Royally Kind Blogging Event
August 5th, 2010
What was your random act of kindness?
Today I am happy to be a part of The Duchess Guide’s Royally Kind blogging event, whereby the Duchess herself, Jill Brown, has organized a lovely bunch of online sisters to commit, and then blog about, one random act of kindness performed this week.
First, let me say that I am a big believer in said “acts.” I personally, try to perform mini acts on a regular basis - you know, the ones that can make or break somebody else’s morning. Like holding the door open, letting someone into my lane on the freeway, not racing to the last empty parking spot (cutting off other cars in the process) or scooping up the last chocolate chip topping at Yogurtland while the line snakes behind me.
It is these small acts, I believe, that can completely pull a person out of Column A (average) and over into B (extraordinary). Do this a few times per day and you will start to feel better in general, (even if occasionally it means you end up driving around for 20 minutes because you let the lady with three kids get the last parking spot at The Grove).
However, this week, my random act was a little more personal and a little more specific; I made what would be considered a valuable introduction between two business colleagues, expecting nothing (of course) in return.
(Disclaimer: The very fact that I’m talking about it kind of goes against my belief in not doing things for the sake of recognition, but since this is a blog about my random act, I’ll excuse myself this one time.)
Basically it went like this: Colleague A and I have been working together for a few months. (We have completely different professional backgrounds and had come together randomly on a project). One day, after not seeing him for awhile, the conversation turned to our respective side projects. He told me he was working on a book proposal. I asked if he had an agent. He said no, and I said, let me know when you are ready and I will introduce you to mine.
Now, as a writer I know that another writer would sooner walk down the street naked, dripping in honey than turn you on to their contacts, especially if that contact is the ever elusive and highly coveted, Literary Agent. Writers tend to be anxious, jealous types, who rarely like to see one another succeed, let alone surpass, each other. (But this is a whole, other topic).
However, a few days ago, I got a Facebook message from this colleague asking if I could indeed, make that intro now. Not a problem, I said, asked for a logline and bio, and then (actually!) sent the whole thing off to my agent along with a casual introduction. Turns out, she liked the pitch and they are now discussing how to proceed. Eureka!
I hope he gets a deal and she gets a sale, two huge accomplishments in this ever-changing, clunky, and highly subjective profession. Will I reap any tangible rewards? Probably not. But I also didn’t lose anything either, except maybe a half hour of my time. It was the opportunity to make a life changing introduction (believe me, going from “unpublished” to “published” can mean a serious status shift in one’s career), so how could I not? Even if the project goes no further, two people will now hopefully view me in a different light and perhaps even go out of their way to do something nice for me if/when the opportunity arises.
I can simply hope for more good Karma points to add to this life’s balance sheet.
To hear what random acts other women have done this week, check out my fellow Royal Kindness participants:
It’s been a long time, my lovelies, since I have found the time to post here, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. I’ve had several new opportunities come my way (first mentioned in the post below); some that have been good, some great, and some disappointing.
