Maureen’s Amazing Florida Adventure (in which two of the gossip answers are revealed)

Introducing Guest Blogger Maureen McGowan!!! Maureen, tell us about your recent trip.

Okay, so when I left Toronto early (for me) Friday morning, it was in the low 40’s, raining, and I admit I was looking forward to basking in Florida sunshine more than the chance to pitch agents, talk about writing and see some loop-buddies. When I landed in Orlando 2 ½ hours later, to temperatures barely out of the 40’s and ferocious rain, I started to have doubts about the weekend.

Man, were things about to change.

The conference was great. Those STAR chapter writers really know how to put on a conference. Thank you ladies! Friday night, at the speed-dating event I met everyone I wanted to meet and they were all lovely. Things were looking up.

Saturday, they got better. My pitches went well and during Diana’s great workshop she pulled my name out of a hat and I won an ARC of her wonderful book SECRET SOCIETY GIRL. If you haven’t preordered one yet, get thee to an Amazon website. It’s fantastic!

Note from Diana: No kickbacks. This is all her.

But my luck was just beginning…

First, a little backstory… One of my CP’s and best friends, Harlequin author Molly O’Keefe, is about to give birth – like any day now. And I need to be in the loop on these things. The hotel’s internet connection went down sometime on Saturday and although sure her hubby would call my cell, Sunday morning in severe communication withdrawal, I turned to checking my home voice mail just to make sure she hadn’t popped yet. I wasn’t expecting any other calls – except maybe one from this guy with a heavy Russian accent named Yuri who keeps leaving messages to tell me about his wonderful moving service. Yuri, buddy, I’m not moving.

Anyway…

No baby. But I had a voice mail from Elaine Spencer at The Knight Agency telling me one of their agents was interested in my manuscript (an adverb like “very” might have also been thrown in there) and wanted to know if I’d accepted representation elsewhere.

I hadn’t.

But you’ve probably already figured that given the whole pitching-to-agents thing.

Shaking and suppressing a scream, I went down to breakfast where I quickly found Diana and we jumped up and down. (Okay, in our chairs. I wasn’t fully caffeinated yet and not much of a jumper.)

Moments later, my name was drawn out of a raffle box and I’d won the conference fee to RWA in Atlanta. Hey! Isn’t The Knight Agency based near Atlanta? Didn’t my pitch to their agency happen at RWA in Reno? The stars were beginning to align.

I spent a frantic what felt like hours (probably ten minutes) trying to return Elaine’s call. The number she’d left got a little garbled (as voice mails are wont to do) and I ended up calling every possible number with an exchange ending in “17” in the whole freakin’ state of Georgia. (Okay, I got the right number on the third try. By now, you must realize I like to exaggerate.)

My flight back to Toronto not scheduled until Monday, I Sunday afternoon trying to find an internet café in Cocoa Beach or Cape Canaveral from which I could send an e-mail… but for some bizarre reason, visitors to the area seem more interested in sandy beaches and theme parks than spending hours staring at computer screens. Go figure.

Sunday evening (while sucking back mini-margaritas and trying to catch the Superbowl ads while avoiding the actual game) Diana called my cell to tell me she’d received an e-mail from Elaine asking for help in tracking me down! Hearing this, I started to get more confident the news from the agency, should I ever find a way to get it, might be really good news.

Finally, Monday, after forgetting to set my alarm and sleeping in (remember the margaritas?), and then spending too long: finding gas for my rental car, trying to get the gasoline smell off my hands after filling said car, covering every square inch of the departure level deeply regretting the discount airline I’d chosen, and then waiting in the line from hell at security in the Orlando airport, I arrived at my gate with seconds to spare and the opportunity to call Elaine who told me Pamela Harty wanted to speak with me about representation… Could I talk to her now? I looked at the airline staff in the middle of pre-boarding hundreds of Mickey-overdosed children and considered it… I could catch another flight home.

But instead I scheduled a time to talk to Pamela the next day, and yippee! I am now a very happy new client of Pamela Harty of The Knight Agency!

So, now you know the answers to questions #2 and #20.

Diana… You must divulge the rest.

Ha! Nevah! Congratulations to the newest TKA sistah!