Lani Diane Rich on Getting Published
August 21, 2007
I wrote my first book, TIME OFF FOR GOOD BEHAVIOR, on a lark. After the birth of my second child, I’d left my day job and did consulting work part-time from home, and that left me with some extra time to write. I’ve been writing forever, but never dreamed I’d actually make a living at it – I mean, what were the chances? – so I joined an online writing group called Momwriters. There, I met a bunch of great girls, a few of which are still some of my closest friends, who pulled me into Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month, nanowrimo.org), a challenge in which you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I thought, “Sure, why not?” The battle cry of Nano is, “Quantity, not quality!” and something about that freedom to write a really bad book got me past my internal editor, and I was able to actually finish the book.
Once it was done, I realized to my shock and surprise that I actually liked it. And since I was home anyway, I figured, why not give it a shot? Why not try to publish? So I buckled down, set up a business account and an office, and got to work researching markets. I joined RWA – something I cannot recommend highly enough to writers of any women’s fiction just starting out – and signed up to go to the national conference, which was being held in New York that year. I got to work editing my novel, taking the 50,000 word skeleton and bulking it up to a real book, and then hired a friend to help me edit the opening chapter so I’d be ready to pitch it by July. This friend loved it and recommended me to her agent. I was excited – my first rejection! I thought it would be great to get that first rejection out of the way by the time I got to NY.
But then something unexpected happened – the agent liked it. She liked me. We talked on the phone and she offered me representation and I was shocked but so, so happy. The next thing I knew, the book was sold – and when I went to New York that year, I was able to meet my new agent and editor face to face, and was saved the embarrassment of trying to pitch – I’m terrible at pitching. Just god-awful. I’m so thankful I didn’t have to do it, because I would have screwed it up so badly.
About Lani Diane Rich
Lani Diane Rich is the award-winning author of five novels, including THE COMEBACK KISS and THE FORTUNE QUILT. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, two daughters, and a cat. She produces a weekly podcast with award-winning author Samantha Graves called
Will Write for Wine, in which she and Sam sample wine and chat about writing. In addition to writing her solo novels, Lani is currently collaborating live online with New York Times Bestsellers Jennifer Crusie and Anne Stuart on
Dogs and Goddesses, a novel about three ordinary women who go to a dog obedience class and discover they are Mesopotamian demi-goddesses.
Lani Diane Rich Profile at OnceWritten.com
