Call Story: Carla Capshaw

Welcome, Guest Maven Carla Capshaw!!!

Hi all you marvelous Mavens! Thank you so much for having me here today and a special thanks to Erica for inviting me. It's an honor. You Mavens are amazing. :-)

I have to be honest. When Erica asked me if I'd like to blog about my "call", I thought it would be a snap. I was wrong. How do you pack almost a decade of blood, sweat and tears into a semi-short, hopefully interesting blog? Well, after much debate and backspacing, I decided to hit on a few of my journey's peaks and valleys and give some honest commentary that, unless you're one of those (disgusting ;-) people who sold your first story on partial to your dream editor and went NYT bestseller before the age of twenty, will encourage anyone who hasn't sold yet to keep your fingers to the keyboard until you have your own call story to tell. :-)

So...

Once upon a time, I decided to write a book. I call this stage my Age of Innocence. My first manuscript was a short contemporary full of passion! drama! and enough backstory to sink an ocean liner. Needless to say, it didn't sell, which deflated me a bit at the time since all my friends and family loved it. But I'm stup...I mean tenacious. I started another book, finished it, didn't sell and started another. When the third time wasn't the charm, I hit my first real valley. I didn't want to quit writing but I was discouraged.

Fortunately, it was around this time I joined Romance Writers of America. No longer was I a lone writer slaving over my computer from 10pm 'til 2 in the morning, every morning (I'm a single mom with two day jobs). I was surrounded by other crazy women with the same dream I had--some of whom had even achieved it already. I wanted to be one of them.

For the first time, I was hearing about "craft", "finding your voice"and "marketability". Unfortunately, all that wonderful info seemed to conflict with other great advice like, "write the book of your heart" and "just write a great book and it will sell". I mean, wasn't that what I'd been doing for the past three years? It certainly hadn't been my intention to write crappy books from my ear canals, but the great books from my heart still weren't selling. The short contemps I favored only had a few publishers to submit to and once rejected were dead in the water. If I wanted to be published, I needed to change course.

But what to do? I'd always loved history and Historicals, so in my usual fashion, I said, "Why not? Let's give one of those a whirl." Excited and armed with all the advice and notes from numerous RWA meetings, I chose my favorite time-period (Colonial America), picked my location (my fav city, Charleston, SC) and researched the Revolutionary War until I knew more about the Southern campaign of 1780-81 than my college history professor.

THE FOX, as I called it, was my first , invaluable experience with critique groups and contests. FOX went on to final in fifteen of them. Won seven first places, including contest overall wins in the MARA, The Golden Rose, The Happily Ever After and the 2004 Golden Heart for Best Short Historical. I had found my voice. I was a contest diva and I was feelin' pretty good. ;-)

It was my best of times and worst of times. Things were happening. I'd hit my first real peak. My wonderful agent, Michelle Grajkowski at 3 Seas Literary signed me and though I got a few rejections, they were 'good ones'. After a few months, though, those rejections began to point out a stomach-churning trend. The Historical market had nose-dived and Colonials were at the bottom of that sinking barrel. Editors said they loved my work, but couldn't buy my time period. Sadly, nobody wanted the book I'd spent two grueling years working on. I had no where to go--again.

Directionless, I'd tumbled into my second valley. In fact, except for a few sprinting starts, I didn't write for a year. What was the use? Why take away time from my family and exist on four hours of sleep a night when I'd written what I thought was the best book I could, had numerous contests and editors validate my writing ability, and yet I remained unpublished? I began to hear whispers like, "If it's such a great book, why doesn't it sell?" or "Maybe she can only write a good partial."

Disheartened, I really did almost quit. :(

Happily, I didn't. My turning point came when my wonderful friend Tammy Johnson emailed the guidelines for a new line Steeple Hill was starting called Love Inspired Historical. As I read the list, my heart started to pound with excitement. Even though I was hesitant (did I truly want to go through that whole roller coaster ride again?), I really wanted to write something for them. After praying about it, I got the idea for a story set in ancient Rome about a wealthy young Christian who's sold into slavery and her master, a yummy ex-gladiator who has everything except inner peace--and the woman of his dreams. ;-)

Though I worried about taking the chance on another "off" time period, the synopsis flowed and the first three chapters were the easiest I've ever written. I submitted TO WIN A GLADIATOR to Michelle who thankfully hadn't ditched me. She called a couple weeks later, said she'd read it that afternoon, loved it and in her enthusiasm emailed the partial to Melissa Endlich (the line's editor) that same day. Crazily, Melissa had asked for the full that same day! Did I mention, I only had the partial? That I'd sent it to Michelle just for feedback? That I'm a S-L-O-W writer? This was in June 2006, I believe. I ended up finishing the manuscript the day before the Golden Heart deadline and got the retitled THE HEART BECKONS in on time thanks to Express Mail.

But, I thought the second half stunk like a rotting corpse. I wasn't about to send it to Melissa yet. I ended up rewriting the second half and got it turned in to Michelle (agent) about three weeks before National 2007. Melissa (editor) met with me at National. She asked, "Where's my gladiator?" Since she'd been waiting almost a year for the full, that felt great. I promised her Michelle had it and she would have it soon. She said she couldn't wait to read it.

To my surprise, considering the garbagey ending I'd submitted, the manuscript won the Golden Heart for Best Inspirational in 2007. Was I happy? Yes! But I couldn't shake the niggling fear I was on the same road FOX had dragged me down. The two manuscripts had followed the exact same path. Months went by. The niggling fear turned into something much darker. I began to give up hope...

And then the phone rang. My agent was trying to reach me. It was November 15, 2007 at like 2:37 in the afternoon. To be honest, I didn't look at the clock, I was too busy reaching for my phone. I called her back. Michelle said, "would you like to sell a book today?" I said, "sure, why not?" The rest I can't remember. I was too excited. :-D

So, it finally happened. I got "the call" I'd been waiting on for too many years to admit, proving that anybody who doesn't quit can succeed. My as yet untitled debut will be out with Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical in September 2009. Currently, I'm working on a sequel and buried back in ancient Rome. Come visit me at www.carlacapshaw.com and/or befriend me at Myspace http://www.myspace.com/carlacapshaw .

Most importantly, don't give up on your dreams. They're waiting for you to make them come true.

Thanks again for having me here! I'm giving away books throughout the day to four blessed posters.

Have a fabulous week!

Carla Capshaw

Thanks, Carla, for sharing your call story--We can't wait to get our hands on The Heart Beckons!!!

YOUR TURN: You're on, MaveFaves! Questions or comments for Carla? Post 'em here and win fun prizes! Carla is giving away four new releases!! Thanks again, Carla!