Melody DeBlois, author of That April in Santa Monica, on her journey to becoming a writer

Every author has her own story about how she became the writer that she is today. Melody DeBlois is sharing her personal journey with us today. There's also an excerpt from her new novel That April in Santa Monica. Follow the tour for more and let her know what you think along the way. And of course, there's a great giveaway at the end!

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My Journey to Becoming a Writer

When my youngest son went off school, I sat at the dining room table and wrote a book called Waiting for the Magic. It was about a young French girl who gets a dollhouse for Christmas, and it comes to life. I put every story I’d ever imagined into the manuscript, and after it was finished, I sent it, wrapped in Christmas paper, to Bantam books. They responded with a short, sweet letter. “May you have the continued joy we find in your writing.” It was a polite way to reject a book that I couldn’t have known then had no structure and no character depth. Nor did I realize, that single cheer would take me down what would be a thirty-year path toward publication.

My second book was The Kid and the Ghost of Rocco Moretti. The premise, a boy goes to live with his grandmother in Chicago only to find the house haunted by the man who built Al Capone’s vault. That young-adult debut went to a Harper and Row editor, turned literary agent, who I’d talked into taking a peek. She informed me that the storyline wore thin because I hadn’t learned to write introspection.

For the next ten years, while employed in book shops, I worked on a novel called The Ghost of Antonio Corradini. It was full of over-the-top scenes that went nowhere. Still, when I called Donald Mass, he was still young and hungry enough to be at his agency on a Saturday. I asked why he’d rejected my manuscript, and he said, “You didn’t have a genre. There’s no place for it on the shelf.”

Because I was working in a funeral home, I decided to write a Gothic horror novel. Consequently, ten years later, I sent Blood Vault out for publication. An acquisitions editor at Chyzine Publications pulled it out of the slush pile. She was wild about the manuscript and passed it on to the publishers. Three years later, Sandra Kasturi rejected it, telling me she didn’t like the voice. She thought it had a breathless quality. My husband is still pushing me to get Blood Vault out there. Of all my novels, this was his favorite.

Next, I completed a time travel romance called For Love. The story question was, what would happen if a Romantic poet traveled up in time and encountered email and text messaging? I never tried to publish this book, but I did use it as a completed novel that I sent to RWA (Romantic Writers of America) to achieve Pro status.

A year later, I wrote a 55,000-word draft in a month for NaNoWriMo. The book went through two-years’ worth of incarnations. I won first place in a contest, where I was presented with a beautiful crystal. At the writer’s conference. I pitched to an editor at Source Books and she wanted to read the manuscript. Months later she rejected it, saying she couldn’t identify with the characters. I made the heroine poorer and heavy instead of too thin. Then I sent a pitch to another editor at Source Books who rejected it. She thought the hero wasn’t manly enough because he was a yoga teacher. I didn’t listen this time but sent it to Wild Rose Press. Josette Arthur liked it and passed it on to the senior editor. This time, it was a go!

I ended up with a three-book contract. I feel very fortunate to have gotten in with the incredible staff at The Wild Rose Press. I’ve learned more in the past eight months about writing than in all thirty years. Sometimes I think the reason I finally got published was I never gave up. On my darkest days, I kept seeing my freshly published book in my hands, and any day now, it will be a reality.

That April in Santa Monica

Madison receives acclaim for running a talent agency for people with disabilities, but she doesn't know how to take care of herself. When her altruism becomes life-threatening—a matter of either develop healthy habits or die—she joins a reality TV show that pairs her with hot, raven-haired Brandon. He is witty, sexy, and her teacher. That makes him off limits.

After a successful run on a soap opera, Brandon stepped away from empty fame and now focuses on his work as TV's most noted health teacher. He has one fast rule—never fall for a student. But when he meets Madison, their chemistry is combustible. There's no hiding their conflict or their attraction, especially when it's all caught on film.

Read an excerpt:

On the beach, Madison started to gather energy, so that when they went into downward-facing dog, he discovered, with her well-earned agility, she didn’t bend her knees as usual.

“Madison, you’re touching the ground!”

She beamed up at him. “I am!”

She was unimaginably beautiful. The way the sun seized the golden streaks in her red hair, the way the natural wave framed her angular face, distracted him. He had his fantasies about her, and this was one of them. The two of them by themselves on the beach, doing yoga. The only problem? The usual. They were not alone.

Warrior pose brought with it an expression of victory on her part, and child’s pose caused her to fold up within herself like a flower after sunset. No woman had ever done the positions with as much raw sensuality. Being with her made him, the yogic practitioner, forget how to move and how to breathe.

This day she stood taller and bent farther. The muscles in her arms supported her with effortlessness. Even her hands seemed stronger than before. She balanced herself with greater ease, like a goddess surveying her kingdom by the sea. Brandon closed his eyes against the gush of erotic pictures she evoked in him. He had been with her too long, yet not long enough.

When they finished, she purred, “I just might learn to love this.”

“You did well.”

“Do you think it was the fancy yoga outfit?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I think it was the woman.”

Available on Amazon 

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About Melody DuBlois

Born in California, award winning author, Melody DeBlois follows the sun. When she isn’t swimming laps, she’s writing sweet and sassy romances. Her heroines are self-reliant and smart and her heroes are kind by nature and love dogs. She lives in California during the summer and spends winters in Arizona with her husband. She has plotted her novels while hiking the beach or trekking across the desert. Her most treasured possession is family.

Website: https://www.melodydeblois.com/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Melody-DeBlois/e/B07XBV66Y8/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/That-April-Santa-Monica-Beach-ebook/dp/B07XDP155H/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48106063-that-april-in-santa-monica

https://www.facebook.com/melodydebloisbooks/

https://twitter.com/DeBloisMelody

Melody DeBlois will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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