The Writing Community Chat Show · Christopher Aggett

From 107 Rejections to Bestselling Rom-Coms: A Chat with Sharon M. Peterson on Perseverance, Laughter, and Life with ADHD.

October 21, 2025·1 hr 2 min·4 clips

Sharon Peterson wrote her first novel by typing in 5-10 minute bursts while standing at a laptop balanced on a box of baby wipes, pausing to yell at kids on a trampoline.

1. The Writing Community Chat Show hosts interview Sharon Peterson, USA Today bestselling author of romantic comedies including The Do-Over, The Fake Out, and The Fix-Up, published by Bookouture (Hachette). 2. Sharon Peterson is a former middle school teacher, Washington State resident, mother of four, and author of heartfelt and humorous romantic comedies; her debut novel The Do-Over has been translated into five languages. 3. The episode's core thread is perseverance: how Peterson moved from a chaotic, crisis-filled decade to becoming a productive author of four books in three years. 4. Peterson moved from Texas to Washington State three and a half years ago, and the month after moving received her first book deal — she describes the timing as 'boom, boom, boom, boom, boom' with no pause to absorb each milestone. 5. She was diagnosed with ADHD three years ago after researching her generalized anxiety and watching a TikTok video that prompted her to ask her doctor, 'what if we're medicating the wrong part of my brain?'; starting Adderall, she says, 'let out all of this anxiety.' 6. Peterson wrote her debut novel while raising four children, two autistic, by typing five to ten minutes at a time at a laptop balanced on a box of economy baby wipes on the kitchen counter, staying up until 1am and writing through every nap. 7. A group of local mothers who followed her blog pooled money to buy her a new laptop when hers broke and she could not afford a replacement; she describes it as 'like the most remarkable gift I've ever received because it kind of gave me permission.' 8. After 16 months and 107 rejections, she got her first agent yes; she argues that statistically a hundred rejections before a yes is normal, and that writers who quit early are simply not yet at the number. 9. During the submission process her only sister died unexpectedly; Peterson says writing the book was one of two things that kept her going through six months of depression. 10. Her husband was laid off in August 2020, hospitalised with COVID in October 2020, her son began having grand mal seizures in January 2021, and a Texas freeze burst all their pipes in February 2021, forcing the family into a hotel for five months. 11. Peterson's favourite literary quote is from The Grapes of Wrath: 'it was her habit to build up laughter with inadequate materials,' which she applies directly to her own biography to explain why she writes rom-coms. 12. She argues that laughter is inherently hopeful — 'if you can laugh in the middle of a situation, not all hope is lost' — and that romance's guaranteed happy ending provides the same emotional function. 13. On craft, she says humor comes naturally to her: an editor who received a first draft she apologised for wrote back to say 'I don't think you realize how naturally funny you are.' 14. Her technique for making scenes funnier mirrors a thriller writer friend's suspense-building method: write the scene first, then go back and make things worse — because worse situations in rom-com are funnier situations. 15. She argues that romance has become more mainstream partly because women, its primary readership, have more cultural voice than 20 or 30 years ago, and that romance frequently carries the publishing industry in sales terms. 16. The Fix-Up is the third standalone in her Two Hearts, Texas series; protagonist Ellie is a single mom who inherits half a café from a deceased curmudgeonly owner and must cohabit with his secret grandson for six months — making him live in a tent in the backyard. 17. Peterson says writing The Fix-Up was 'really, really hard' because she identified strongly with Ellie's ADHD diagnosis and spent most of the process insisting she hated the book; she changed her mind the week before it came out. 18. The episode is a one-on-one interview conducted in a warm, conversational style, with audience questions posted to chat and the hosts reading two five-star reader reviews aloud during the show. 19. Writers who are neurodivergent, raising families, or stuck in the submission trenches and looking for evidence that perseverance pays off will find the most value here. 20. Listeners seeking craft technique depth, genre theory, or publishing business strategy will find the content more biographical than instructional.

As heard by us

A warm, craft-focused conversation about rom-coms, character, and persistence.

The conversation gives Sharon M. Peterson room to speak plainly about rom-com craft, and it is strongest when it stays close to the essentials: humor has to land, characters need to feel believable, and character-driven writing does most of the heavy lifting.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a pep talk with actual rom-com craft notes, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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