Shadows Of Love
by, Sally Painter
Published by Avid Press
February, 2000
For a review of this title, look in the
review section for Jan./Feb. 2000
Meet New Author---Sally Painter!
Sally Painter has been writing since she was nine years old, but did not become serious about pursuing a career until 1997.
When asked what inspired her to make writing a career, Sally said her husband’s encouragement. “We were married in 1990 and he found my manuscript packed away in the attic. He continued to encourage me to dust off my old dreams and make them reality. I owe it all to him. He rekindled an abandoned dream.”
[NAB] What was the deciding factor in the genre Sally selected? “I’ve always read romance. I’m a hopeless romantic, so it was a natural choice. I have had a lifelong affair with history; therefore, it was a natural combination.”
[NAB] Where do Sally’s ideas come from? “Oh, like all writers, everywhere. The ideas are easy; choosing which one to work on is the hard part. Finding enough time in a single day is the second hardest part.” Is writing your full-time job? “I have been self-employed since 1992. My husband joined me in our recruiting business in 1997. We had met on he job and married in 1990. Having our own business and working from our home has always been our goal.”
“I write mostly late at night, falling into bed around 3:30 or 4:00 am. I start the next day around 8 am. Once I’ve finished a book, I crash and burn for a few days. My acupuncturist hates my lifestyle, but it’s the only way I know how to work. I’ve always had to write outside of a regular job and being self-employed only means you work longer and harder. I actually had more free time when I worked for others.”
[NAB] Are there days where you have writer’s block, or you wake up and just don’t feel like writing? “I’ve never suffered writer’s block, fortunately. I’m always waiting for the time I can start writing like one waits for a lover’s visit. I love writing. I’m addicted. I like to write especially late at night when there are no interruptions and I own the night. Of course I’m writing all the time, whether it looks like it or not. I write in the shower, at the grocery store, driving the car, taking the cat to the vet. There’s always some dialogue going on underneath the day-to-day activities.”
A little more about Sally Painter--”I’ve worked under some very strenuous deadlines in he past. Fear motivates me. Fear of not meeting the deadline, fear of not being able to pull off revisions with the kind of power and emotion the story requires. But mostly fear of letting myself down by not meeting my own expectations. So I guess competing against myself is my biggest motivation.”
“I’ve been in a storm at sea on a large fishing boat and rode the swells at the bow of the ship. It was exhilarating. I’ve also been in a sixteen foot boat along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and literally swallowed up in ten-foot walls of sea. I used both of these experiences to help describe the storm at sea in Shadows of Love.”
“Celeste Bates, the heroine inShadows of Love, undergoes the traumatic event of being buried alive. As a direct result of the trauma, she suffers from sleepwalking. My brother and cousin were both sleepwalkers so I incorporated that childhood experience in the book.”
[NAB] How long did it take for a publisher to pick you up once you started submitting? “A year of serious submitting. Traditional publishers didn’t want a white-slavery buried alive story. I was so lucky to find Avid Press, LLC. Colleen Gleason Schulte, my editor, allowed my book to be what it originally was meant to be. I’m very grateful to her.” Did you ever get discouraged enough to give up? “Oh, I think almost everyone gets that way just before they are published. It is a difficult business to break into and the avenues for writers everywhere are shrinking, especially romance. I think there are certain stages and rites of passage we all go through in this crazy business. The ones I moved through prepared me for the hard road to publication and just made me more determined. I always tried to stay focused and be a good student and learn the skills I needed to reach my goal!”
“Ultimately I had a deep sense of self and a personal resolve and belief that this was what I was supposed to be doing at this stage of my life. The other side of all that is the support and belief my husband, fellow authors and my agent, Jane Johnson have in me. They would never let me get discouraged. They were my lifelines. I owe so much to each of them.”
[NAB] Do you think it’s important to have an agent--would you recommend aspiring authors to get one before pursuing publication? “I do have an agent. I think it depends on what you are wanting to do with a writing career whether or not you need an agent. I personally did not have the time to market my manuscript the way I wanted it marketed. Agents can get into doors that have been closed to writers. Many publishing houses no longer consider unagented manuscripts. But, getting a good agent, the right agent for you is the foremost criteria. I cannot say enough good things about my agent, Jane Johnson. She has gone over and above what is normally expected of an agent. Like I said earlier, I’m very blessed with wonderful people in my life.”
[NAB] Do you think that the new-age romance has a solid place on readers shelves? Do you think that publishers are still open to trying and staying with non-traditional romance? “From my own experience, limited as it is, with my first book, I’d say that traditional publishers are reluctant to take a risk with an unknown much less an unknown with a less than traditional subject matter. Just my own summation based on the comments my agent had in response to my book.”
“Being in business, myself, I can understand the decisions to go with authors who have an established readership. Those are fairly safe investments for the publisher. Fortunately, this same type of limitation opens a new market for small press, electronic publishers and a whole new arena afforded by our current technology.”
“There are some very talented writers out there who are being shut out of the industry and are just waiting for the floodgates to be lifted. I think when it does happen, we will see a new shift in the new-age romance, and it will grow stronger than before. I hope the publishing grounds will be leveled some. How exciting it will be when more writers can be published and reader can have more choices.”
[NAB] With the computer age in full swing with email, web pages, etc., do you think the book and/or written word will become obsolete and people reach a point where they no longer need, or have the desire to buy printed material/books? “I think it will eventually happen. I think the next generation to follow generation X, will probably usher in that next wave of technology. That generation is already being groomed for it with computer training in kindergarten. So, it seems to me to be a logical process and even expectation. The time it takes from contract to shelf for a print book seems out of sync with that technological world that governs our daily lives. I would expect it to all come together within the next ten years.”
If you would like to visit Sally Painter’s web page, you can do so at Sally Painter If you would like to visit Sally’s publisher, Avid Press, you can do so at: Avid Press