Ever since my heart surgery last year, I’ve been trying to be more mindful about expressing my gratitude for all the things I love and nearly lost: my heart, my health, my life, my family, my friends, and so much more.
That’s why I want to take this opportunity to tell you how grateful I am for all of YOU. Your support these past few years (going back decades for some of you!) means more to me than you can ever know…so much so that multiple books that I wrote more than twenty years ago are still in print—and better yet, some are getting a new life!
And it’s all because of you.
Long before I was writing #1 New York Times bestselling YA and contemporary romance novels under the name Meg Cabot, I was writing sexy historical romances under the pen name Patricia Cabot. It all started when I was in high school and first saw the movie Romancing the Stone. That’s when I realized how much I wanted to write historical romance novels, just like the film’s main character, Joan Wilder.
What I couldn’t figure out was how I was going to keep my very proper grandmother from finding out I was writing books with sex scenes in them! A strong believer in both the Catholic church and thank you notes, Grandma would never approve of her eldest granddaughter writing “naughty” books.
So I wrote my romances secretly all through high school and college, never showing them to anyone—not only because I was afraid no one would like them, but also to keep Grandma from finding out!
Then in 1994, my dad died suddenly at the age of 53. That’s when I realized that life is too short not to try to pursue your dreams—if there’s something you’ve always longed to do, do it today (so long as it isn’t illegal).
So the day I got home from my dad’s funeral, I sent out my first manuscript—under the pen name Patricia Cabot.
It promptly got rejected.
But I kept trying, because like Grandma always said: “You’re not a hundred dollar bill. Not everyone is going to like you.”
Four years later, my first book—written by “Patricia Cabot”—got published.
I went on to write dozens more novels under both my own name and others. Many of them went on to win awards, become international bestsellers, and even get made into feature films and television series. I was eventually able to retire the Patricia Cabot pen name . . . but only because someone told Grandma about my secret identity!
To my surprise, my novels written as Patricia Cabot turned out to be Grandma’s favorites! She hosted a “book party” for me in her home, and invited all of her friends…many of whom were nuns! Those nuns, along with Grandma, were some of my biggest supporters! That’s when I realized the power of romance: it gives us hope in a world where it sometimes seems like no one cares.
But people do care. I care. And I know you do, too.
Which is just another reason I’m so delighted that Educating Caroline—a sexy Victorian historical romance about a sheltered young woman who decides to pursue lessons in love-making from London’s most notorious bachelor—is currently being re-released under my real name: There’s a chance that it might give YOU hope, and even become one of your favorites someday, too!
In the meantime, I’ll forever be grateful to all of you—and to Grandma—for supporting me.
So please allow me to express my gratitude the way Grandma would most want me to—with a thank you note:
Thank you for making all of my writing dreams come true.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
