Please welcome romance author, Tawna Fenske, to OVER COFFEE.
We all face
adversities and in our lives which can truly impact on not only our life but our writing careers.
I’ve always maintained that attitude is half the battle in solving the problems
life throws at you, another quarter of it is a heavy-duty catchers mitt and a
strong arm to either wrestle it into submission or throw it back. Tawna has perfected the cliché, when life hands
you lemons, make lemonade. I’m thinking she might want to follow the advice from gutsy Maxine, and add a bit of salt and
tequila gold, too.
Tawna shares how a comedy romance writer faces trouble.
My thirty-second birthday left something to be desired. My
cat died, my former publisher canceled the line scheduled to release my debut action/adventure
novel, and my employer threatened to fire me for disobeying the company’s
hosiery policy.
It’s OK if you laughed just now. I laughed, too, even while
facing potential unemployment, a derailed writing career, and the challenge of
burying a cat whose pronounced rigor mortis required me to dig a grave large
enough for an NFL linebacker.
The fact that I could see the humor in what was arguably one
of the lousiest days in my life is what nudged me toward writing romantic
comedy. Well, that and a lot of wine.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that my ability to
keep laughing was going to be tested again. And again. And again.
It took nearly three-and-a-half years after that point
before my amazing agent landed me my current three-book deal with Sourcebooks for
my romantic comedies. During that long and bumpy period before the deal
happened, there were a lot of moments when my laughter was prompted mostly by
the thrill of poking push-pins into the groin of my editor voodoo doll.
But after the book deal came through with Sourcebooks, my
life was sure to be an endless stream of carefree laughter and cupcakes and
puppies that never piddle on your flip-flops, right?
Right.
Over the course of the next twelve months, my marriage of
thirteen years began a long, slow, painful swirl around the drain before
finally being sucked into the crapper.
Ironic, really, to think I was finally making a name for
myself as an up-and-coming romantic comedy author while enduring the least
funny, least romantic year of my life.
But I couldn’t spend much time mulling that irony or
stopping to wallow in my misery. I had a blog that sometimes saw 1,000 unique
visitors a day, most of whom were expecting me to be hilarious and
entertaining. I suspected daily recaps of my marriage counseling sessions might
miss the mark in both categories.
I also had a new novel to write – the third in my three-book
contract. I cringe now to recall how terribly melancholy the early drafts must
have been. If you write morose literary fiction, it’s high praise when a
critique partner says a scene moved her to tears.
If you write romantic comedy, it’s a sign you need to print
out your manuscript, douse it with lighter fluid, and set fire to it in the
front yard.
But I persevered, and I learned a helluva lot about my own
capacity to take whatever life throws and me and keep going. Those blog readers
showing up to see me crack jokes every day turned out to love me just as much
when I finally shared
news of the divorce.
Their support – along with support from close friends,
family, critique partners, beta readers, my agent, editor, and random strangers
who offered tissues and penis jokes – helped keep me laughing and plowing
forward even on days when I thought I might win an award for being the least
funny romantic comedy author on the planet.
I’d like to tell you I’m through the worst of it, but I’m
pretty sure that would result in a piano falling on my head or a pack of rabid
wolverines tearing through my bedroom door and chewing off my eyelids while I
sleep.
But the one thing I know for sure is that I can take it –
whatever the hell life throws at me, I’m ready.
And you can be damn sure I’ll dance on the carcass of whatever
bad luck has befallen me and I will laugh my fool head off.
That’s a promise.
MAKING WAVES BY TAWNA FENSKE – IN STORES AUGUST 2011
She always wanted to belong… Just not to a dysfunctional pirate crew…
Juli has trouble fitting in, though she’d prefer to keep the reasons to herself. But when she mistakenly stows away on a ship of misfit corporate castoffs, her own secrets become the least of her concerns…
He knows plotting a diamond heist may be considered unusual behavior…
But Alex isn’t feeling very normal when his unscrupulous boss kicks him to the curb. Meeting Juli doesn’t do much to restore normalcy to Alex’s life either, but it sure is exhilarating!As Alex and Juli bare their secrets—and a whole lot more—they find that while normal is nice, weird can be wonderful…Excerpt
BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells Books
Available in print or eBook
.
