Maxine Sullivan - romance author

Curious about my writing day, how I write and what motivates me? Then read on!

What is the first romance you remember reading?

My first memory is of the True Confessions magazines my mother used to read. Then I remember reading the thin romance paperbacks produced by Women's Weekly, and then I fell in love with all those wonderful Mills & Boon stories in the 70's. So while there is no particular book that I remember, I have a treasure-trove of romance book memories.

How long have you been writing?

I still have a rejection from Mills & Boon dated 1986, which means it's been twenty years (at least!) since I started. I've had many rejections on my category novels since then, which is what I love to write.

What kept you going for so long?

The thought that I had stories to tell and how much I wanted to share those stories with others.

Did you ever give up?

I can remember a three month period where, due to personal reasons, I just couldn't write. I didn't pick up a pen or think about writing in that time. But eventually I started to yearn to tell those stories inside me again.

More recently, 2005 was the year where I seriously thought about giving up. I'd been through a couple of revision requests that looked promising but led nowhere. I was trying my hardest to get published and nothing was working.

Then I made a decision. I either give up writing totally, or I write for the love of it and just accept that I may never get published. I chose the second option, and somehow everything fell into place.

How did you deal with rejection letters?

Until I'd sold my first manuscript recently, I'd have a 'pity party' for 24 hours then take what I could from the rejection and move on, whether to revise the manuscript for somewhere else or to write something fresh. I've been writing for 20 years so I've had my share of rejections. Of course, now that I've sold to Desire, I'm hoping I'll never see another rejection letter again.

Tell us about your Call.

I've been writing for so long and submitted so many manuscripts over time and revised them for other lines that I hope I don't get confused with some of the details! Back in 2002 I sent Silent Seduction (commended in the 2004 RWNZ Clendon Award) to M&B Presents and got a request for revisions. I did them but it was rejected for things other than what was mentioned in the revisions. I put it aside while I concentrated on writing another manuscript for Presents but then decided the rejected manuscript might fit Desire better. I sent it to an editor at Silhouette but it was rejected a year later with a few comments.

Then late 2005 I saw that the Desire guidelines had changed, and thought I could rewrite the story to fit the new guidelines. I then entered the eHarlequin Desire logline contest, submitting a couple of sentences about the story and won the chance - along with nine others - to do an online pitch to Melissa Jeglinski, Senior Editor of Desire on 9th January. She asked a couple of questions about the manuscript and asked for the full, which I did on the 16th.

On 26th January (Australia Day!) I was having my first cup of coffee and reading through the digests when I got an email from my agent saying to please call her. I froze. My husband told me to get on the phone but I said I couldn't and that it was probably a rejection anyway.

Talk about fear of success! Anyway, I bit the bullet and picked up the phone. My agent said she has some good news - that Melissa had called her and that she loved my manuscript and wanted to buy it. I was stunned, then I told my agent I had to tell my husband. I threw open the study door but he was already waiting on the other side and had heard me talking. So we were laughing and talking and I was saying I couldn't believe it. I'm not one to scream and shout but you can bet I was happy, if not a little numb. I had some minor revisions but the story is scheduled for April 2007... AND Melissa is interested in another two books I had planned on writing.

What made the difference to overcoming that final hurdle and getting accepted?

I honestly don't know. The only difference was that I'd stopped putting pressure on myself to get published, so perhaps that came through in my writing.

Is there anything you wish you’d done (or not done) earlier in your writing career?

Perhaps I wouldn't have spent so much time rewriting the same stories and submitting them to any line I thought would fit. On the other hand, I was learning my craft and that takes time. For me, it happened to take twenty years.

Are you a pantser or a plotter? How does this help you write?

Being a fairly organised person, I'm a definite plotter. I need to know where I'm heading with the story both with the plot and the characters before I can start writing. That said, for me there's nothing more tedious than doing numerous character charts and trying to figure out the GMC (goal, motivation and conflict). I do all that in my head and I make notes at times, but ask me to decipher it all and I'll end up throwing my computer out the window. <grin>

How do you handle writer's block?

If life is throwing me a curve ball, I force myself to work through what I call 'The Stress Barrier'. Once I'm through that, I can generally block everything out and concentrate on the writing. If it's a writing problem, I take a day or so to figure out what the problem is and how I can fix it. Usually though, my writing time is too precious for me to waste on being blocked.

Romance Writers of America:

1994 San Francisco Area Chapter “Heart to Heart” – 4th place

1994 Outreach Writing Competition – 2nd Place

1995 Red River Romance Writers “Love In Uniform” – honorable mention

1998 Valley Forge Romance Writers “Winning Beginnings” – honorable mention

1998 Cactus Rose Chapter “Valentines Over Vegas” – 2nd place

2004 From The Heart Romance Writers “Golden Gateway” – 4th place

Romance Writers of Australia:

1999 Valentines Day Competition – 1st place

2000 First Chapter Competition – 3rd place

2000 Emma Darcy Award – 4th place (tied)

2000 Love Scene Contest – 2nd place