Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
“Sure. You know what they say…”
“What?”
“Something about books? And covers?”
There’s a beat where I can see Evelyn putting it together in her head and then she bursts out laughing. “Ha! Yes! Of course! That’s exactly the kind of clever turn of phrase I would expect from someone who writes like you do!”
Yeah. It wasn’t actually a turn of phrase. And it wasn’t that clever. Easy to please, this one.
“So, you’re Cynthia Lear? Are you just starting your house search?”
“I am.”
“Are you working with anyone yet?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, well, let me give you my card! I have so many properties that I think would just be perfect.” She hands me her card. I nod to Britney.
“My assistant will take it,” I say. Britney smiles and takes the card, stuffs it in her purse.
“Of course, yes. Let me ask you, do you know when the audiobook for Filling the Gap is going to be released? Who’s narrating?”
“I, uh, I don’t actually have that date yet.” I don’t have that date yet because I haven’t even thought about it yet. This has all happened so quickly that audio didn’t even cross my mind. I should get on that, I suppose. I wonder if I should maybe ask— Or, I dunno if that would be—
“Well”—she starts her sentences with ‘well’ a lot—“I’m just tickled to meet you. You’re fabulous.”
She seems so genuinely excited that I can’t keep up my sense of righteous indignation with her. She’s a reader. Of my books. And, as recent evidence has shown, one must be very thoughtful about the way one interacts with one’s audience. Because tides can shift like… tides, I guess.
“May I get a picture?” Evelyn gillies. Which is a word I maybe just made up, but it’s onomatopoeic and if Shakespeare could invent ‘swagger’ (which he did; badass), then I can make up shit too.
“Yeah, of course,” I respond, as Evelyn hands Brit her phone and I paste on a smile, while Evelyn wraps her arms around me and grins like a child on her birthday and I’m the doll.
“That was weird.”
“Was it?” Brit asks as we inch along Wilshire in her car, headed east.
“Little bit. I went from sleeping on a mattress filled with bedbugs to getting hugged by Ms. Million-Dollar Listing in less than a fortnight.”
“Yeah… Y’know, that show’s title is really outdated. A million dollars can barely buy a one-bedroom in LA these days.”
“I mean ... it’s a brand.”
We both nod to ourselves, knowingly, contemplating the titles of reality television shows. Because that is who we are.
Ring. Ring.
My phone. I look at the screen.
“Who is it?” Brit asks.
“I dunno. I don’t recognize the number.” I stare at it for another second and then, because curiosity is one of my toxic traits, answer. “Hello?”
“Yeah, hi, I’m looking for Cordelia Sarantopoulos?”
“This is.”
“Cordelia, hi, my name is Gary Pritchard. I’m calling from North Star Author Agency?”
“Who is it?” Britney asks. I look at her with something, I assume, like bafflement on my face and put the phone on speaker.
“Uh… Yes? Hi?”
“Cordelia—great name by the way. Lear, yeah? Where you got your pen name, I assume? That’s fire. Listen, Cordelia, I don’t know if you know who we are—”
“I know who you are.”
“Amaze. That’ll save a ton of time. So, look, then it should be obvious why I’m calling. Have you signed with anyone yet?”
Britney looks at me and mouths, Oh. My. God.
“Um, no? No, I haven’t. Signed. With anyone. Yet.” I shrug and look at Brit like, Holy shit.
“Baller. So look, we’d love to have you on our roster here at North Star. Is that something you’d be into entertaining?”
“Uh, um, I mean, maybe. Yes? Maybe?”
“Well, let me break down for you what we can do for a new, streaking comet like yourself.”
So far this guy has dropped that he knows the origin of my name and used a metaphor to compare me to an astronomic event. He’s very good at his job.
“What we can do for you here is help guide your career and make sure that the incredible success you’re enjoying now—and it is incredible, by the way—lasts. That’s why we’re called North Star. We make sure you’re always heading in the right direction.”
“That’s… phenomenal. But, and you’ll forgive me, Gary, but I thought your agency mostly handled sci-fi and, like, fantasy, and that kind of thing. Not so much romance.”
“Cord… Can I call you Cord? Cord, we handle top-tier talent. That’s what we do. If it’s happening in the literary world, North Star has a hand in it. And, right now, no one is more happening than you.”
I put the phone on mute. “This is crazy.”
“I know. This is crazy.”
“This is so crazy.”
“Girl, it’s SO crazy.”
I take the phone off mute. “Well, that sounds… awesome.”
“Cord, I’m telling you, you’d be special here. You’re right, we don’t have a huge stable of romance writers. But that means you’d get all of our attention. And you can talk to any of the writers we rep at North Star and I would challenge you to find a single one who says signing with us wasn’t the best career decision they ever made.”