A Day in the life of...
Cindy McDonald
Over the course of twenty-six years I was very
comfortable with my title: Miss Cindy—dance teacher/choreographer, and after a
long and successful career, I decided to make a change. In 2011 I published my
first book, DEADLY.COM. I became an author, a writer, a storyteller. Problem
was that I still thought of myself as a dancer/choreographer. Nothing had
changed and I didn’t give it much thought until I attended a wedding—it was the
day that everything changed…
I had just retired from my dance school in May to
focus on writing my books, and on a very hot day in June, my husband and I
attended my dear friend’s daughter’s wedding. It was an outside wedding and we
took our seats waiting for the ceremony to begin when another friend sat down
next to me. She asked about my new release and how it was going, and we chatted
casually until it was time for the bride to make her appearance. I didn’t give
it another thought. After all, I was still just Miss Cindy the dance
teacher/choreographer, and then as I approached the cookie table a woman tapped
me on the shoulder.
“I didn’t mean to listen in on your conversation,” she
began, “but did I hear you say that you are an author?”
I probably looked at the woman like she had just grown
another head. What? Am I a what? It
was the first time anyone had called me that! It was the first time anyone had
even uttered the word. Author…author…
I must’ve stood there for well over fifteen seconds staring at her like an
idiot because she cocked her head to the side and said to me, “I could have
sworn that I heard someone ask you about a book that you’ve written. I love to
read, and I’ve never met an author.” Skeptically, she repeated, “Are you an
author?”
It wasn’t computing. Yes, I wrote a book, and I had
said book published. But I’m a dance teacher, a choreographer, I couldn’t
possibly be an …um… author. Finally, my husband spoke up, “Yes, Cindy wrote a
book called, Deadly.Com. It’s a murder suspense book. Do you like murder
suspense books?”
The woman’s face lit up. “I love murder suspense
books! Where can I buy it?”
Yet still I stood there like a total moron, still
contemplating her very first question: are you an author? At last I managed to
speak. I said, “Amazon… you can buy the book on Amazon.”
Tickled pink that she had actually met a real-live
honest-to-God moron… I mean, author, the woman gathered some cookies and
returned to her table. My husband turned to me and said, “Well you totally blew
that. If she’d have asked you about the dance school, you would’ve given her a
business card, directed her to the website, and told her all about it. She
asked you about your book and you were clueless. You’ve got to get better
prepared, Cindy. She was a potential customer.”
