Renee Johnson's Journey to Publication

Now that we've heard a little bit about your Wylder story--which sounds amazing, by the way--do you mind filling us in on your early writing career? I'm wildly curious about it and I'm sure other readers are, too. 

How did you get started writing? What was your journey to publication?

The jury is still out on whether or not I was born with a pencil gripped in my palm. A book worm from the time I can remember, I wrote my first novel—in pink ink—when I was nine years old. I even completed it. Writing has always been in my DNA, but publishing is a different story.

At 48, with my son in college, I attended a writing retreat and received an immense amount of encouragement. I returned with a hopeful heart and successfully submitted a few short pieces—essays and articles—which did well.

The following spring, The Wild Rose Press held a retreat in my home state of North Carolina, which seemed like fate. I attended, met RJ and Rhonda, Carol Henry, other writers, and my future editor, Maggie Johnson—no relation although I claim her as my sister. It was such a supportive and encouraging environment, and I felt right at home. I finally submitted a manuscript, and the rest is history. I now have five published novels and another under contract with The Wild Rose Press.

  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Western Music by Laura Strickland   When I’m writing, I’m usually also listening to music. It serves as a magical elixir for me, one that transports me to the time and I place I’m creating on the page.   Music summons a mood, with which I then strive to infuse my writing. It’s no different when I’m penning my Wylder West stories. For my first book, A Walk on the Wylder Side, I dug deep into some of the music to which I listened years ago, from artists such as Neil Young, The Eagles, and The Farm Dogs, to mention but a few. But what is true Western music? It’s not really the Country/Folk songs of the Seventies, love them as I do. Turns out, like the West itself, it has a nature all its own. Just like our town of Wylder, Western music is a combination of what the people who settled the West brought with them: Latin, Celtic, Anglo, African, and everything in between. All this was influenced by the way of life these settlers founded out West, which wasn’t easy. Co...
Read more

The Music of Dance to a Wylder Beat by Marilyn Barr

Image
       To manage my sensory processing disorder, I have a few tricks to quiet my distracting senses while I write. One is to light a scented candle which corresponds to the character narrating the scene I am writing. Nartan Sagebrush’s candle scent is “Tobacco” while Olive Muegge’s scent is “Orange Clove”. Another trick is to play the couple’s song on repeat while writing. It drowns out the birds outside my kitchen window and helps my mind focus on the core issues of the story. The core issue of Dance to a Wylder Beat is the need for community. Nartan’s secret Shamanic dancing and Olive’s paranormal secret keep them on the outskirts of Wylder society.                     Listen to this haunting song here - https://youtu.be/k750IIdKq08                 In the late 1870s, the Arapaho nation’s way of life was being destroyed by the Us Go...
Read more
Image
    Welcome to Wylder!   When I first heard about The Wild Rose Press’s new series, Wylder West, I felt excited. There’s nothing like a submission call to get an author all worked up. And the idea of having a part in creating a fictional town set in the late 1880s Wyoming Territory really sparked my imagination. I had no idea, then, what Wylder, Wyoming might become. What happens when you gather a group of authors who love to write and let them lose in a fictional town? I’ll tell you what: storylines begin to burgeon. Characters of every description take shape. Heroes face off against villains, heroines pull at your heartstrings. Trials and tribulations clamor for attention. But that’s not all. Businesses come into being. A saloon here, a rooming house there, a gunsmith’s, a mercantile, a whorehouse… Streets take on names, ranches spread out on every side through the country all around. And pretty soon you know who lives and works where. It’s as if you’re walk...
Read more