Carolynn Carey says she "always wondered what it would feel like to get The Call after writing only one book." It was a far cry from reality for her though. After writing one contemporary novel fated to remain under the bed with the dust bunnies, she spent several years writing historical romance novels set in the Regency period. Those novels made an impression with the judges of the RWA's Golden Heart contest for unpublished authors. Three of her completed books finaled in the contest although none of those books sold. Several years later, she finally found her place in contemporary romantic fiction with her book A Summer Sentence.
Carolynn says, "I have to admit that I worked on A Summer Sentence for a number of years, entering it in contests, revising, and re-entering. I had a number of positive comments from judges, but I was never quite happy with the manuscript. Then, in 2004, I entered my own chapter's contest, the Laurie, and finaled. The final round judge was Erin Cartwright Niumata from Avalon Books, and when I won the contest, she asked for the manuscript. Guess what? After all that time, it still wasn't finished."
Journalist to Romance Writer
A lifelong resident of Tennessee, Carolynn has a degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. She's always been interested in the written word and spent much of her childhood reading. When she tried her hand at writing fiction, she discovered quite quickly that journalistic writing and fiction writing weren't the same. Still, she overcame those differences and completed several books. In the meantime, Carolynn also completed her Master's in English Education. As Carolynn says, the "first [book] doesn't bear mentioning. The second was better. The third was a Golden Heart finalist in the Regency category. So was the fourth and the fifth."
A Summer Sentence is about Megan Marsh and Daniel McCray and a small town in McCray County, Tennessee. In this "wholesome romance," Megan is on her way to Chicago where she plans to work with underpriviledged children, but a run-in with a local deputy puts her square in the middle of small town living as she serves out her summer sentence, supervised by the handsome sheriff, Daniel McCray!
Her next book, Falling for Dallas, is sitting on her editor's desk, waiting to be read. Falling for Dallas follows up with the secondary characters of A Summer Sentence and promises to give readers another chance to visit McCray County.
Because Carolynn works full-time, she says, "Some days carving out time for writing is impossible but I still write when I can. Fortunately, I've learned over the many years I've been working at this craft that I don't have to possess huge blocks of time in order to be creative. Some days I do little more than plot while I'm driving to work, but I've learned that this time can be as critical to the success of a project as sitting at a keyboard."
We're certainly glad she never gave up. A Summer Sentence went on sale this month. A Summer Sentence has received a 4 STAR review from a WeWriteRomance.com reviewer, who said, "The characters were appealing, and the storyline was interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed reading A Summer Sentence and will definitely recommend it to others." So there you go. You've just had the book recommended to you. Don't miss it. (Read the complete review here.)
When Carolynn talks about her journey to publication, she says, "For some of us, the road to publication is long and sometimes extremely discouraging. But in retrospect, I see that I had much to learn when I started out. I still do, of course, and that part of the journey will never end, but the successes along the way are always joyful."
We wish Carolynn much success!
