During "THE CALL"

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FEATURING THE SEYMOUR AGENCY AUTHORS

Please visit the talented Seymour Agency authors
listed at the bottom of this post! 
They will be telling about their call experiences
throughout the week. Some of them 
are even having GIVEAWAYS!

My GIVEAWAYS are listed at the bottom of my story! 

Now, I'm continuing my story with how "the call" actually unfolded! To read about how I was fortunate enough to even get a call in the first place, please read the previous post. : )

Do you remember the date you got the call from your agent? 

Tuesday, December 26th, 2012 about 1:50pm. 

What did you do to prepare for the call? 

I always thought I'd have my long list of questions to ask the agent when they called but my path that lead to my call wasn't stereotypical. When Nicole asked me on Twitter if I'd like to be a client, she knew my answer. I'd just accepted the Promotions Manager and intern position for The Seymour Agency, where she works, where I queried her. I wasn't querying at that time and I didn't have fulls out to other agents, so I didn't have to allow for agent to get back to me. I knew I wanted Nicole as my agent. 

Nicole said she'd talk to me the next day in a tweet but I didn't know when. My hubs had to go into work that day, leaving the house around 10am. I made sure I'd eaten something and had plenty of coffee, but the most important thing was making sure my kids, home on winter break, understood I'd have a important call to take sometime that day and that they'd have to be quite. 

I let my third grader know that I'd be getting his brother down for a nap. He knows what that means - do something quietly. *Key word: QUIETLY. I read my little one a story and snuggled with him for about 30 seconds when my phone rang. I sprung from his bed, saying, "Time for a nap now. You have sweet dreams. Time to be quiet!" *Key word: QUIET. 

PERFECT TIMING!!!

What was your reaction while on the phone? 

I picked up the phone expecting it to be Nicole because I didn't recognize the area code. I headed to my bedroom with paper and a pen and closed the door. With clammy hands I plopped on my bed and answered the call I'd dreamed of for years! 

And then....I have no idea what I said. I DO, however, remember my three year old yelling from his bed, "Mommy! Mommy!" and the third grader yelling, "Mom, Sully wants you!" over and over AND OVER AGAAAAAIN! REALLY?! REALLY?! Didn't we have discussions about being quiet?

I do remember Nicole saying that she loved my voice. MOM! That is a compliment I will hold onto forever. MOMMY! We also talked about what revisions I need to address and attending a conference.M-O-M! I think I tried to express my gratitude at one point, but who knows what came out of my mouth. Mommy? She had to be second guessing herself after talking to a blabbering fool.

What was your reaction/thoughts when you got off the phone?

My first thought when getting off the phone? Oh, you boys...No kidding! I was so freaking high on adrenaline, I didn't get mad. (But we did have a talk.) I called my hubs then my crit partner, Lynne. 

I got back to the kitchen, doing mom stuff, and the tears welled. 

I truly believe divine intervention played a hand in how I didn't query Nicole right away, how that sticky note was hiding her name, #6 on my top 10 YA agents in the world, until I'd made manuscript good enough she'd be interested. And if Nicole had offered representation as soon as I turned my R&R back into her, I would've never met Marisa Cleveland, who is now a great friend and amazing mentor/boss. If I was offered representation when I first queried Nicole, I wouldn't be the writer I am today. I would've never gone through some tough self-examination. It was after she had to pass on my revisions that I worked harder. I read more. I critiqued more. I pushed myself beyond what I thought I could do. Everything happened for a reason. And I'm so grateful for the way it did. 

GIVEAWAY for Tonya's Blog ending 

Sat 12pm 3PM EST 1/12/13:

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