Meet the Author: Laurie Germaine

Everyone’s publishing story is different. Each story has insight in what to expect and how it’s done. Meet Laurie Germaine, the author of Tinsel in a Tangle.

Here are a few questions and responses from our discussion:

Q: How did you get your first contract?

A: So I wrote Tinsel in a Tangle because I wanted to get my joy back. I was coming out of a depression, part of that was post-partum depression that lingered. I was writing just for the fun of it. I was trying to have fun with the characters, have fun with the quirkiness of it all, my talking reindeers and stuff. My girls, that summer, were watching a whole bunch of “How to Train your Dragon.” I had the Scottish accent going on in the background. I thought yeah this is perfect for talking reindeer. Let’s go with it. It was just a lot of fun to write. As I was tweaking it and polishing it, I realized this could potentially go somewhere. I guess it was over the course of several weeks during the summer of 2016 when I queried about 30 agents and small publishers. If I didn’t get any feedback or nibbles, then I would tweak my query letter or what not. Thankfully I didn’t have to figure that out. Clean Reads is the one that offered me a contract. I had a couple nibbles from some agents and then big interest from another publisher. But Christmas is such a small window of opportunity for sales that they eventually had to say no. So, I was thankful that Clean Reads was like “Let’s go for it.”

Q: What do you wish you would have known before writing your first manuscript?

A: That question kind of had me stumped. Only because…and you might experience this as well. When you’re a stay-at-home mom and you’re a writer, those things are almost non-stop. You can’t stop your brain and your characters are having this amazing conversation while you’re changing a diaper. So, I wish that I had known how much angst and tears and time and effort and emotional upheaval there was going to be before entering this field. And yet, if I had known all of that, then I might not have pursued it.

Q: I see a lot of authors wrestling with themselves. I know I do that sometimes too. Can we unpack that a little? What does that look like for you?

A: For me, part of my depression was also dealing with a lot of negative talk, a lot of negative self-talk. And so, I’ve really tried working on that, praying through it, not allowing the words to come out of my mouth.

Click on the video to see the full conversation.