The Call - A Fantasy
You fantasize about it. The fantasy may change from day to day, but it’s always there in the back of your mind, every time you send something out there.
What day will it come?
What time?
Where will you be?
Who will you call first?
How will you word the email/blog announcing your news to the world?
I’ve spent the past three weeks with my cell phone always within reach. That’s how long it’s been since I heard Hot Shot was out with editors. I have my agents’ phone number programmed into the phone so I’ll know when it’s her. I may have a heart attack when I see the caller ID, and never get that call, but I’m ready. And when 4 PM rolls around, (5 PM EST), I feel letdown. No call today.
Doesn’t stop me from dreaming, though.
My current fantasy:
I’ll be in class. The phone will ring. My students will look at me. I will check the ID. I’ll see Emily’s number and my heart will pound. My eyes will blur. I’ll manage to tell the kids this is very important and I’ll sit down and take the call. Emily will say the book is going to auction. I’ll scream. My best friend across the hall will run in to see what’s going on. I’ll manage to tell her it’s my agent, and she’ll understand and start grinning, and I’ll be crying and not hear a word Emily says. I’ll hang up and hug Cindi and hug my kids and grab the other teachers in the hallway and maybe the principal and then I’ll remember to call Fred. After I call him and he promises to take me to dinner, all choked up like, I’ll call my writer friends who are programmed into the phone. I’ll hope it’s toward the end of the day because I won’t be able to get anything else done.
And I already know what my emails/blog entry will say. I stole it from Sex and the City two years ago. Be on the lookout for it!
I believe in the power of positive thinking. One ordinary day I will head to work and my life will be different when I come home.
Or, it could happen over Spring Break ;)
So what’s your fantasy? Or if you've already gotten The Call,how did it happen? You can post it here or on your blog and let me know – I’ll come lookin’!
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- MJFredrick
- I'm a mom, a wife, a teacher and a writer. I have five cats and a dog to keep me company. I love bookstores and libraries and Netflix - movies are my greatest weakness.
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10 comments:
Ooo, I like your Call fantasy. Auction would be sweeeet.
My call was actually an email. A few days earlier, my dedicated business phone line had gone on the fritz, and I hadn't had it repaired yet. When my editor tried calling the number, it was out of order. So she emailed me. All she said was, "Can you send me a phone number where I can reach you? The number I have isn't working."
I managed to pull myself together long enough to IM my friend Jenn, "Oh. My. God. The editor who has my book wants my phone number." Jenn wrote back, "What does that mean?" I said, "I don't know!"
I sent the editor an email with my work number (since I was at work) and sat there quietly freaking. I then e-mailed my friend Kris Robinette and asked her what she thought it meant that the editor wanted my phone number. She wrote back a screaming, quasi-incoherent e-mail that only made me freak out even more.
Then the editor called. :)
Meanwhile, Jenn had to go into a meeting, so when I finally realized I'd sold, she didn't respond to my excited IM! And when I tried calling my mother (who'd had the collossally bad timing of leaving that morning for a trip to the beach), she didn't answer, so I left her a message. After that, I called Kris and we had a screaming party over the phone (a little muted on my side since I was still at work).
Finally, I talked to my mom when I got home. She didn't know how to retrieve her messages on her cell phone, so when she called to check in, I hit her with it. She was excited, of course, but we didn't get to have a proper celebration until she got home that weekend.
Sorry--that was really long, wasn't it?
Paula
I sat down to do my email, and there it was...the offer to buy my book. I think my mind went totally blank for a second. Then I pulled myself back together, accepted the offer, and immediately emailed Mary because I was still online! Then I ran down the hall and grabbed my son, the only one home at the time. I told my daughter and DH when they got home, called my mom and my friends. But it was a strange, surreal kind of day, because at the time I got the call, my daughter was battling with her brain disorder...it wasn't yet under control. I'd wanted for a long time to sell. When it came, I was happy, but it SO didn't matter when compared to what we were going through at the time. All I cared about was my daughter. The call was something nice that happened in the midst of it.
I probably enjoyed the book release in December MUCH more than I did the call. Why? Because my daughter was doing well. I could let go and really enjoy what it meant. I'll always have that December morning in my heart. :)
J
Yes, Mary, keep that positive thinking, because with your agent you are all the more closer for your call to happen!!
The call for me was not simple, it stretched on for about 3 weeks! From the time one editor called saying they were going to make an offer but couldn't because another editor--who was on vacation--had to make it official. It was hard to wait but a wonderful, settled feeling in the end that all this hard work on this book finally paid off. Then once the offer was on the table, negotiating began which took another week, then finally I was able to accept and announce. =D
Oh, how many times have I fantasized about this! Now that I'm home during the day, every time the phone rings I wonder, "Is this it?" I don't have Caller ID on the house phone, so it's always a "what if" when I answer.
I try to put it out of my mind because knowing something is out there that could be bought, something I've already revised for the editor, can be nerve-wracking if I let myself dwell on it. But I've seen so much great evidence of positive thinking lately that I'm really going to try to adopt that. I want to sell before National! :)
So I'm not the only one fantasizing? :) Seriously, though, I know what will happen. I'll be teaching 5th period history and the phone will right right in the middle of class (England is 5 hours ahead). My knees will knock, my hands will be shaking, and I'll barely be able to form coherent words. I may start crying. Not sure. Maybe I'll scream and jump up and down. One thing's for certain--there is no WAY I'll be able to teach after that. :)
I can't wait, can you?
You know what's cool? I remember Paula, JoAnn and Kelly's calls (okay, it's not been a year, but I was THERE at the time, you know?)
Trish, I know I should put it out of my mind, but when the phone rings, there goes the imagination. That, and at 4 in the morning.
Michelle, LOL, you're almost as detailed as I am. What will your kids do?
Stacy, yeah, for the past three weeks I've been waiting for the call that Leslie Wainger HAS TO HAVE Hot Shot, because that's as long as she's had it. Nice dream.
I can't wait till our dreams come true!!!
I've got my fingers crossed for you, Mary :)
I like your call fantasy, too. Maybe it will be exactly the way it will happen. I know you're so close to the call you can almost touch it!
I'm late, but I'll chime in too.
Like Kelly's, my call stretched for two weeks. I was blogging when my agent called to tell me we had an offer.
I started to freak out, squealing, and jumping around, and trying to sound coherent as I struggled not to pass out.
Then she said she didn't want to take the offer--that she thought we'd get at least one more. So I freaked out a little more. A week later, we had all the initial offers in. In another week, we had a winner.
Only then, after more than fourteen days of keeping secrets, could I make my announcement.
I'm still not sure any of it is real.
I hope your fantasy comes true, Mary. And it very well might. I can't wait to read your announcement.
Rachel, you couldn't say anything for FOURTEEN DAYS??? That's cruel and unusual punishment!!
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