August 14, 2000
Staff member wins national romance writing contest
By Barbara McKenna
In May, Barbara Cool Lee was happily overwhelmed when she learned that a group of
staff and faculty members had pooled together enough funds to make it possible for
her to attend the national conference of the Romance
Writers of America, a conference that included a writing competition in which
Lee was a finalist.
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| Barbara Cool Lee's manuscript, "In Deep Water," won in a national writing competition sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. |
"I am so glad I went," said Lee, who was not quite sure how she was going to manage the trip before the surprise gift came her way. "I would have regretted not going for so many reasons. Everyone else who was nominated went, even one woman--a published author--who lives in New Zealand."
One advantage of attending the conference, Lee said, was that as a finalist in the competition she had better access to editors and instant credibility. "I was walking around all week with a sign on me, basically, because my name tag identified me as a finalist."
Before she left the conference, Lee and an editor had made the first steps toward publication--an agreement to work on revisions that are likely to lead to publication. Lee is waiting now for the revision letter from the publishing house (which Lee is keeping confidential for now); the letter is one of the final steps in the publication process before a contract is signed.
Lee wrote her manuscript, "In Deep Water," during her lunch hours, working at her laptop in the passenger seat of her '92 Toyota pickup. She has written two manuscripts this way, and is working on a third. Excited as she is, Lee is keeping her feet on the ground. She can't quit her day job anytime soon.
"This is not the kind of thing where you become an overnight success," she explains.
So, for a few more years anyway, passersby will continue to see Lee at lunch time, working busily in her other office--the one where hearts break and mend and mysteries unfold.
