An icon of current fashion, Beryl Shaw sits before me; a woman who claims writing is now her passion. We talk about her achievements in the past and come to the last four years (2005-2009), when her facial expression changes to a charged-up one. "I have discovered fiction writing!" she exclaims with high expectation. "It allows me to articulate everything I have in my head." Asked what influences her imagination, she answers, "My entire life. Look at it! There has been nothing ordinary about it. Have you read my history?"

Although in college years, Beryl wrote French essays and earned a Bachelor's Degree in French Literature – today she writes English fiction. Her first book was in the genre of women's fiction. She pitched to a number of agents, none of whom requested the manuscript. Not wanting me to get the wrong idea, she explains, "You have to understand that although no agent requested my manuscript, it didn't mean my book failed to sell. It meant my book was not read. I think people have the idea that writers send out their entire manuscript, when they first pitch a novel. That's not how it goes. A writer follows strict submission guidelines and, in many instances, only a query letter is allowed. The Writer's Market Guide states that an agent might ask to read a mere twelve manuscripts a year. That's not a large number!"

I question her tenacity and ask why her first novel's rejection letters did not discourage her from writing a second novel. As she sips her own concocted green juice, she enlightens me. "The way I see it, the first novel is always a winner – whether it was read, published, or whatever. That is because the first novel begins a writer's career. In the process, the writer learns valuable lessons about the art of writing, the art of pitching to agents and publishers, and the art of perseverance. With my first novel, I realized I had to stay focused on many elements at the same time – for instance, retaining characterization and integrating movement in time, while also telling a tale. Do you know how hard that is to do? After completing a second novel, it has become obvious to me that with each novel, come more lessons learned."

Clad in a hang-around-the-house, frilly, tiered skirt to her knees, with a 2B Free grunge-gothic black top that somehow works with the skirt, Beryl puts the rest of the green pepper, the chard, and the other half of the Granny Pippin apple back in her refrigerator. "My second novel, the one we are talking about today – a psychological thriller – was a different writing experience for me. For one thing, I didn't rush it as I did my first novel. I put it down for short periods to find objectivity, and meanwhile studied The Chicago Manual of Style. Each time I picked up my novel to review it; needed changes were obvious to me on the page."

Beryl is certain, as she speaks of needed modifications. "Writing has a rhythm. When read aloud, one can quickly hear what's wrong with a sentence or a paragraph. The mistake sounds like an out-of-tune piano key." She ought to know – Beryl Shaw studied classical piano for twenty-two years, in addition to everything else. Hearing her mention the application of musical rhythm to writing, I wonder how this woman learned so many art forms. "I'm a lot like my father; he was a man with many aptitudes. My historical biography tells all about him."

Looking around at her oil paintings that hang on every wall, I ask what she does in her spare time. "What spare time? For me, writing is slow-going, and the time it requires crowds out anything else. I also don't go on career sprees. If I turn to a new form of expression, I commit to it." She sees me marvel at her figurative paintings that are perfectly executed, and her response is, "Yes, they took me on a ten-year ride. But full days of painting on humongous canvases is too physical for me now, unlike the gym that is only for an hour; besides, I have breathed enough turpentine."

I ask her what advice she has for new writers. "Don't forget, I'm a new writer, too, but I write full-time. When a year passes, I have spent that entire year writing, weekends included. So a year of writing for me might count for three years for someone else. Nevertheless, I have advice. When writing, it's easy to get off course. I constantly remind myself that sentence B must follow sentence A for a reason. I know this sounds elementary, but you'd be surprised to read passages that writers bring to writing groups. Clearly, in some passages, sentences are in the wrong order."

"This same problem occurs when paragraphs are in the wrong order within a chapter. I remember having a devil of a time with one chapter. What I finally did was print out the chapter and cut out each paragraph. With all the paragraphs scotch-taped on my kitchen windows, I then plucked one-at-a-time to compose a new chapter that tracked in an improved order. Another exercise is to write a problem sentence three different ways and choose the best version, which is very rarely the original one. But for this exercise, I use the mouse and the monitor and don't bother with the scissor bit."

For a brief time, we discuss the slim odds of accomplishing publication. Beryl informs me that oftentimes, agents avow the failure of a book to sell is merely because the writer has prematurely submitted the material. So is Beryl's manuscript ready? A smile comes to her face, although she avoids a "yes" or a "no" to my question. "Let me put it this way. A contestant on American Idol, after failing to do it right the first time, cannot say to Simon Cowell, 'May I sing the song again?' A writer has one chance to pitch a particular work – it had better be perfect."

A woman with a drive, she is unstoppable. So when will she pitch her psychological thriller? "First, I must write sample queries and work on my submission package. More importantly, I'll research agents and publishers at length. With my first novel, I pitched to agents who were not greatly interested in my genre. This time, I plan to target only those who are."

When Beryl remembers the defeated feeling that came with her first novel's rejections, she also speaks about the odds that an agent or publisher may or may not publish her second novel. "It all starts with the query letter I mentioned. For me, this is harder to write than the novel is. The other problem is that query letters inundate literary agents' desktops. For a query letter to succeed; it must catch agents' or publishers' absolute attention, or they will never ask to read the manuscript."

At the end of our interview, I test the waters this strongly motivated woman wades in, and ask her if there's a chance she won't pitch the novel at all. She sends me an Angelina Jolie look of grit – like one in the film WANTED – and says, "I didn't do all this hard work and pour my soul into my novel to hide it in the closet afterward. I'll pitch it until there is no one left to pitch to."