When she was younger, she loved soap operas and When Harry Met Sally was her favorite movie. But how did Jamie Beck turn her love of romantic stories into a new venture? In her previous life, she was a commercial real estate lawyer but left to raise her two children. And then, “When they started school, I became bored mentally.”
When Jamie really thought about what she loved to do, she had an interesting idea. “Always when I was on the tread mill exercising or waiting in my car at pick up, I would create stories in my mind and it was really fun. Or I would create different ending for movies than how they actually ended.” An avid reader of romantic books, her favorite author was Lisa Kleypas and she thought it might be fun to try to craft her own romance novel.
Jamie had taken a creative writing class in college and was corresponding with some writers on line. “One friend bet me I couldn’t write a novel. As my idea solidified, I set out to prove him wrong.” When her kids were in school from 8 until 3, Jamie’s obsession became writing a romance novel like the ones she loved to read.
It took about eight months to complete a coming-of-age story titled Unexpected Song and, “It sucked.” Now what? “I came at this backwards,” Jamie says of her decision to join writing groups and take classes after completing a manuscript. At the Connecticut chapter of The Romance Writers of America, Jamie found a sounding board and a lot of new friends. “I met such diverse people from all walks of life, it was a whole new experience. We get together for workshops and critique sessions.” This involvement gave Jamie an inside look and framework for how it’s done, so her second manuscript (soon to be her debut novel) was better than her first.
With the completion of her third novel, which took second place in a writing contest, Jamie sent queries to literary agents. “With the first manuscript, I sent out hundreds of emails that included the first three chapters and a summary of the book. By the third manuscript, I’d learned how to query smarter.” Agents get hundreds of queries a day, so Jamie knows it’s difficult to get noticed without major credentials or a publishing history. “It’s very hard for me to take a compliment, but I felt that I had some credibility when I finally got an agent and she actually sold two of my books.” Her debut, entitled In The Cards, which releases December 9, deals with fate, self-discovery, and love. One early reader told Jamie that her novel allowed her to crystallize something personal through the story. “That was incredible, to know that I helped someone with one of my stories.”
So does a romance novel have explicit sex scenes, and what would her 13-year-old daughter think? Jamie says that her novels deal more with the emotional side of relationships, but, “Yes, they include explicit sex scenes. Most romance novels do these days.” She hopes her daughter won’t read them until she’s much older. Her husband reads her work too and says, “Wait a minute, I don’t see myself in your hero.” Jamie laughs, replying, “It’s fiction, honey.”
Her next book, Worth the Wait, will be published in March 2015. Jamie has created her own romance novelist persona through her blog and social media, “I never thought I could do this.” She is now a regular at national conventions and when others ask her advice she says, “The most important step of the whole process was to just sit down and do it. My hobby has become a second career. Who knew?”
VentureMom Tip
Just sit down and do it.
Contact Info: www.jamiebeck.com, www.facebook.com/JamieBeckBooks.
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