How I Became Rich and Famous, Part 2

First, read Part 1.

So I set off to become rich and famous. I read about a billion romance novels of all genres. I broke them down and made plot charts of them. I counted the number of pages in each chapter. I measured the pacing. I looked for patterns. And then, a few months later, I decided it was time to write one. So I tried. And got about 3 chapters in. And quit. It sucked. So I started over. And got about 3 chapters in. And quit. That one sucked too.

Coincidentally, this was about the time I discovered National Novel Writing Month. “Aha!” I thought. If I have a deadline, I will finish a book. So I decided that this time I’d actually, you know, have a plot in mind before I started and stuff, and so I wrote a book in November 2004. A whole book. Well, a 50,000 word book, which it turns out is more of a novella. But still. I lived and breathed that book for 30 days. More, in fact, because I was thinking about it for like a month before I wrote it. I outlined half of it before I started, and the other half while I was writing. I dreamed about it. I almost drove myself crazy. Well, except you can’t drive yourself crazy if you’re already there. But anyway.

I finished the book in 30 days. And then I thought, “What the heck do I do with this thing?”

That’s when I discovered the Romance Writers of America.

Continued tomorrow…

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