Guest Post: Getting THE CALL by Andrea Laurence

When I first started reading romance books more than 20 years ago it was the Harlequin Category stories that I devoured. Every month since then I have hit the Harlequin section of the bookstore to discover what new gems were out. So when I was contacted about a brand new HQN author and her debut book I of course said I would love to have her on. So today we have Andrea Laurence on sharing how she got The Call and a bit about her book.

Thanks to the Book Reading Gals for allowing me to stop by here today on my blog tour. I love reading call stories. It’s always exciting to hear about how someone found out that they had finally fulfilled their dream of publication. I, of course, had fantasized about how mine would go. How I’d act cool, not scream in my new editor’s ear… I had it all worked out. I even had a list ready of smart questions and a standby bottle of champagne. But life has a funny way of catching you off guard.
Last summer, I had been working with Shana Smith at Desire on some requested revisions. Things were going well. I’d turned in my revisions, then got ready for a vacation. I figured it would be a while until I heard back, so I tried to forget it was even out there.

By the time we got to the airport, our flight was four hours delayed. Joy. We were killing time in the terminal when a number I didn’t recognize called my phone. I answered because I had time to kill, even if it was just a telemarketer. It never registered, even when she introduced herself as Shana Smith, that I was getting THE CALL.

She wanted to buy my book. I was totally unprepared. I think my first words were “oh my god, I’m in the airport.” That was followed by a lot of ‘wow’ and ‘that’s great’ while she talked about the details. I wrote things down on the back of my boarding pass and tried to think of intelligent questions. I was a mess. But the message came across – my first book was coming out in spring 2012.

After I hung up, I spent the rest of my afternoon calling every person I’d ever met. Thank goodness the flight was delayed or I would’ve missed the call and had to wait until the next day to call her back. I would’ve spent the night completely miserable wondering what she was calling about.

Of course, my call story had to be weird! It all went down in an airport. To quote While You Were Sleeping – “Life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan.” What about you? Have you had one of those unexpected moments? Be sure to comment today to get an entry into my blog tour contest!

Andrea
WHAT LIES BENEATH, April 2012
She’s Awake. So Why Can’t She Remember?

They say she’s Cynthia Dempsey, fiancée of media mogul Will Taylor. But try as she might, she can’t recall their high-society life or the man sitting by her hospital bed. Though her body certainly remembers him. Even as she senses the distance between them, the electricity when they touch is undeniable.

Will can hardly believe Cynthia’s transformation. Gone is the ice queen who betrayed him, and in her place is a woman who seems genuine and warm. But can he risk his heart again, not knowing what might happen when her memory returns?

Blog Tour & Contest! Don’t forget my blog tour contest! Receive an entry for commenting (one per blog) and a second for signing up for my newsletter (http://eepurl.com/e3O5k). The winner will receive a pink sea-glass heart locket pendant and a personalized autographed copy of What Lies Beneath. Small Print: The winner will be chosen at random after the conclusion of the blog tour – Friday, April 27th and announced on the Writing Playground blog (http://www.writingplayground.blogspot.com/). The winner will have 7 days to contact the author at author@andrealaurence.com with her mailing information or the prize will be forfeited and re-awarded.

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9 Comments

  1. chey

    What a great thing to happen during a flight delay!
    Your book sounds fantastic!

    Reply
  2. Andrea Laurence

    Thanks for stopping in, Chey. It certainly did help pass the time. And I normally hate to fly, but the two hours just blew by with me just giddy.

    Reply
  3. pjk

    I love your call story! I bet it mad your vacation that much better. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. Andrea Laurence

      Thanks for visiting, pjk. The vacation was great, but I was about to explode to get home and share the excitement with my friends.

      Reply
  4. Lori Y.

    Wow, what a great story!! I’m glad you had a flight delay.

    Reply
    1. Andrea Laurence

      Can you imagine if I’d gotten off the phone and had a voicemail from her? We were supposed to arrive around 8, so I’d have to call the next morning. I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep.

      Thanks for visiting.

      Reply
  5. Laurie G

    Congrats on your recent book release.

    My experience at an airport was of the negative variety. I went to pick up my brother who was going to drive our mother back to Wisconsin (from Florida). We were waiting by the baggage return, as the suitcases started to appear an announcement came on saying that everyone had to evacuate the airport, This was after 6 PM finally over 3 1/2 hours later we were allowed back into the airport. It took another hour to drop him off then travel home. What should have been around a 2 -2 1/2 hour trip took over 6 hours!

    Reply
    1. Andrea Laurence

      Evacuate? That’s not good. I haven’t had that trouble, just the usual delays, mess ups and mechanical issues. I once had a plane get a flat tire. You don’t think about it until it happens. They can’t just jack that thing up and change it. You have to unload everyone (once its towed back to the concourse) and switch planes.

      Thanks for visiting.

      Reply
  6. bn100

    What a fantastic story! Thanks for sharing. The book sounds very good.

    Reply

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