A Harlequin Dream Come True: From Rejections to Contract

For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon. It’s a dream that’s taken me through decades of submissions, rejections, lessons, tears, and prayers, but one that’s finally come true.

If you follow this blog, or we’ve been acquainted, you’d know that I’ve been chasing the Harlequin Mills & Boon dream for a great many years. That is no exaggeration.

I read my first Mills & Boon Presents when I was thirteen. It was one of my mum’s, and I can’t believe she allowed me to read it! But thank you, Mum, because it sparked my love of the romance genre.

After that first read, I decided it might be wiser to switch to Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High teen romances. My love of romance grew, and I soon returned to Mills & Boon Presents before expanding my reading tastes to Harlequin Silhouettes, Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, Jilly Cooper (RIP), and pretty much any romance I could get my hands on.

Writing My First Romance at Fifteen

It comes as no surprise that I quickly caught the writing bug and wrote my first full-length story at fifteen. But when I think about it, I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember.

I started by making up stories for my two younger siblings, which progressed to writing short stories and selling them to my friends for 10 cents in primary school.

Anyway, back to the many years of targeting Mills & Boon. I submitted my first Presents at eighteen. I don’t have to tell you it got rejected. But thankfully, that didn’t stop me.

I went on to target Romance (True Love), Medical, Blaze, Desire, as well as Presents (Modern). I got close with Presents and Desire but didn’t follow through on the second rounds of the revise-and-resubmit process—which probably got me blacklisted from those lines!

Reconciling Romance Writing and My Faith

As a Christian, I spent many years trying to reconcile writing open-door love scenes with my faith. In the end, after much prayer, I had a revelation.

If all Christian authors shied away from writing about the physical expression of love between a man and a woman who are committed to each other, it would leave the door open for the enemy to flood the market with books that bear little resemblance to the relationship God intended.

Whether or not Christian women admit to enjoying reading love scenes, the majority do. How can I be sure? The shocking number of Christian women from my church who secretly bought and read Fifty Shades (I never did). That’s all I have to say. Because really, procreation doesn’t occur by holding hands and walking along the beach at sunset.

Thirty-Six Years of Rejections and Lessons

But that’s a conversation for another day. Today, I’m sharing my journey from young, eager romance writer to frustrated, woe-is-me, never-gonna-write-again author—with a deep desire to write for Harlequin—and finally having that dream come true.

I tried several lines but never tried Love Inspired or Love Inspired Suspense because I’d heard how difficult it was to break into the Harlequin Christian lines. To my mind, if I couldn’t even crack the lines that I ate, slept, and breathed, how would I ever be able to crack these impossible-to-break-into lines?

After my HMB rejection last year, I decided to call it a day and close the door on that particular dream after thirty-six years. Yes, it’s been that long.

Although, while I consistently submitted during that time, I wasn’t submitting several books per year. That would’ve been very sad, but also clear that I was following the right calling, just targeting the wrong line.

This just goes to show that when something is meant to be, it will work out in Father’s good time.

The Unexpected Opportunity That Changed Everything

I told my critique partner I was done. She’d always say she didn’t understand why HMB hadn’t snapped me up years ago, and I knew she had faith in my talent even when I lost mine.

Then earlier this year, she emailed me to tell me about the new Harlequin Author Calls—I’d unsubscribed from the groups—and suggested I have a go.

My knee-jerk reaction was no way! Besides, there were only a couple of weeks left before the closing date; I’d never be able to come up with anything before then.

But her email kept nagging at me, so I clicked the link and took a look. Harlequin was running their Great Love Inspired Author Search 2025 as well as their Harlequin Romance: Billionaires Wanted! Pitch Day.

Since Harlequin Romance was one of the lines I had been targeting, I decided to give the pitch a go. I also decided to try to write a chapter for the Great Love Inspired Author Search, even though the closing date was so close.

I’d never written a Love Inspired romance, and most definitely not a Love Inspired Suspense, but the first book I ever wrote was a mystery suspense—and my mind naturally leans toward suspense plots. So, hey, maybe I might be able to come up with something.

The Call That Made Me a Harlequin Author

I did. I had an idea for a story and went for it. I submitted the first chapter and got a request for the full manuscript!

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I wrote the full manuscript in a couple of months and submitted it. Within a week, I received an email from my editor asking when would be the best time to call me. Keep an eye out for my Call Story.

Things moved fast, and I’m still reeling from the fact that my very first Love Inspired story sold—with no rewrites—and it was a Love Inspired Suspense!

Faith, Perseverance, and God’s Perfect Timing

I didn’t get past the first chapter stage of the Billionaire pitch, but that was quite okay with me. I’d landed a contract in the line that I was supposed to write for.

I can’t help but wonder whether I would have been a Harlequin author long before now if I had just targeted the right line, instead of feeling I would never be good enough.

I’m not saying that by targeting the other lines I settled for second best; I’m simply saying I should’ve had less unbelief.

I had faith that one day Father would give me the desire of my heart. Sadly, I had far more unbelief.

The story from Mark 9 comes to mind. It’s about a father desperate for Yahawashi (Jesus) to heal his son. When Yahawashi said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” The father immediately said, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Faith is one thing, but unbelief will always trip us up. I’m working on this.

Holding Onto Hope During Rejection

It was with faith that I would sometimes visit the Harlequin website and go to the list of authors’ page. At the top of the page is a clickable alphabet where you can see all the Harlequin authors whose surname begins with one of the letters.

I’d scroll through those names—each one representing someone who’d achieved what felt like an impossible dream—and I’d click the D and picture where my name would one day appear.

Some people might call this visualization or manifesting. I don’t believe in any of that. I believe in answered prayer.

As Mark 11:24 tells us: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

This one small act was enough to keep the dream alive on days when writing felt too hard or the rejections never-ending. I’d remind myself that every author on that list once stood exactly where I was, yet they made it because they never gave up.

The Power of Faith and Perseverance

And although I gave up for about four months, Father opened the door for me to achieve my dream in His good time!

I am humbled that He didn’t let me give up permanently, and thankful I listened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in March this year.

Now I can list myself among my favourite Harlequin authors. Dreams that feel distant are often closer than they appear.

The path is never easy, but it’s always worth taking.

Don’t Give Up on Your Writing Dream

I heard a pastor share an anecdote about him participating in a running event. He was running up a giant hill and wanted to give up because he was tired, aching, and positive he had miles more to run.

He met a man coming from the opposite direction, who told him he was closer than he thought and to keep going because the finish line was just over the hill. That gave him the energy to finish strong because once he crested the hill, the end was in sight.

If I can lend any encouragement, it is this: DON’T GIVE UP!

If you do, you’ll never know whether you would have ever achieved your dreams. And you may be closer than you think.

If I hadn’t entered the Great Love Inspired Author Search, I would have spent the rest of my life thinking I would’ve never become a Harlequin author—and that would have been so sad.

Instead, the outcome is a contract and a Love Inspired Suspense entitled Guarded by the Sheriff, which will be released in July next year and is up for pre-order.

Living Proof That Dreams Come True

If you, like me, are a writer with the Harlequin dream, and your guilty pleasure is to scroll through the Harlequin website author pages, dreaming of your turn, don’t stop. Keep going.

One day, your name will be there too. I am living proof that the dream is not impossible.

Today, when I visit that same Authors page and see my name where I once imagined it, I can’t help but smile and thank my Father in Heaven for His Grace and abundant favour.

Have you ever had a dream that took years to come true? I’d love to know what it taught you. Comment below and share this post with someone who needs a little hope today.

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Until next time,
love & hugs