Draft Dodging

I never, ever thought this year would turn into the year I would try to write a book.  While I’ve always been interested in writing and have consistently incorporated writing into my various jobs, it always seemed like a little bit of a stretch to think that I would just….start trying to write a book.  I didn’t know the first thing about the publishing industry and, more importantly, was a little too afraid of the giant, gaping hole of uncertainty that comes with trying to write and THEN seeing if someone wants to pay for it to actually attempt to pursue anything (of course as I write this now, I am deep in that cruel, cruel hole. Though it remains unclear if this bothers me on a macro level or if I’m just sad that I can’t fill up my google calendar farther than 2 weeks in advance).

Anyways, at that point I had been working in Seattle for a little over a year, and while I had come to adore the city, I was apathetic to the point of frustration at my internet marketing job.  It wasn’t as if I dreaded going to work each day, but it certainly wasn’t giving me the fulfillment or even just the creative outlet I had hoped to find in my work. (yes, I left college feeling entitled to a job that would be  fulfilling, intellectually stimulating, lucrative, fun, creative, full of perks, etc. yes, my generation feels entitled. yes, we’re only hurting ourselves). I had just barely taken my job searching out of its passive phase (read: perusing craigslist while bored at work. wishing I was elsewhere) into its active phase (read: submitting resumes and cover letters into the bottomless pits of big companies’ online job databases) when a series of extremely lucky and extremely unlikely events happened that changed everything:

1. I got a job tutoring the child of a world famous rockstar.

Like many of the things in the very early part of the story, this job just…fell in my lap.  A close friend of my sister’s whom I had also grown to know worked for the family for a few years after college and remained in touch with them.  She knew I wasn’t thrilled with my job and that I had a background and interest in teaching, and thought of me when the family called her to ask if they knew anyone who would like to tutor their daughter for a 3 month period over the winter.  Their daughter is an extremely accomplished equestrian and left school every January to compete in an extended tournament in Florida. Naturally, this meant they needed someone to come live with them in Florida and tutor their daughter so that she kept up with all of her school work during the tournament. Such is the life of rock royalty. After a whirlwind interview process, I packed up my preppiest clothes (a last minute panic resulted in the impulse purchase of 4 pairs of khaki pants that remain unworn) and my “work wardrobe” of bathing suits and jean skirts, and left the Seattle rain to cavort with rock stars. And by cavort I mean work for. But whatever. Still cool.

2. I had a very fortuitous dinner with said rockstar’s wife, who, for the purposes of this blog, we will call “Marie”

During dinner one day in Florida, the conversation somehow turned to road trips.  Chatty as always, I piped up that I thought it would be a lot of fun to drive around the country and write about the stories behind roadside attractions.  Marie was surprisingly excited by the idea and told me that she would put me in touch with their “book person”. Though my interested was certainly piqued, I didn’t put too much stock in this moment.  Who was this “book person” and with everything else she had going on, why in the world would Marie take the time to arrange an intro to encourage my random dinner whim?

3. Marie did, in fact, put me in touch with the “book person”

A few weeks later, Marie stepped by me in the kitchen, looked over her shoulder, and said, “Oh, Julia.  I got in contact with our book person.  She’s waiting to hear from you.”  I had been operating on the assumption that Marie had forgotten about her offer (and was revving up my courage to remind her about it….), and was shocked and touched to hear that she had not only remembered our conversation, but had followed up on it. I gushed my thanks, and headed upstairs to follow up.  It was not until I got to my room that I realized I had absolutely no idea what “book person” meant–was this woman a publisher, an agent, an editor, a consultatnt?–and what in the world did she do for this musician?  He wrote music, not books….

I used my mad google skills to ascertain that she was a well-respected, well-connected agent who founded her own agency/book packaging firm operating out of New York and New Jersey.  Excellent.  Very excellent. I sat down to write her an email, excited, but incredibly skeptical about the outcome.  If I knew anything about the publishing industry at that point, it was that it’s extremely difficult to get anything published and that it’s no simple task to get an agent, editor, etc, to go out on a limb for a random, unpublished, twenty-something. I was expecting a response along the lines of, “Nice idea, but lots of work ahead of you. Here are some links to websites that offer advice about how to write proposals. Good luck!”

4. The agent wanted to work with me?!?!

Little did I know at the time, my ideas and broader interest–combining the academic with the absurd–fit in perfectly with my agent’s body of work.  Apparently Marie had tipped her off that we would get along well  (”because we are both wacky and “eccentric”. I have chosen to not take offense to this but am vaguely suspicious….), and she was excited about the direction I was going.  In the moment that transformed this completely vague hint of an idea into something that had the potential of actually happening, she wrote, “I think this is do-able, Julia, and I’d love to agent this once you have a proposal in hand. Can you call me on Monday?”

omg. omg. omg.

And so I had an agent.  And the spark of an idea.  And absolutely no idea how to write a book. It was a start.