The afternoon I learned from my agents that Penguin was going to make an offer on my novel, The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti, was a day of fire. No first-time author can forget that phone call or letter or email with the amazing news that a publisher wants your book! You remember where you were and what you were doing. In my case, the air was gray with smoke, as if the world was coming to an end, and ashes rained down on the driveway.
The Castle Rock Fire had been burning for ten days in the hills around Ketchum, Idaho. Over 2,000 people had evacuated their homes while crews from all over the country had been called in to fight the wildfire. On August 28th, 2007, flames shot up over the crest of Bald Mountain, famous for Sun Valley’s ski slopes. It looked as if a volcano had erupted with dark smoke billowing out of the mountain’s summit.
My husband, Bill, and I had already loaded our truck with all our belongings, which were few since two years earlier our house in Ketchum, where we had lived for twenty-three years, had burned to the ground. Fire is no stranger to our lives, with the ironic touch of the only surviving manuscript of my first novel, written thirty years earlier, going up in smoke along with our house and its contents.
The day the Castle Rock Fire reached the top of Baldy I had my computer and a hard copy of Madame Olivetti in the truck. We were ready to evacuate in case the fire could not be contained and jumped the slopes into Ketchum. It was difficult to breathe in the smoke; our eyes stung and lungs hurt. At three p.m. I walked out of the house and was just locking the front door when the telephone rang. “I’ll get it,” I said to Bill, and ran back into the darkened house. My literary agent was on the phone, her words imprinted forever on my mind: Ellen Edwards, executive editor of National American Library, Penguin Books, is going to make an offer on your book tomorrow.
I remember the smoke-tinged air inside my office and the darkness outside the window. I remember running down the stairs and into the driveway and opening the door to the truck where Bill was waiting. He’d been wondering what was taking me so long. I remember the feel of my smile stretching into my eyes and the breathless excitement of my announcement: I’m going to be published! I was sixty years old. This had been a long time coming. Bill shook his head in disbelief: we were getting out of town so we could breathe clean air and sleep, our second house in two years might end up toast by morning, and now, on this day, after two years of my agents looking for a publisher and numerous rejections—now!
In the greater scheme of things, the publication of Madame Olivetti is inconsequential. What matters is that the wildfire was contained, the town did not burn, and no houses or lives were lost. But I will never forget exactly where I was and what was happening the afternoon I learned that I would be a published author.
Annie will be our featured guest on the Spirited Woman Circle on June 2 - a
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This is the second time Annie is our guest blogger. Click here to read more of Annie's popular posts.
- Annie Vanderbilt, www.annievanderbilt.com
Annie Vanderbilt recently published her hit debut novel, "The Secret
Papers of Madame Olivetti," while in her 50's. A graduate of Radcliffe
College, she met her husband, Bill Vanderbilt, at Harvard. Together
they've gone on wilderness adventures worldwide - hiking, rafting, and
biking - for the past 40 years. Annie's worked as a carpenter,
woodcarver, led backcountry programs, and run a ski touring business.
She divides her time between Idaho and Sanibel, Florida.
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