by Donna Jones Alward
Do we all remember 2020?
Of course, we do. It was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the beginning of life as we knew it changing. My life was no different. My husband was facing a potential layoff; in the meantime, lockdowns meant he started working from home. In addition to writing, I was working as a bookseller, and since we were non-essential, we also closed. My kids were in university in other cities and navigating how their education was changing. The only store we really went to was the grocery store; we socialized by waving to neighbours on daily walks.
I was writing romance novels at the time, a series for Harlequin. That had been my career for a long time, one that I loved. I could write a whole article about the merits of the romance genre, but I’ll save that for another day. For the purposes of this topic, I’ll just say that in my publishing career I’ve published close to 70 romances across a number of publishers and also through indie publishing.
The time home meant I was able to write full time again, which was lovely. My husband and I fell into a really great routine where we had coffee and lunch together during the work day, but mostly stayed out of each other’s hair. Honestly, the lockdown was really great for us: we slowed down, spent more time in nature, talked more.
But there were worries, too. I was starting to feel the itch to write something different. To spread my writing wings and challenge myself – after nearly fifteen years I knew how to write a romance novel, knew my process. Everything was familiar. We were worried about finances, too, and I was getting close to a milestone birthday. With the kids off doing their own thing, I was on the cusp of what is often referred to as my “second act”. Except I wasn’t really sure what that meant for me. What I did feel was a sense of my own mortality, especially when my sister passed unexpectedly just as lockdowns went into effect.
There is a scene in the TV show The Newsroom where Charlie Skinner tells Will McAvoy an anecdote about how sometimes things just fall into your lap. This sounds a lot like luck, but I’ve always maintained that “luck” is when preparation meets opportunity. In my case, I’d been working with publishers for a long time, and made a lot of connections. Just barely into lockdown, I got an email from Charlotte Ledger, who heads up the One More Chapter imprint at HarperCollinsUK. They were specifically looking for more Canadian content, and my name came up – in particular, for perhaps rom-com or historical fiction.
You know, I like to think I’m a funny person, but the idea of being deliberately funny – enough to make readers laugh consistently – filled me with fear. Historical fiction though… It was – and is – my favourite genre to read. But historical fiction is also scary. There’s the research, for one. And the fear of getting it wrong. Those two things held me back, made me think twice. Could I write a more complex story that didn’t have a romantic relationship at its spine? I knew I could do that. But historical?
Something rose up inside me in that moment. I was getting close to fifty. I was looking for a change and a challenge. My kids had flown the nest, and I was reclaiming my life and searching for something to replace the dominant role of Mom that I’d played for so long. Then there was the story that had been niggling away at the back of my head. What on earth was I waiting for? What was I so afraid of? Failure?
The truth is failure is not a permanent state. It isn’t the end of the world. And the older I get, the more I realize that failure is really not the worst thing that can happen. You fail at something, you move on and try something else or try again, but life goes on.
At the end of the day, though, or the decade, or heck, at the end of my life, I don’t want to look back and realize I never took the risk to try something new. To challenge myself. To grow. That is far more frightening to me than failing.
The email from Charlotte felt very much like a sign, and I believe in those things. This was an opportunity, and I had to decide what to do with it, and over and over the question that went through my head was, “If not now, when?”
When, indeed.
It took me nearly three years from that first email to signing the contract. When Charlotte and I first spoke, I’d just signed a Harlequin contract, so I had multiple deadlines. I’d also made the decision to get rights back on a number of books and self-publish them. I went all-in with that, and it was a very steep (but rewarding and lucrative) learning curve. Researching the historical was lovely; it felt as if I were in school again, which I loved. I wrote and revised the proposal for When the World Fell Silent at least three times; I axed an entire timeline that didn’t work and added a second POV character that did. I played with third person and first person POVs. I finally sent the entire manuscript to Charlotte in December of 2022, so proud I’d actually done it. I can honestly say that I have never worked harder than I have in the past four years. I’ve also never been happier.
Every new year, I write something on my white board as a guiding word or phrase. This year, the phrase is “Forward without Fear.” Don’t let fear hold you back from trying something new. Because really, if not now, when?
Donna’s first historical fiction title, When the World Fell Silent, releases in ebook and audio on 20 July 2024 and in paperback on 1 August. You can find her on the web at www.donnajonesalward.com, and be sure to say hi at the HNS UK Conference in September.
Since 2006, New York Times bestseller Donna Jones Alward has enchanted readers with stories of happy endings and homecomings that have won several awards and been translated into over a dozen languages. She’s worked as an administrative assistant, teaching assistant, in retail and as a stay-at-home-mom, but always knew her degree in English Literature would pay off, as she is now happy to be a full-time writer. Her new historical fiction tales blend her love of history with characters who step beyond their biggest fears to claim the lives they desire.
Donna currently lives in Nova Scotia, Canada, with her husband and two cats. You can often find her near the water, either kayaking on the lake or walking the sandy beaches to refill her creative well.
The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference 
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