A diverse writer of columns, feature stores, short fiction, novels,
screenplays and stage plays, Maryann Miller has won numerous awards including being a semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute for her screenplay, “A Question of Honor”. More recently she placed in the top 15 percent of entries in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship with the adaptation of her mystery, “Open Season”

Publishing credits include work for regional and national newspapers and magazines: Lady’s Circle, Woman’s World, Marriage and Family Living, Plano Magazine, The Children’s World, Byline, The Texas Catholic Newspaper. She has published nine non-fiction books for teens, including the award-winning Coping With Weapons and Violence : In Your School and on Your Streets released by The Rosen Publishing Group in New York. She
has a short story in the All About Muse anthology, The Holiday Mixer. Her novel, One Small Victory, was a hardback release from Five Star Publishing in June 2008, and Play it Again, Sam, is a July 2008 release from Uncial Press in e-book formats.

She is currently the Managing Editor and writer for an online community magazine, WinnsboroToday.com, and does book reviews for ForeWord Magazine and two online review sites, BloggerNews.net and Curled Up With a Good Book. She also does freelance editing. Other experience includes extensive work as a PR consultant, a script doctor, and a freelance
editor. She has been writing all her life and plans to die at her computer.

Until then, Miller stays active in a number of organizations including Sisters In Crime, The Trails Country Centre For The Arts in Winnsboro, Texas, and was a founder of The Greater Dallas Writers’ Association.

She makes her home in the beautiful Piney Woods of East Texas where she happily plays farmer. She has a horse, two goats, three cats, and two dogs. She shares these critters and five acres with her husband and an armadillo that visits frequently. You can visit her website at www.maryannwrites.com.

Welcome to Beyond the Books, Maryann! Can we start out by telling us whether you are published for the first time or are you multi-published?

Thanks for the opportunity to be here. It has been so much fun visiting a number of sites and meeting all kinds of interesting people.

I have been published quite a bit as a journalist, as well as having a number of nonfiction books published with The Rosen Publishing Group. A small publisher also published my mystery, Doubletake, and a romance, Play it again, Sam, which has been re-released this summer by Uncial Press. One Small Victory, however, is my first foray into major publication and distribution.

What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?

My very first book was a Y/A novel, Friends Forever, which was well liked by a number of editors in NY, but never loved, if you know what I mean. At the time I wrote the book, I was busy with my freelance work, so after a while I stopped trying to market it. Then about fifteen years ago, it had a short life as an e-book from New Concepts Publishing. It sold moderately well, but after a couple of years they gave me the rights back. It is now available through the Amazon Kindle program.

For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?

My first published book was nonfiction and I sold it on a proposal to Rosen. Of course it helped that the publisher was looking for someone to write about destructive cults and I found out about the need. My background in journalism also helped because I didn’t know a thing about destructive cults, but I knew how to do research. That book was Coping With Cults, and I went on to write eight more books for them, including Coping With Weapons And Violence In School And on Your Streets, which was named a notable book for teens by the New York Public Library.

How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?

While I didn’t experience rejections with that first book, I had plenty for other books and for short stories. The first short story I had published received over 40 rejections before Lady’s Circle Magazine bought it. At first the rejections could put me in a dark hole for weeks, but after a while I learned to separate the work from me personally – as much as any author is able to do that. (grin) So I tried to focus on “the work” and look for reasons why it was rejected. If it came down to the right place at the wrong time and the writing was not weak, I would send it out again. I once read a tip in a writers’ magazine to always have a long list of places to send a piece, then get it out there again, so that’s what I did.

How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?

Even though I had had a lot of articles, columns and stories published, I was thrilled to hold my first book. It was such a wonderful sense of accomplishment. At the time, I belonged to a writer’s group that always celebrated a member’s first book. We had a wonderful party where I felt like the most special person alive.

What was the first thing you did as far as promotion when you were published for the first time?

That first book was widely marketed to libraries – as is One Small Victory – so I set up an event at our local library. I gave a talk about destructive cults and had books there to sign. Most of the proceeds went to the library because the reference librarians there had been a tremendous help during the research.

If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?

I don’t think so. Looking back on my career, I can see that the growth has been small compared to other authors, but it has been steady, and one thing built on another. It has also been a wonderful and interesting journey. If you are not enjoying the trip, get off the train. (grin)

Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?

I’m certainly a better writer today than I was 30years ago when I first started a professional career. I’ve learned how to meet deadlines; how to accept editing; and how to discipline myself to write every day. Since we writers set our own schedules, discipline can often be a challenge.

Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?

I suppose if I had put as much time and energy into building the writing career as I did into my family, the career could have grown faster. But I don’t regret it for a moment. My family is still the most important thing in my life. Had I never published, I would be disappointed, but had I never had children and been part of their growing into such fine adults, I would be devastated.

What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?

One of the greatest thrills of my writing career was the opportunity I had to mount a production of one of my plays at a community theatre here in East Texas. I was honored to direct a talented cast, and humbled beyond words on opening night when the audience honored the cast with a standing ovation.

If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?

As a good friend once said, writing is not just what I do, it is part of who I am. So even if I worked at another profession, I would still be a writer. That was true for most of my adult life when I was a homemaker first and a writer second. I also had a ten year period when I was enrolled in a Clinical Pastoral Education program and then worked as a hospital chaplain. I still wrote when I could find time and actually finished the first draft of One Small Victory then. My play, There is a Time was also written during that time. It was based on some of my experiences in a cancer support group I facilitated, as well as some dynamics of the dying process that I learned in classes.

Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?

I am no longer working full time as a chaplain, so now the writing is full time and the ministry is part time. They both seem to feed each other and I find great joy in both.

How do you see yourself in ten years?

In ten years I hope to still be here on my little farm in East Texas taking care of my animals and my husband. As far as writing is concerned, I hope to be working on book five or six in a mystery series. Five Star is considering the first book now, and I am halfway through the second. I have five more plotted out, so I would like nothing more than to hang out with those characters for a few years.

Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?

Don’t give up. The difference between success and failure is hanging in there despite the obstacles and roadblocks. Quitting can’t be an option if you really want to see your book published.