Publication for me started with a contest.

I was selected as o­ne of twenty finalists in the 2004 Lori Foster Brava Novella contest ten months after I first began writing. Two months after that I found out I’d won the Reader’s Choice portion of the contest. I was stunned. When Kate Duffy called the day after my win was announced, I was thrilled.

But the news wasn’t good.

I answered the phone and Kate immediately started out with, “Hi, Sylvia? Kate Duffy.”

I almost fell out of my chair and when I answered in reply, it was obvious I was expecting good news. Because of my elated tone, Kate, dear sweet Kate, got straight to the point. While she loved the premise of my story, my writing was “overwritten” or “too lush”. I was devastated.

Then she said, “The problem isn’t you, it’s me.”

Having gotten that out of the way so I knew where I stood (and God bless her for that), she said I was an extremely talented writer and she knew of other editors who would love my work as is. She offered to help me get published by making some phone calls and putting in a good word. All I had to do was ask. She congratulated me o­n winning the Reader’s Choice and pointed out that obviously people liked my style. She said if she got her hands o­n me there would have to be some changes.

So I asked, “Can you be more specific about what the problems are?”

“Absolutely.”

Kate offered to edit my three-page entry and fax it back to me within the following two days, that way I could see what she was talking about. I took her up o­n her offer. I also asked, “Are you saying that even if I were willing to make the changes you’ d require, my story still wouldn’t be right for Brava?”

“No,” she replied. “What I’m offering is a discussion. I’m interested in the writer you can be, not the writer you are now.”

(That is when I fell in love with Kate Duffy.)

She called the next day and faxed over the edits. I looked them over and called her back.

“I can do this,” I said. And I meant it. The changes were minor. She’d just tightened it up a bit. “This is do-able.”

“Yes, it’s very do-able,” she agreed. “If you’re willing. I don’t want to ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you like your writing the way it is, stick to your guns. You’re going to be published, with or without me.”

But I knew after talking to Kate that she was the editor for me. So she told me to pull up the story and start self-editing based o­n the edits she’d faxed me. And that’s what I did. I worked my butt off tightening my prose and before the week was up I sent her a brand-spanking new copy of my ms.

Within hours of receipt Kate called me and said that unlike her previous phone calls, this call was THE CALL. She said, “A lot of other writers wouldn’t have be willing to take my advice and you know what? A lot of other writers wouldn’t have made the sale. You took what I said and ran with it and the end result is a fabulous story. Write me two more and you’ve got your own anthology.”

My first sale. Yay!!

So what I hope you take away from this CALL story is to keep knocking o­n the door and when it cracks open a little, shove your foot in and ask what you can do to be allowed to come inside.

Sylvia Day is the author of both historical and futuristic erotic romances. A former Russian linguist with the US Army Military Intelligence, she now writes full-time. Sylvia’s stories have won numerous accolades from readers and reviewers alike, including the Reader’s Choice in the 2004 Lori Foster/Kensington Brava Novella Contest. When she’s not writing, you can find her chatting with visitors to her weblog, message board, and chat loop.

Stop by www.sylviaday.com to say hi and meet all her bad boy heroes.

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