Some of you may remember that I was the writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Library in the fall of 2009. Part of my responsibilities there was to read the work of aspiring writers, then make appointments with a number of them to discuss their work. One of the writers whose work I thought showed great promise was Eva Maria Hamilton. We had a lovely chat and I was delighted to learn about a year later that she had sold her first book to Harlequin. Well, that book is coming out next month, so I invited Eva to talk about it on my blog. And here she is! Please welcome Eva Maria Hamilton!

Thank you so much for inviting me to be a guest author on your blog today Deborah!

When I first met Deborah, I had no idea I would ever be blogging here as an author! 🙂 But I am beyond happy that I am!

This is a very special blog post for me because thanks to Deborah and her work as the Writer in Residence at the Toronto Public Library (TPL) I learned about the romance writing industry and that helped me launch my career!

So today, I’m going to write about my road to publication…

Many of you may remember Deborah’s stint as the TPL’s Writer in Residence back in the fall of 2009, if not, look to the right of this post under Categories and follow the link titled “Writer In Residence” to read all about it! You’ll see my name numerous times in the comment sections since I was putting myself through a crash course in romance writing and Deborah was a great teacher!

When I first met Deborah I had written a sweet romance novel two years prior which I had tucked away and had to pull out and dust off before sending the first part of it to her. As a complete newbie, it was wonderful to have a published author read my work and offer constructive feedback. That’s when I knew writing didn’t have to be just a hobby or a fantasy, people actually did get their books published!

I rewrote that original novel more times than I care to count in the following months. Finally, by spring 2010 when I couldn’t find a home for it I retired it and started on a new novel. This time I knew what line I wanted to write for: Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical. Yes, a paranormal author helped launch the career of an inspirational author! 🙂 But writing is writing and romance authors are overall a very supportive group!

So one year later in the fall of 2010 I had my next novel polished and I submitted it to Harlequin. I only had to wait a little over three months to get “the call” in April 2011!

And I hope whenever Deborah reads her name in the acknowledgement section of my debut novel Highland Hearts it puts a smile on her face!

Here’s a little about my debut Highland Hearts which is set in 1748 Scotland:

Logan McAllister survived years of indentured servitude in the Americas to reach this moment. Now he’s returned to Scotland, ready to redeem the secret promise from Sheena Montgomery’s father – that his years as an indentured servant would earn him Sheena’s hand in marriage. But when he arrives home, he learns that Sheena’s father has died, his contract has been lost… and Sheena is engaged to another man.

If anyone is interested in reading the first scene from Highland Hearts please follow this link. And if you would like to see the book trailer for Highland Hearts please follow this link.

Now to leave you with a question that I hope you will answer since I am always looking out for new names for characters, what are some of your favorite Scottish names, both first and last names, male and female?

Thanks again for hosting me today Deborah! And thanks to you for reading this blog post! I’ll be checking in to respond to comments so let’s have some fun!

BIO:
Eva Maria Hamilton spent years studying people from all different areas of academia and brings that understanding of the human condition into each of her written pieces. An advocate for lifelong learning, Eva Maria Hamilton studied in both Canada and the United States, earning a diploma in Human Resources Management, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, an Honors Bachelor of Arts Degree in History, and a Master of Science in Education.