Let's give a warm welcome to Wendy Delsol, our guest blogger for this week's WOW Wednesday. Wendy was born in Canada to British parents, grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, lived twenty years in Los Angeles, and currently resides in the Des Moines area. She has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, and worked for more than ten years in the travel industry. She is married with two teen sons. You can find her at http://www.wendydelsol.com/, or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wendydelsol. She also can be found on Facebook at Wendy Peck Delsol.
I began my first novel the day my youngest began full days of school. Come June, he was a first-grade graduate and I had a 100,000 word monstrosity in my hands. It was awful—a rambling, poorly plotted mess—but the important thing was I loved the process. I did query a few agents on this adult fiction project, but quickly decided my efforts would be better spent improving my skills.
In the fall, as my son trudged off to second grade, I, too, was back in school. I was lucky to be living in L.A. at the time and to have access to the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. For the next three semesters, I took evening classes in writing novels. I learned craft, met fellow writers, and wrote my second novel. Still not good enough, but better. I also queried agents on this project, but, again, took the rejections as a sign that my writing wasn’t quite there.My husband’s job moved us to Des Moines in 2005. Once settled, I took classes via the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival, started a critique group, began a (now-abandoned) middle grade book, and wrote my third novel in the women’s fiction genre. Two important things happened during this time. One: Based on requests for partials and fulls, I knew that third book was viable. (The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls has since sold and will be published in August of 2011.) Two: I recognized that my books contained a teen daughter who was—well—a page hog. I decided to try my hand at young adult.
What great insight into her world and great advice! I have this book on my list of must have's. I just love the cover. Thanks for yet another amazing interview.
Wow, great story! I love hearing tells of how writers "made it." Very inspirational. :)
The Stork premise is so unusual and catchy, I can see why it got the agent's attention! Congrats on launching your writing career, Wendy!
Yeah Wendy!!!
"...don’t dwell on projects that aren’t sparking interest." Sometimes I need to remember that! Thanks for a terrific guest post!
What a whirlwind! My goodness, that's an inspiring story, thanks for sharing. And congratulations on the success!
This book looks great. Glad to see another UCLA Writer's Program student get published!