As Shannon Curtis basks in the thrill of having her first full-length romantic suspense novel published, she might be forgiven for making claims about reality having far exceeded her wildest dreams. However, the Certificate in Romance Writing graduate is adamant that success was always part of her grand plan.
Still, Shannon admits she has come a long way since first discovering the Australian College of Journalism (a partner college of Cengage Education) during a web search, and realising that the ACJ’s Certificate in Romance Writing course fitted her needs perfectly.
“I had always loved reading romances and in Year 11 I wrote a short story which my friends enjoyed – and my teacher liked it too,” Shannon recalls. “I had no idea how to really start writing but the ACJ course focused on the areas I wanted to explore and having a baby gave me the opportunity.”
Shannon believes that the exercises she completed throughout the course were very helpful in her journey to publication, in particular those on the art of creating believable characters.
“I was also able to contact a supportive network and am still in contact today with people I first met through the course,” she says, adding that she drew further encouragement from getting short stories published in magazines and an anthology during her studies.
Her novel, Viper’s Kiss, published by Carina Press, is the result of seven or eight months’ hard work – and having a good grasp of the kinds of stories publishers are looking for. She also reminds emerging writers that even when you do score that elusive book deal, there will often be an exhaustive round of edits to prepare the book for publication.
Now with three young children and a home-based copywriting business, Shannon manages to find around 10 hours in her busy week for her own writing – in a good week! Despite time pressures, she has stayed focused on her goal, finishing her second novel and preparing to embark on her third.
“I went into the course with a determination to get published – and the course encouraged it. So this is the pay-off,” she says. “It’s a good course that gave me the bricks and mortar to build a career on.”
