Blogging A to Z: “A” is for Announcement

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Modern Roman A
Hello dear readers! Today kicks off the first day of Blogging from A to Z wherein I’ll post every Monday through Saturday with each post revolving around something featuring that day’s letter. Today’s the only Sunday post and that’s just because we needed one more day to make twenty-six.

Unlike some clever souls, I have no theme or roadmap for this journey. I’ve pre-written about a week’s worth and have a few ideas for other days, but that’s it. You’ll get naught but potpourri from me.  Fair warning.

Today is “A” and I’ve opted to make an Announcement.  I have a massive one I’ve been keeping a secret for  awhile to the point to where I’m nearly ready to explode. But now I can tell all.  Seems a certain NYC literary agent had been reading my blog posts and short stories with a keen interest in not one but two(!) of my novels I’d excerpted and posted about.

You may have remembered me posting about going to Boston and Canada a short time ago. Little white lies, I’m afraid, to shroud what I’m now about to tell you. I flew to NYC instead and here’s what happened.

At the airport, a man holding a sign bearing my pen name greeted and escorted me to a stretch limo.  The thing was stocked to the gills with beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, as well as a huge hors d’oeuvres platter.  My greeter and chauffeur (love that word) offered to make me a drink, being not only an accomplished driver but a mixologist in addition to a starving actor.  How could I resist? Stone–his awesome name–made me a killer Manhattan, a drink I don’t normally imbibe but it seemed apropos given the surroundings and damn! Stone did what no other bartender had been able to do before—he made it delicious!

We pulled up to a fairly non-assuming building made of brick on the outskirts of Manhattan. There Stone escorted me to the third floor and introduced me to the agent I’d been corresponding with.  I recognized her because we’d skyped too, though skyping does not do some people justice.

“Come in, come in!” She motioned me to a small sitting area featuring a comfy loveseat and lounge chair in addition to yet another spread of food.

Color me amazed! She had a series of appointments set up with BIG publishers. Puzzled, I voiced what you dear reader must be thinking by now too.  “Why me? You haven’t even read the manuscripts beyond the query, synopsis and excerpts on my blog?”

“It’s our new “Find the Talent” approach rather than waiting for it to come to us via the slush pile.  I took the liberty of pitching [[Name of novel I can’t yet reveal]] in the hopes that my strategy would result in an agency contract between us. ”

Wow! I was in such shock, my jaw fell into my lap and small bit of deviled egg followed in its wake. Never had we talked about her shopping my book. I hadn’t even signed her as my agent. A part of me, however, railed at her presumptuousness. I opened my mouth to protest.

“Three publishers who have adopted a similar talent search strategy are interested in reading more. We have only to sign our agency agreement.” My soon-to-be-agent leaned back in her chair, a smug look on her face.  “What do you say?”

“I say, ‘Where do I sign?’”

She clapped her hands and buzzed for her assistant to bring in a large stack of papers. My eyes wandered over the legalese, searching for all caps lettering that would identify me as the other contracting party. I saw Agent X of [[redacted]] Literary Agent. My eyes then landed on “Clare Gillespie”.

“Um, you have my name wrong,” I said, lifting my head to meet the beaming smile of the agent.

She dropped the smile and frowned. “No. I don’t think so.” Hovering over my shoulder she pointed to the name and said, “There. That’s you, right?”

Slowly I shook my head. “No. I’m Claire Gillian, not Clare Gillespie.”

At that moment, another lady stepped into the doorway and said, “Uh, [[X]]? I have a Miss Clare Gillespie on the line and she’s saying she just got your email from [[long ago date]] and is calling to set up a skype appointment to meet you per your request.”

The sound of  air being forced out of a once taut balloon filled my ears even though none were around.

Crap…and…

A is also for … April Fools!

Ha ha!

(But I do have a novel, The P.U.R.E., releasing on April 16th so don’t feel too sorry for me.)

See ya tomorrow when we see what’s in store for B!  And I promise the rest won’t be nearly as long as this post was.  Sorry…

Now, please go visit some other A to Z bloggers and see what they have in store!

52 thoughts on “Blogging A to Z: “A” is for Announcement”

  4. What an imaginative start to your A-Z challenge; I loved reading your little story, and couldn’t help but chuckle at the ending! Good luck with the rest of the challenge 🙂

  5. hahahahahaha! *gasp* hahahahahaha! omgosh, Claire! This post was pure wicked genius, hehe! You SO totally had me going! Awesome! I was ready to toss the confetti and pop the cork! Dang, I’m only sorry that it was a prank, I would so totally love to be in on the excitement of that day! 😀

    hehehe, good one here! hehehehe 😆

    • Thanks for the visit, Victoria! I’m still trying to make my way through comments and delinquent blog visits from when I was on vacation but I love that so many commenters leave their blog links in their remarks. Thank you!

  15. Wow! You got me 🙂 This is my first visit to your blog, and even though I do not know you at all…I was sitting her in wide eyes happiness for you. That little balloon analogy at the end of your post…yep, that pretty much summed up how I was feeling. Great job! *clapping*

  19. You are evil. Pure evil! LOL!! You so had me going. I was thinking “how could she keep this news from us for so long?”

    You are such a witch…and I love you for it. What a great post.

  20. You TOTALLY had me. I’m thinking, whoa, what’s going on, why is Claire so special?

    Perhaps her mischievous sense of humor. Nice piece.

    • I’ve reread it finding a million telltale clues that it was total balderdash, and stuff I’d like to tweak to shore up my fib. I guess so many claim they were fooled because everyone wants desperately to believe these types of outrageous dreams could come true, as rare as it might be. I certainly am on. Thanks for visiting, Sari.

  23. LOL I’m dying because part of me was “yes! I’m so excited!” and the other part was “WTF, C! Why didn’t you tell me?!” 🙂

    Hope you’re having a great trip and you release date is an evil reminder that I STILL haven’t dome my taxes yet.

    • Girl, you know I would have told you! i probably would have told a lot of people. I’m not sure I would have been capable of keeping such a big secret, especially given it **supposedly** happened in bits over a broad span of time.

  25. Brilliant. I was on tenterhooks for you there. To be honest, i can’t think of a better way to hook me into your novel when it comes out…now that I know you’re an utterly convincing storyteller. Keep me posted, please!

  26. Ahh! I was about to burst into tears for you, you mean April Fooler! =) Great post. Meanie. New follower from the A to Z challenge.

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