Sometimes, You Just Ask

When my memoir, There Are No Answers Here, Only Questions, was ready for publication, my editor ordered a few dozen copies to be printed as proofs. She called them Advance Reader Copies, or ARCs, but I didn’t know that term then.

She said the ARCs allowed for last-minute changes, plus I should ask a few high-profile people to read my first book and make comments endorsing the book. “Blurbs,” she said, “will make people want to buy it.” My new world was a whirlwind of learning.

I knew a few people to ask, so I showed her my list of potential blurb writers. “Fine,” she said. “And how about adding someone who is known all across the country and has written dozens of books?”

I didn’t think I knew anyone until I thought of Frye Gaillard—except I really didn’t know Frye other than from reading his stories in the Charlotte Observer for years, having read some of his books, and sharing a few mutual friends on Facebook. Nevertheless, Frye’s name went on the ARC list.

“So now what?” I asked my editor.

“Just ask,” she said. So I did, and Frye answered, “Sure.”

Fast-forward a year, and my book club is reading Frye Gaillard’s A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence Lost. I found myself thinking, Wouldn’t it be great if I could get Frye to talk to The Third Thursday Literary Society? So, I wrote Gaillard at his home in Mobile, Alabama. 

“Hey, Frye . . .” I wrote. “How about coming to Charlotte?”

“Sure,” Frye said.

Thus, it came to be that world-famous author Frye Gaillard had lunch with our book club on Thursday, February 1, 2024. After lunch, he spoke to the residents of Southminster, the retirement community where I live. Click here for pictures of the event.

I’m sure you’ve got the moral figured out by now––“You never know till you ask.” And don’t be surprised when the movers and shakers turn out to be the most generous and kindhearted of all. It’s just another of life’s mysteries.

And if someone like Frye Gaillard can find time to help me, who can I find the time to help?