A year before I began writing – me with my three best friends (two of them were my first readers) – 1992 

Earlier this month marked the 25th anniversary of the day I began writing novels. It all started when my Year 10 class read “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton and our teacher told us that she was only fifteen when she wrote it. That blew my mind. I was fifteen, too, and if S.E. Hinton could do it, maybe I could, too. So, I wrote the first line on a scrap piece of paper (that I wish I’d kept):

Alexandra Princeton sat waiting at the airport.

And that was just the beginning. That story was so close to my heart and just begged to be put on the page. It was the ’90s so computers were still too expensive for me to have my own. Instead, I wrote my story in exercise books (“notebooks” for my US friends), in my best writing. Three of my friends—Samantha, Leanne and Kerri—read each instalment as soon as we saw each other before school. Sometimes, they read over my shoulder while I wrote the next part. I read over their shoulders, too, curious what they thought about every line, wanting to know which scenes made them laugh or cry.

My third reader and the first person who cried over something I’d written – thanks, Kerri!

I wrote everyday—sometimes only a word, sometimes ten pages. I brought my exercise book everywhere, even to class. I placed my book on the shelf beneath my desk and wrote—my teachers didn’t mind as long as I was quiet and knew the answers to their questions. In fact, my Biology teacher even lent me a book about a writer which gave me the idea to keep a Thought Book for my ideas.

With my awesome Biology teacher outside the School Formal (prom) venue – the teachers came dressed up to support and supervise the students – 1995

I finished the first draft of that first book in about six months. By the time I was halfway through Year 12, I’d completed the trilogy and begun writing a fantasy novel about dragons.

I was a teenager from Brisbane, Australia who had a story to share but who had no idea how to get published. I joined the Queensland Writers Association but genre fiction set in the US didn’t seem to be their thing. But I used their manuscript critiquing service for Book 1 when I was 19. I’d had to save up as it was over $200. I’d ticked the 18-24 box on the form, and I was tickled pink when the published writer who’d read my manuscript thought I was 24. Maybe it meant I wrote with maturity. Maybe she was just being polite to a girl who sounded so young and naïve on the phone.

I finished Book 4 (the fantasy novel) after my first semester of university. Like so many of my life choices since the day I realised I wanted to be a writer, I’d chosen my majors (English and History) in the hopes of increasing my knowledge so I could write more history-based fantasy. Unfortunately, university had the opposite effect on my writing. I became too critical of my ideas.

My mum and I at my graduation – 1999

After completing 4 manuscripts in 3 years, I started about 20 new stories between 1996-2009 but did not finish any of them. I continued to edit Book 1. While in university, my goal had changed to going to London after graduation because I’d heard that the UK and the US were the main centres of English-language publication.

But first, I needed to save up. The year 2000 brought me to Japan where I worked as an English teacher for 3 years.

First time in a kimono – 2000

I was building up life experiences which I could later use in future books, while saving money to go to London.

My first time living somewhere where it snowed – 2001

In 2004, I finally made it to the United Kingdom.

Buckingham Palace, London – 2004

There, a fellow teacher suggested that I buy “The Writer’s Handbook 2005”. It was the first time I attempted submitting to publishers and agents. By this stage, I’d edited Book 1 countless of times and even updated the technology used by its university-aged characters. But after Book 1 was politely rejected, I was out of ideas over how else to get published. My knowledge about the publishing industry was still a patchwork of what people told me. I just didn’t know how to find out more. But at least I was travelling all over Europe and building up more experiences and knowledge about life, people and the world.

The Lourve Museum, Paris – 2004

Fast forward to 2009. I now have a daughter who we named Alexandra. I was on maternity leave and doing the dishes, staring out at the clothes line in my backyard when Book 5 came to me. I wrote the first draft in 8 weeks. After so long, I’d finally finished another story. I attended a workshop by Christine Wells and Anna Campbell during the Brisbane Writers’ Festival that September. They recommended that we join the Romance Writers of America to get more information and support about publication. So I did. They also recommended that we enter the Golden Heart®. I did that, too.

In 2010, I polished Book 5 and entered it in the 2011 Golden Hearts®. However, I knew so little about the publishing industry that I didn’t know which category to put it in—Contemporary Romance or Novel with Strong Romantic Elements (NSRE)? My book wasn’t a typical romance, but what if NSRE was too broad? I mean, even “Terminator” has a love story in it, right?

In the end, I chose Contemporary Romance. I didn’t final. When I got my scores back in mid-2011, the judges had ticked the “Wrong Category” box. I emailed Christine Wells, who was so lovely for answering all my newbie writer questions. She said that perhaps I should enter it in NSRE next time.

In mid-2011, I went on maternity leave for the second time.

Pregnant with baby number two – 2011

I remember editing the paper version of my Golden Heart® entry while breast feeding my son on a rocking chair at 11pm. In those days, we still had to mail in 5 copies of the first 50 or so pages (maximum 55 total with the synopsis) + the full manuscript. You can imagine the postage cost from Australia!

The following March (2012), I was still at home with both kids when I checked my email around 9am. It was a routine check of my inbox. What I found was an email with a subject line that read: Congratulations Golden Heart 2012 Finalist. I opened it up. The email mentioned sending in a photo for the jumbotron for the award ceremony in Anaheim, California as well as emailing RWA contact details for different publications that they could send press release information to.

Jumbotron? Press release? What? I had to read it a few times to make sense of the words.

Excitedly, I jumped around the living room to the confusion and delight of my toddler and her baby brother. My hands were clammy and I had goose bumps as I called my husband and told him in a shaky voice that I was a finalist in the Golden Heart®.