could be the underlying theme in them all? Love conquerors all? Well, yeah, but that’s not my fear. I know the power of love. Most of us believe that to be true.

Second chances. Of course. In Saving Gideon, Avery and Gideon both get a second chance at love. Perfect, right?

Then my father passed away and the truth became apparent. My greatest fear is regret. Unfortunately the regrets I have with my dad  are hopes that somehow things could have been different. But he and I both knew, they were as good between us as they could be. They were not regrets of things undone, but the regret that comes when the vase is broken. It can be glued back together and it works okay, but the cracks are still there all the same.

So am I going to tell you to let the ones you love know how you feel about them? No, even though you should. This post isn’t about that. It’s a vent of sorts, an expression of the feelings I have, but that no longer have a place in my life. Regrets that have to become a part of the “past” column, the “nothing more I can do about this” side of  the paper.

Once upon a time, I had hopes that things could go back to how they were before. Now he’s gone, taking with him any chance for change.  So instead of regrets, I’m going to focus on the positive, the good times we shared, both before and after the regrets came. And be thankful that I had my father (with and without regrets) for the time that I did.

I love you, Daddy. And I always will.