Page 134 - WritingMadlyV3

Writing Madly
I sat in Peter’s office for the first time in 1998. On
my right, awaiting the verdict, was my new agent,
Sheree Bykofsky. On my left was Workman’s senior
acquisitions editor, “Million-Dollar Sally.” (Rumor
had it that if Sally edited your book, you’d earn at
least a million dollars. But I’m pretty sure no one
had the nerve to call her that to her face!)
Peter leafed through my self-published book
How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or
Less.
He stopped randomly, pointed to a paragraph
and asked, “What’s this got to do with making peo-
ple like you?”
I peered over. “Er. Nothing, really,” I said.
Peter leafed through a few more pages and
pointed to another paragraph. “And this? What’s
this got to do with making people like you?”
“Um. Actually, nothing.” I was starting to feel
incredibly stupid.
On to the next random paragraph.
“Yes. Yes, that does.” I tried to regain my confi-
dence.
The process went on pretty much the same way
for about five minutes. I knew my book was
doomed.
134