Author Spotlight: 

Sarah McGregor

Fellow readers, we love books, do we not? And how do we make sure there are more books to come? We support the people who write them, of course!

In this author spotlight, award-winning romance writer Sarah McGregor shares how a love of reading and writing, along with some inspiration from a “dinky middle-schooler,” helped ignite her journey to authorhood. She reveals choices she’s made and lessons she’s learned along the way, as well as where the path ahead may lead (including some inspired potential titles). Join me in getting to know author Sarah McGregor!

How did you first get into writing?  

I have always liked reading and writing. As a girl, I was super big into animal stories—The Call of the Wild, Black Beauty, and all the Black Stallion Books. (Did you know that Alec and the Black eventually get picked up by Martians and fly around in a spaceship?) Later I read romances like the Brontës, Henry James, and everything Jane Austen. I even got my hands on Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. Forgive me if I don’t remember correctly, but most of her books involved the MC getting kidnapped by the hero, getting knocked unconscious and then being ravaged after waking up and vomiting. And then they fall madly in love. Yahoo! Those were the good old days. 

I was good at writing, or so my teachers and, later, professors told me, and I loved it. My dad though—who was a university professor—had a few often repeated tenets. One was that you “can buy and sell English majors.” (And foreign language teachers. Don’t even start him on history majors or any of the arts.)  So, I became a Speech/Language Pathologist. It’s a vocation that does indeed pay the bills, is greatly in demand, and has enough flexibility that you can also spend time with your kids and have horses, both of which I continue to do.

What inspired you to seek publication?

When my younger daughter was about 12, one of her friends wrote and published a book. 

Huh? I was astounded. While I had been randomly keeping my eyes open for a class on writing, this dinky middle-schooler just sat down and wrote a book. And got a publisher. If she could do it, so could I. When I turned 50, I did just that. I had lots of ideas—parts and scenes that I envisioned while running or sitting on the tractor. All I had left to do was write it. Easy peasy. 

Or so I thought. 

I wrote before school and after. I wrote while sitting in the doctor’s office waiting room and on a plane. I wrote in the car on long trips. I filled word documents and yellow legal pads with long, drawn-out descriptions and hours of dialogue. I hate when a good book ends, so I knew I wanted to write a nice, long book.

This was on the cusp of the explosion of writing opportunities and resources on the internet, and I was able to query agents and publishers online. In response, I got countless no thank you’s. Seriously, there were so many, I quit counting.

How did you move from those rejections to success? 

Fortunately, I got hooked up with the Romance Writers of America, and I started reading articles on writing, entered contests, and attended a few conferences. There were several consistent recommendations/rules, all of which I ignored because my book was going to be the exception. These included page limits (approximately 100,000 words for romance), getting involved with a writers group, hiring an editor, and basic suggestions for romance such as how to open, when to meet the MCs, and story arc.

My book clocked in at 350,000 + words. 

I hired an editor. Unfortunately, I can’t remember her name but she gave me a stellar one-on-one tutorial on writing. No longer did the excuses they aren’t my audience, or if only they read the whole thing, they’d get it fly.

With her help, I realized that if I really wanted to do this, I was going to have to follow some rules. It paid off, and I started to place in and win contests.

He Loves Me Knot was now just under 100,000 words. (Don’t worry, I saved all the deleted parts in a Word document!) I got an offer from Harlequin Books dependent on me changing the main character to age 24 as that’s their typical demographic. I was trying to own my new flexible self, but the whole book is about a woman who gets a do-over after she reaches maturity with boatloads of regrets. (Originally, she was age 50 and I cut her back to 40.) Could a woman of 24 really have enough life experience to look back on her past? The female brain doesn’t even fully mature until age 22 or 23. I turned them down. 

That was a brave choice! Where did it lead you? 

While I was resting that first manuscript, I started to write another. I had read 50 Shades of Grey and thought I should be able to do something like that. Yes, I know there are haters, but I like the book. I wrote Indecent Proposal as a piece of fan fiction. It came in second in a contest, and the publisher/judge wanted it. (I had to ask her exactly what she meant by her email because, after my plethora of rejections, I couldn’t believe someone was actually requesting it.) 

Publishing with Extasy was a good experience. They are a small, mostly women-staffed publisher out of Canada, and they made the whole process very easy. The downside is that the author has no control over pricing and has to do all the marketing. I find their website difficult to navigate, and I make about a nickel on each book sold on Amazon.

What path has your writing taken since then? 

I went back and dusted off He Loves Me Knot even though many people advise throwing out your first effort. Sorry, I love the premise and the story; I’m not throwing it out. I hired my own editor, my own cover designer, and published it myself with the help of my husband. It won a cover contest and was a finalist in several published book contests. After that, I wrote the first book of the planned Love Line Series—The Pick-Up Line. (Remember those rules I mentioned? One was to write a series. Look at me, following the rules!)  Loosely based on my many adventures working in the public schools, it follows a Speech/Language Pathologist finding her HEA with the father of one of her students. Sexy hijinks ensue! 

I’m in the process of writing The Bottom Line, which follows an Occupational Therapist and her naughty adventures finding love. After that comes… The Finish Line? The Goal Line? The Panty Line? I can’t decide. The heroine, though, is a Physical Therapist. 

I’ve also written a What-if romance about the Duke of Wellington and his wife, Kitty. Several years ago I came upon the story of the first Duke and Duchess of Wellington. In short, after proposing marriage to his sweetheart, young Arthur was turned down by her family. He vowed that his heart would remain the same, that the offer would stand, and then he stomped off to war. Thirteen years and much military success later, said family had a change of heart, and Arthur and Kitty were married.

What! They hadn't seen each other or corresponded for thirteen years! How did I not know this? It's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. Were they pining away for each other for more than a decade? I had to know more.

Unfortunately, although they were thought to have come to terms with each other before her death, it was not considered a happy marriage. So... I decided to rewrite the ending. And much of the beginning, and quite a bit of the middle. That book is called The Duke’s Promise. It’s presently resting, awaiting fresh eyes to give it an objective perusal before publishing.

What are you like as a writer? 

I am a terrible procrastinator. I find it very hard to sit for very long, and I will find many, many things to do other than write. When I do write, I’m a perfectionist and will obsess on word choice and travel down internet rabbit holes after picky details far beyond what is considered healthy.

Thanks for reading, and please contact me at Three Quills Editing to discuss just about anything: books and poetry, rescue pets, your favorite pollinator-friendly native plants, or—one of my personal favorites—to request a free sample edit. I’d love to hear from you!