What led up to Burning the Map being published?
Initially, no one much cared about Casey. She was sent out to agents and editors aplenty. I had to purchase a larger mailbox to handle all the rejection letters. Right around this time, Bridget Jones’ Diary — the novel that is thought to have started the ‘chick-lit’ craze-was released in the US. It didn’t help. I decided to move on. I went next to The Other Rebecca, a suspense novel that garnered about as many rejections as Burning the Map. Unfortunately, these rejections were harder to accept because I’d taken a sabbatical from my law practice, and all I was doing was writing (and collecting rejection letters). As a last ditch effort, I flew to California for the San Diego State Writer’s Conference, where I basically mulled around, pitching The Other Rebecca to anyone who would listen. One editor shook her head almost as soon as I started talking. She didn’t publish suspense, she said. She was starting a new imprint, and they would put out edgy, interesting women’s fiction. As I talk
