The Road to Inspirationals: Guest Blogger Andrea Chermak Stops By!

I first met Andrea ten years ago when I joined a now-defunct local writing group. I admired her from the beginning. Her strength, warmth and desire to do a good job were things I relate to.   And she didn't zing me for being moronic and having twelve pages (or maybe fourteen) with no dialogue when I came to the first meeting.  Since that fateful morning, I've been blessed to have her friendship and encouragement. And though we live hours apart,  we "meet in the middle"! I'm delighted that Andrea has been picked up by Love Inspired.  But I'm not about to pretend (Ruthy huffs on nails of left hand and polishes them against her sleeve, nonchalant and oh-so-cool)... that I didn't know it all along. AND... UPS just dropped off a case of "Mended Hearts", the third book in my Men of Allegany County series, so two lucky commenters will receive copies of this brand-new, hot-off-the-presses Ruthy book!

Hmm…my story. Where to begin? Not at the beginning, because that was 10 years ago. Not in the middle, because that was 2006, when I sold my first historical novel to Dorchester. So I guess this part of my story begins in 2009, which is the year I quit writing.

Yes, you read that right. When the publisher passed on my second historical, my agent pursued other editors with a passion for my work that still amazes me. We got close with that one, even closer with the next, but no contracts. I’m pretty flexible as a writer, so I tried some other angles. My attempt at women’s fiction was stilted and predictable, and I stopped halfway through. Several other ideas didn’t even make it that far, and I realized I was burned out and needed a break.

For months, I didn’t write a thing. I had fun reading for a change and cheering Ruthy on as her career took off. Somewhere in all that lazing around, an idea started bubbling in the back of my mind. It wouldn’t go away, so I took a shot at writing something I enjoy reading—a cozy mystery. It was awful, but it was the first story I’d finished in over a year. Even my wonderful agent couldn’t get behind that mess of a book, but it helped me regain my confidence. If I could write one complete book, I could do it again.

That was 2010, when the terrible flooding in Nashville forced the Romance Writers of America to relocate their national conference to Disney World, my favorite place on earth. If that wasn’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. The Seekers took excellent care of me, making me feel welcome and sharing some much-needed advice. It was fabulous. By this point, there was another new idea floating around in my head. During my market research, I’d discovered that Love Inspired put out beautiful books with heart-warming stories. They’d expanded from 4 to 6 titles per month, which meant they needed material. Maybe, just maybe, they had a spot for me.

Melissa Endlich really impressed me. She told us her goal is to develop her authors and help them deliver the high quality books her readers expect. Inspired (pun intended), I got to work and we submitted that book just before Christmas. Somehow, I managed to get enough things right that Melissa was confident we could fix the rest.

Hometown Family will be released in May 2012, under my pen name Mia Ross. If you’d like a taste of it, there’s an excerpt at my website (www.miaross.com). The opening quote in that book pretty much sums up what I learned during my long, meandering journey back to where I belong: If you can believe, all things are possible.

Coffee's goin' and breakfast is served! We have the Pancake House takin' care of us this morning, and their cakes are melt-in-your-mouth good!