SJ Driscoll... sometimes a dream won't let go

Romance Writers of America

Text Box: It’s been a long road. I’ve written all my life, but never thought I’d write novels. Short stories were my passion. Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and Interzone published a couple of my speculative fiction stories, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine published a suspense story. Other short stories have appeared in Futures and in the noir ezine, Judas. But writers (and markets) change. Short stories felt too limited. So I started writing plays. Twilight with Roses ran to a full house every night in the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival. The producer told me that was the first time her theater company made money on the festival. But playwriting didn’t feel exactly right, either.... I’ve taught writing in college, run a literary quarterly, been a freelance editor, written advertising and public relations copy, had poetry and articles published, and worked for a literary agent. Now I’m senior copy editor on a medical journal. If there’s a job connected with writing, seems like I’ve done it. But I want more. What’s left? The big goal: novel publication. I’d written two novels along the way. They were bad. And the contemporary novels I was reading were not something I could see myself writing. Then I found romance. I never considered writing romance until I was working on a short story called Trudy Ziller for Judas. The time came to kill off the hero, but I couldn't do it. Here was this great guy, and I was going to rub him out! That was too perverse. After two more completed novels and five attempts, I’m still chugging away. Some of my pieces have finaled in Romance Writers of America contests. Editors and agents have been kind and encouraging. This is the right thing. It’s time. Will I succeed? No doubt about it. Every word on the page brings me closer. Hey, we all need that happy ending!

Sometimes a dream won’t let go

SJ Driscoll

Copyright © 2009 SJ Driscoll