Amid all the excitement of having my book up for sale, ordinary life still demands to be addressed. Like laundry or meals or say billing issues with phone companies. Last night I was on the phone with one such company and the representative was friendly and helpful (rare, but true.) We were working out the details of the problem on my statement, when during a stretch of silence, I admitted to publishing a Christmas novel. Don’t ask why, I blame fatigue. Usually disclosing personal info to total strangers is way outside my comfort zone. But whatever the reason here is what happened next.
She asked the title. Then she asked where it was for sale. She said she loved to read. We talked more and I learned about an upcoming wedding in her life. And so on until she also said she belongs to a book club and maybe my book could be their December pick. At this point I wondered if my sister had arranged for me to be on Candid Camera in my own home. I also thought “Wow, [this phone company] has trained their customer service reps SO well, it sounds like she is really interested in my book.” Or perhaps the earlier mentioned fatigue had set in and I was still on hold music and imagining the entire conversation.
But I wasn’t imagining it. I went on to offer that if her book club did want to read it, she could contact me here and I could skype and answer questions. Maybe I got carried away. I don’t know if I’ll hear from her again, but you know what, I could have had a phone rep that hadn’t read a book in five years. And as hard as it is being outside my comfort zone, I like making new book friends.
