The meeting went great. CEO/fellow writer--what could be wrong with that? Stuff in the works. I enjoy the people there. Down to earth. No sense of entitlement. Usually the case when a writer's making the decisions.
Previous to building this boutique agency, the CEO was a New Orleans musician. Seasoned. Older. Smart. Nice to talk with someone from my field, but also with a sense of the arts, in the business of business. There aren't too many who can walk that talk.
Shared tales from the biz, including my keen understanding of how to treat confidential client information, like the time I had the Cingular naming information--before Cingular had its name--and my job to write the justiciation for the name. My boss told me if I slipped up and said the word, or if anyone saw that piece of paper and leaked it, we'd be on the street. Pronto. Would be one of those career-ruining mistakes, which I've managed--barely--to avoid thus far.
It made me more nervous than usual, knowing the name-to-be of this wireless superpower, about to enter the game with a canon ball splash. Especially since Jenna's Asthma medicine at the time had the same name, spelled differently: Singulair.
Every night I'd take out her chewable pill and vow not to say the name out loud: henceforth Singulair has been known as her "asthma vitamin."
At the height of my paranioa, I took the piece of paper from my notebook, folded it in quarters, and stuffed it in my underwear drawer where it remains to this day.
I kept the secret, did fine work for them, and I still call Singulair an "asthma vitamin."
Back to today's meeting. As I said, before starting the company, after a run in the publishing business, the CEO was a professional musician (piano/keys) -- in New Orleans.
By the end of our talk I think I had him convinced that I could take over his responsibilities and that he should take the opportunity to travel with George to the Canary Islands in the fall to play some New Orleans Jazz.
His eyes lit up. "HEY! There's an idea."
I think we were only half kidding.
Had a better afternoon than morning. I'm still a crabapple though.
