My CALL came during a strange faze of my life. After ten years of staying home with my children, I’d just returned to work nine months prior. Juggling work, four children, husband, and house, I was at the point where I feared I’d have to give up my dreams of becoming an author. Writing was forced to a back burner, but missing it tormented me. It’s a shame a day o­nly has twenty-four hours…

My agent had informed me that Chocolate Kisses was getting a second read, but I was too tired to think about what that meant to my career and too afraid to get my hopes up. Trudging into the house o­ne evening in mid August, 2004, with soccer and football bags tossed over o­ne shoulder and a fast food dinner for four hungry kids in the other hand, I didn’t think much about the flashing red light o­n my answering machine.

My husband, who hardly ever checks messages, told me I should listen to this o­ne, then stood there staring expectantly as I did. Five times! My agent. Saying something about an offer. Need to call her as soon as I get in the door. OMG! It was after 9:00pm in CA. After midnight where she was. Call her? This late? My husband reassured that that’s what she said. I grabbed the phone, ran to the living room couch, and cried. Dinners forgotten, my four little sports-grubby monsters danced and cheered around me as I bawled into the pillow. “Mommy sold a book” they repeated during their twirls through the house.

Their excitement snapped me out of my tearful moment. What if it was something I wasn’t going to accept? I couldn’t let them be this happy, then let them down. So I dialed. And got the answering machine. At almost 1:00am my agent’s time, duh, what did I expect? Darn. I called my mom twice but got voicemail both times. I called my critique partner, but just as it started to ring the other line bleeped. I clicked over thinking it was my mom, but nope. It was my agent who sounded like she’d just crawled out of bed, which she had. She told me enough of the details. NAL. A sale. Enough to know that I’d sold. I’d sold.

Back in mom mode, I finished getting the monsters dinner, into showers and tucked into bed. It wasn’t until the house was still and quiet when I sprawled across my husband’s chest, tucked into his embrace and finished crying out those tears. I sobbed and my hero held me.

Renee Luke believes in mixing the bitter with the sweet, as long as it’s all dipped in chocolate. She dreams up her stories amidst the beauty of the Sacramento Valley, with her hero husband and four children, sharing the candied kisses, sweet hugs and salty tears that add flavor to life. It’s Renee’s belief that there’s nothing better than good books, great friends, and that real strength is the ability to break a candy bar into four pieces and o­nly eat o­ne. For more sugary treats and sensual romance, visit her o­n the web at www.ReneeLuke.com

You might also be interested in:

1. The Call: Mechele Armstrong My call was actually an e-mail. In May of 2005, I pitched to an editor from Loose Id at the Romantic Times Conference in St. Louis. The full manuscript was requested, which led to lots of shouts of joy afterwards. I submitted and waited anxiously to hear back. It was...
2. The more things change…The CALL – Robin Owens Two months before I sold I’d HAD it with writing for publication. I was tired of struggling in the evenings after work and spending the weekends crafting my stories. I knew I’d keep writing, and HeartMate was at HardShell and Berkley (manuscript once thought lost as Penguin Putnam munched Berkley...
3. The Call: Donica Covey I’d sold a story to Triskel, but I had a book that I’d written that, in my heart I knew it was the big one. I sent it to Harlequin’s Intrigue line. In the same week I sent off the query, I got the rejection. Tells me they didnt even...