Back in 2018, I sent a copy of #teenblogger to Ellen DeGeneres all wrapped up in tissue paper with a six page letter, and some cute bits and pieces. You can see that post here.
This year, the idea to send my novel, Anything for You (that I wrote and released in 2022), to the actor who inspired it, Jason Sudeikis, popped into my head and I immediately ran with it.
Problem was, I didn’t know where to send it to. So I started googling.
I signed up to IMDB Pro (is that owned by Amazon now, as it gave Amazon as a way of signing/logging in) and a site called The Handbook which listed all the details of managers, agents, publicists etc.
I sent off emails to one of his agents, her company, and his manager on the 3rd of February.
After one week, no replies.
So I did an email blitz and resent them to those three, plus another of his agents, plus his publicist on the 10th of February.
And I received an email fairly quickly from his publicist, Melissa Nathan, who gave me her work address and said as she was seeing Jason at the end of the month and that she’d make sure he gets it. If you see this, Melissa, again, thank you very much.
I. FREAKED. OUT!
It was after five on a Friday afternoon when I found the email and went into panic mode. I started working on the present, organising the books into the box with the wrapping paper and ribbon, etc, and then realised I still didn’t have the hardcover version of Anything for You as I was waiting for it to come in.
So I calmed down. Went back over the letter and changed a few things, printed it, and got everything else ready.
I was hoping it would come in the next day so I could run up the shop and send it off, but it didn’t. It came in the following Tuesday.
And then disaster struck.
I wanted to make changes and add some ideas I’d come up with in the letter, but when I went to print them out, the printer shat itself and stopped printing magenta. I then spent about two hours trying to figure out what was going on and fixing the issue, which I did, but it went through a lot of ink, sadly. Thank god for a mega tank printer. Once fixed, I printed out what was needed and got back to it.
I repacked everything, wrapped it up, and went up the shop hoping to find the bubble wrap I desperately needed to wrap the box. Do you think I could find it? No! I walked from Kmart, at one end of my shopping centre, all the way to the Reject Shop at the other looking for freaking bubble wrap. When I found it, back to the post office I went and spent about half an hour wrapping the box up and taping it into the post box.
When I got to the counter, the lady told me I needed to fill out the form for overseas travel and I didn’t need to write anything on the box.
Bugger!
Off I went and did that, paid for it, and posted it off. It cost $114 and change, which I reasoned it would, but it was worth it.
That was February the 14th, and I’ve worried ever since that I didn’t place the books properly in the box, and that the letter will get crushed, and #teenblogger will get crushed by Anything for You, and everything will go sliding around.
Oi!
I sent all three versions of Anything for You to Jason (trade pb, large print pb, and dj hardcover), along with the paperbacks of One Bone, Six Bone and #Teenblogger for his kids. I also sent a one page letter printed on paper I pre-printed out with a faded cover of Anything for You. I also added some ideas for sauces and salad dressing labels (a reference to his ex-nanny’s gossip from last year). As you can see by my letter, I got sexy, sassy, and saucy with him.
What comes of this, I don’t know. Nothing needs to. I wanted him to have copies of a book he inspired and is dedicated to him, and I sent books to his children so they didn’t feel left out, and chose a box they would have fun reusing. I mean really, a gift box with lollies (candy) all over it needs to be re-used for a lolly (candy) stash, which I suggested in PS #1 in my letter.
So, Jason, if you’re reading this, I hope you received your present. I hope it coped well with the shipping and nothing was ruined, as that would be devastating for me knowing your present was crushed because I didn’t pack the books properly. I hope you and the kids enjoyed them.
And now, I present to the rest of the world, the gift I sent to Jason Sudeikis.
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