Guest -Loucinda McGary

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Help me welcome new author Loucinda McGary! Her very first book, THE WILD SIGHT, came out yesterday. The cover is gorgeous (see below) and makes me want to go to Ireland. She writes books of suspense in exotic settings. And with a little taste of the mystic.

The Day Everything Changed

The word change seems to be on everyone’s lips recently.

People want change!
People need change!
Change NOW!

The concept of change is very attractive to me. But when I sat down and gave it some serious thought, I realized that most change doesn’t happen immediately. Usually change is a long slow process that seems to happen organically over time. I can only think of a handful of times when I can say, unequivocally, “That day, things changed for me!”

Shortly after I started eighth grade, I had to change schools. I clearly remember walking into that new and strange classroom, looking at those unfamiliar faces, and realizing that no matter what I did, some of those kids were not going to like me. Quite an epiphany for a not-quite fourteen-year-old, but I remember because that was the day I stopped trying to please everyone. My whole attitude changed.

The day I got married, my life changed drastically. I moved hundreds of miles from all my family and friends and started a new college (yes, I was young and dumb the first time I got married). The only person I knew was my husband, and since I’d never lived on my own before, I suddenly had a whole household to run. I was in charge of all the cooking, shopping, and laundry. Me. By myself. Big change.

The next major over-night change was the day I became a parent. I had never really been around an infant before, not that I could remember, certainly not a newborn. Suddenly this tiny, helpless baby was totally dependent on me. GULP! Very big change!

Other life changing events happened to me over the years, but most of the time they weren’t quite so dramatic. Until… I sold my first book. Like getting married or having a baby, this was a highly anticipated event that I worked hard to achieve. In fact, I worked at it for years.

Like most writers, I didn’t sell my first completed manuscript. Incredibly, once I decided to actively pursue publication, when I sat down at the keyboard, perfect, saleable prose did not flow from my fingertips. What a rude awakening!

I took classes, both in person and online, attended conferences and workshops, listened and learned, and wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of prose. At the same time, I had to educate myself about the submission process, learn about the ever-changing market, and keep trying and trying and trying to sell.

Eventually I got pretty good at the writing (well, mostly, except when the doubt demons sunk their claws into me), I became savvy about agents and editors. I was doing everything right, but I still hadn’t sold. I began to fear that I might never sell. Halfway through my work-in-progress, I even went so far as to tell my critique partners, “If this manuscript doesn’t sell, I’m not sure I can write one that will.”

Then, on the morning of September 14, 2007 everything changed. The very first editor to request the full of my newly completed manuscript called with an offer to publish it. After one short telephone conversation, I went from unpublished wannabe to sold author! Major, wonderful change!

It has been a wild and sometimes crazy thrill ride since that morning, but my debut novel The Wild Sight hit the shelves yesterday! Yes, things changed, but some things stayed basically the same (like those doubts and fears) with slight variations, but that’s the way change goes. I know there are plenty more changes in store for me in the next few months. Most will be gradual, but some might even be precipitous. But I’m looking forward to all of them!

What about you? What are some of the most memorable changes that have happened to you? I’ll be giving away a copy of The Wild Sight to one commenter and some chocolates filled with Bailey’s Irish cream to another. I hope that’s a change you’ll be happy about!