Your Most Embarrassing Moment As a Writer (Part 2)
If you enjoyed my embarrassing story from last week, here’s another one. I was taking one of my very first trips to New York City, to meet with literary agents,…
If you enjoyed my embarrassing story from last week, here's another one.
I was taking one of my very first trips to New York City, to meet with literary agents, in my early years as an acquisitions editor at F+W Media. One of the meetings involved dinner at an upscale Asian restaurant.
I'm a fairly punctual person, and in situations like these, I always plan to arrive early to ensure that I arrive on time.
So I got to the restaurant about 10 minutes early. It was crowded with people, so I sat down to wait for the agent to arrive.
Ten minutes passed. Still no agent. But no big deal. Another five minutes passed. Then ten. Then fifteen. I started to feel very strange. It dawned on me that maybe I missed her coming in, or that she had arrived before me.
Being from the Midwest, as well as rather young and provincial (and not yet a frequenter of fine dining establishments!), I didn't realize it was customary to check with the maitre d' to see if the other party had arrived, and/or to go ahead and be seated.
So you can probably guess: The agent was already seated and had been waiting for at least 15 minutes when I did ask the maitre d'.
The agent clearly wasn't happy, but didn't say a word. She just showed up 15 minutes late to our next dinner outing when I returned to New York the following season.
Why am I telling you ANOTHER embarrassing story?
Well, if you submitted your own embarrassing story to Writer's Digest last week, it was lost in an e-mail crash. So I'm posting the call again this week to ask you to kindly resubmit for consideration.
If you missed the call, here it is again:
Let’s face it: We all make mistakes. But the best writers learn from them, rise above them and even find ways to transform them into happy accidents. What embarrassing moment have you overcome to become a better writer? Whether your story is funny, humbling or an important lesson learned the hard way, we want to hear from you.
Share your experience in 150 words or fewer and e-mail it—along with your name, city and state—to writersdigest@fwmedia.com with “Lessons Learned” in the subject line.
Your story could appear in a future issue of Writer’s Digest! (All submissions will be considered for publication and may be edited for clarity or space.)
Photo credit: yamuhaton
Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
