The Call -- Finally!
Author: Trish Milburn
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: August 2007

“Never, never, never quit.” – Winston Churchill

When I seriously began to write and submit romance in 1996, I had no idea that it would take me 11 years to get The Call. I’m glad I didn’t know. If I had, I would have focused on how much time there still was to go until the dream came true. Instead, I focused on making my writing better, befriending wonderful fellow writers, building connections within the industry – all things that not only enriched my life but helped me be better prepared for the day when I got The Call, which incidentally was Tuesday, July 24, 2007, at about 10:20 a.m.

I’m not exactly sure of the precise minute because I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, I was in bed asleep, sick with a raging sinus infection and fever. In a word, I felt like crapola. And I’ve gotten used to my agent calling for various reasons, so when I answered the phone and she asked how I was feeling, I figured it was just a courtesy call. We talked a bit about how we were both under the weather. Then she asked me if I’d decided if I was going to run for the RWA board again. I told her I had, but that I was running for Region 3 director and not PRO Liaison. Her response? “Oh, that’s good, because you’re not eligible anymore.” It took me a moment to get the full meaning of what she’d said. Yes, what people don’t realize about my agent is her middle name – Michelle “Sneaky” Grajkowski. LOL!

Finally, finally, I’d made my first sale – a two-book deal for young adult titles with Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin. After all those years of rejections, critiques, contest finals and painful near misses, I was finally going to be a published author.

Needless to say, despite my fever I began to call and e-mail people with my happy news. The ever-supportive hubby was first on the list, but he didn’t answer the phone! Not able to sit still, I started calling dear friends. An amazing number of them were shopping. Mary Fechter was at the outlet mall in San Marcos, Texas. Jen from high school was at Wal-Mart. Beth was at a Target in Oklahoma City. In amongst all this, I finally got in touch with the hubby, and he was truly happy that all my hard work was going to pay off. I mean, he’s seen the mess I’ve been after particularly bad rejections and long seasons of self-doubt.

Steph Rowe nearly hyperventilated and I couldn’t understand her for a good 30 to 45 seconds. The e-mails from my Golden Heart loops started flooding in, so many of which were so touching that I nearly cried. I might have had I not feared it’d make me physically worse than I already did. (Did I mention that in addition to the fever and sinus infection, I was also fighting an infected foot, the cause of which was a pair of shoes I’d worn to the RWA National Conference? I’m so wearing comfy sandals next year.) In fact, in the midst of all the calling and e-mailing, my fever spiked and I had to go back to bed for a couple of hours. Finally, after reaching Jody, Annie and Michelle Butler via phone, I posted to the MCRW loop, the group of writers I’ve been with the longest. Despite the physical ailments, I was smiling wide when I made that post. It had been a long time coming. (Only later when my fever lessened a bit did I realize that I hadn’t called Monica, too. Sorry, hon. All I can claim is toasted brain cells.)

It indeed seems a lifetime ago when I first started submitting – an American historical set along the Oregon Trail. That was my only historical. Then I turned to contemporary romance, then romantic suspense. The latter is what finally brought me my first Golden Heart finals in 2003 and a GH win in 2004. Everyone began to say, “You’re on the verge. You’ll be getting the call any day now.” But the sale still didn’t come.

Still, I began to believe all those “you’re on the verge” assertions. In 2005, I quit my full-time job, believing that I was about to be bought by a particular editor at a particular house. Granted, I was burned out at my job and needed something different too, but the belief that I was about to sell played a big part in my resignation. Imagine my self-doubts when not only did the editor leave the house but the two projects I thought were on the verge of selling came back with not much more than standard rejections. Had I made a huge, colossal mistake quitting my job?

Here’s where my hubby shows himself to be a real-life romance hero. He encouraged me to keep writing, to do the freelance writing and editing on the side, but to keep writing and submitting. My agent believed in me. He believed in me. My friends believed in me. I needed to believe in me. So I wrote and wrote, and my agent sent my manuscripts out in all directions. Still no sale. This year I’d made the decision that if I hadn’t made a sale by National, I was going to seriously look at re-entering the day job market in some capacity. I didn’t quite make my self-imposed deadline, but now I like to joke that that’s because National was early this year.

The turning point in my career actually started three years ago. I just didn’t know it at the time. It seems the resurgence of the young adult market was going to be my lucky star. At the urging of Stephanie Rowe, I began to write young adult, and this is what got me my fantabulous agent. It garnered me the interest of several editors, one in particular who especially liked my voice. And it got me another GH win this year, followed 10 days later by my first sale. I’m still in shock, but so incredibly grateful. Not even the allergic reaction to the antibiotics for my dratted infected foot could dampen my happiness. (Yes, during the week my Call, my body tried its best to fall apart on me, but you can’t battle that much joy and beat it.)

And the feeling of making your first sale? It’s indescribable. It’s worth all the blood, sweat, tears, heartbreak, self-doubt and all the other trials and tribulations writers go through to make it. I’ve been in those low places where the doubt demons whisper into your ear, “Just give up. It’s too hard. Why are you wasting time you could be doing something else, something fun that won’t break your heart every time you turn around?” And you know what I say to those little doubt demons and what I encourage anyone else experiencing their presence to do? Turn to them, look them straight in the beady little eyes, then punch them in the nose and say, “Take that!”

They don’t want you to succeed, to feel that elation of getting The Call. I do want each and every one of you to experience that. Keep writing, keep submitting, keep learning about the craft and the business of writing, and, most of all, keep believing.

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