Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to MARY LEE Painter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi MARY LEE, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I believe my resilience comes from knowing that 99% of things life has thrown at me I’ve gotten through. Some problems require you to come at it in many different ways, but with the realization that if you keep going and trying different things, there will be a way to make it through is what has built my resilience.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m an author; a person addicted to writing and daydreaming. I’ve written romcoms and had over a decade of solid rejection. Rejection from agents and publishers. It was beyond frustrating, and there were many times I thought I’d never see anything I’d written in book form. But I could never stop writing. It’s something I can’t wait to do each day. Often you’ll find me at my computer at five in the morning or tricking myself into folding laundry in exchange for thirty minutes at my laptop.
My first book is entitled The Other Fork in the Road and was published 9/24 and is a high-concept romcom about a woman who drinks a psychic’s mysterious tea and wakes up with nothing. Next came Wild in Minnesota, a hockey romance, which was published in 6/25 by Satin Romance. I am very excited to announce my holiday romcom, Holiday on the Rocks, is being released and available this month. It’s a story about a couple who was married for one day…seven years ago. Now they are forced to be at a holiday wedding of a friend and chaos and craziness follow. I also have my first young adult romcom coming in the spring of 2026, and another high-concept romcom coming in July 2026 as well.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that have helped me in my journey would be persistence, the dream of my stories being out in the world, and the desire to read my favorite authors in order to learn about character development and style.
My advice to writers would be to keep going. Push through the rejection and never stop writing. Also to read as much as you can. Reading is letting your mind absorb everything from plot lines to building strong characters.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
My sister, Lynn Painter, has been helpful when it comes to overcoming challenges. We both have written for a long time, and seeing her over these past five years and the wonderful books she’s written has been inspiring. She went through much rejection just like we all have, and when I wanted to throw my laptop out the window while trying to find an agent, she reassured me that I just had to keep going and find my way. It was difficult, but having my books out and more coming is a dream I didn’t think would happen and it’s amazing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maryleebooks.net/maryleebooks
- Instagram: maryleepainterauthor
- Facebook: maryleemiller
- Other: https://a.co/d/eeF3Hko
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Image Credits
Images Hannah Miller
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