Face Time

Have I mentioned how much I love my new agent? It’s true! So when she mentioned she’d be in San Diego and asked if I’d like to meet her there, I jumped at the chance (after a few quick calls to rearrange my schedule, LOL). We’d met before, twice, very briefly, in Atlanta, so this would be the first real “face time” we’d have together.

She was in San Diego for the San Diego Writers Conference so I drove down Sunday. We decided to get out of the hotel and drive over to the Hotel Del Coronado for lunch. At this point, she casually mentioned this was her first visit to the West Coast.

Which meant she’d never seen the Pacific Ocean.

Are you with me here, my California friends? Are you feeling my fear? The sudden responsibility falling onto my shaky shoulders? Could I handle it? What if she hated the Hotel Del? I mean, it’s really old and sort of…pompous, just sitting there on the beach. Seriously, it’s just some rambling Victorian monstrosity by the sea. They have those sorts of places all over the East Coast, don’t they?

And while I’m on the subject of fear and responsibility, I might as well admit how nerve-wracking it is, trying to look cool and intelligent while driving your new agent around a town you haven’t lived in for more than 20 years. There are brand new freeways and weird turnoffs and, hello? Where did that bridge come from? I did a MapQuest, but still…it was tricky. At least my car was clean.

And what if the hotel restaurant was closed? Or worse, what if it was open and we had lousy service? OMG, what if she got food poisoning?? It would be MY fault!! For the rest of her life, my poor agent would do all she could to avoid the West Coast. And if she were forced to attend a conference in, say, San Francisco, or maybe Seattle, she might gaze reluctantly at the glorious bay and the Pacific Ocean beyond, feeling her stomach roil as she raised her fisted hand and shouted, “Damn you, Kate Carlisle!”

Yes, I do have an active imagination. And I guess I'm more neurotic than I thought. But that makes me a good writer, right? Hmm.

So I’ll cut to the chase here. The Hotel Del was fabulous. How could it be anything but? My agent brought her camera and we took a picture by the main entrance and I took a picture of her with the ocean and the cliffs in the background. It was very cute!


As we watched the waves, a guy ran past us, then stopped a few feet away to stretch his muscles. He looked like Keen Eddie. Very nice.


Did you know the Hotel's haunted? We tried to figure out which room had the ghost. I found out later it’s room 3312. When I got home, I looked up the story of Kate Morgan’s ghost. You can read about her here. I thought it was interesting that Kate checked into the hotel using a fake name, Lottie Anderson Bernard. Everyone’s got a pseudonym, I guess.

It was fun! We talked and laughed and ate and walked along the boardwalk and talked some more, and you know what? I'm thinking she enjoyed her first visit to California. Whew!

Gas for the drive to San Diego: $23.78
New jacket for the meeting (Chico’s, on sale!): $68.00
Face time with my favorite agent: Priceless!