Julie, here, and it's no secret that I absolutely LOVE everything Irish!! So, it's little wonder that I jumped at the chance to read the debut book of today's guest blogger Nancy Herriman when our mutual agent Natasha Kern asked. A very smart move, it turns out, because The Irish Healer was everything I'd hoped for and more. Here is my endorsement: "Possibly one of the best regencies I have ever read, The Irish Healer is a haunting love
story that held me spellbound me from the first sentence to the last, denying
me sleep until the wee hours of the morning. A stunning debut for Nancy
Herriman." Without further ado, please welcome a dear friend and fellow lover of all things Irish, Nancy Herriman:
Perseverance….
I can very clearly recall
the worst rejection I ever received. For you writers out there, can you? Mine
came on a bright sunny summer’s day, a few weeks after I had mailed a slew of
agent queries, a few weeks spent breathlessly watching both the physical and
electronic mail box for a kind letter asking for more. Which I was certain
would come. And then it arrived,
this tiny blue postcard with a generic three-sentence rejection basically
saying ‘not interested’ but sounding an awful lot like ‘why would we bother
with you?’. The salutation wasn’t even addressed to me personally. Couldn’t
they see all the blood, sweat and tears I’d poured into that query? Didn’t I
deserve a ‘Dear Nancy’? Didn’t I deserve a kind word or two encouraging me to persevere,
to soldier on?
I know I shouldn’t
complain, because I’ve heard worse stories, of authors (now bestselling) who
were told to never contact the particular agent/editor again, that they should
stop writing and find another job, that no one but no one was interested in
such a story and they would never sell. Ever. So I suppose my little blue
generic postcard wasn’t all that bad, in the greater scheme of things. At the
time, though, I was angry and then I cried and then I threw it in the trash
can. Now, I rather wish I’d kept that postcard. A memento of the many barriers,
the many negatives in this business we writers both love and loathe in, often,
equal measure.
After more than 10 years of
writing and several manuscripts, both finished and unfinished that have been
consigned to the metaphorical box-under-the-bed, I finally wrote the book that
would make it easy to smile over that postcard. In the end, the terse rejection
toughened me, and made me all the more grateful for the day when my agent called
with those blessed words that someone wanted to buy The Irish Healer. All the more aware that, if I had quit after that
rejection and the others like it, I would never have enjoyed seeing my words in
print, at last.
The need to persevere
doesn’t end with that first contract, however. Only in hushed conversations do
published authors reveal the dark truth that Life-After-The-Call can be more
fraught with stress and upset than Life-Before-The-Call. That it’s harder to
receive a negative comment from a reviewer than it is to get one of those
generic rejections in the mail. That your career as a published author is never
certain. That balancing deadlines with your ‘regular life’ can be challenging
and sometimes dispiriting. For example, here is my past year went: I received The Call, went through the
multi-step editing process, wrote my contractual second book, began work on
publicity for The Irish Healer, all
while getting a diagnosis of breast cancer and enduring surgery and five months
of chemotherapy. Oh, and I still have children at home! Thank heavens for the
support of precious friends and the enduring strength obtained through faith,
or else I might have given up.
So, here are my parting
words of encouragement for all writers in all stages: persevere. If I can
overcome nearly a dozen years of rejection and life-changing health issues, so
can you. And if you get one of those generic rejection postcards, keep it.
A blurb about The Irish Healer:
Acquitted of murdering a
child under her care, Irish healer Rachel Dunne flees the ensuing scandal and
vows to never sit at another sickbed. She no longer trusts in her abilities—or
God’s mercy. When a cholera epidemic sweeps through London, though, she is
forced to nurse the dying daughter of the enigmatic physician she has come to
love. James Edmunds, wearied by the deaths of too many patients, has his own
doubts about God’s grace. Together, they will have to face their darkest
fears...and learn what it means to have real faith.
Bio:
Nancy Herriman abandoned a
career in Engineering to chase around two small children and take up the pen.
She hasn’t looked back. When she is not writing, or gabbing over lattes about
writing, she is either watching history shows on cable TV or singing. She lives
in the Midwest with her husband and sons, and wishes there were more hours in
the day. You can learn more at her website, www.nancyherriman.com,
where you will also find a link to the opening chapter of The Irish Healer along with a book trailer.
If you participate in
social media, please join her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Author.NancyHerriman
or on Twitter (@Nancy_Herriman).
In addition, one lucky reader
who comments on my blog will be randomly selected to win a copy of The Irish Healer in either print form or
audio book. Good luck!
