Peggy Blair with her book, The Beggar’s Opera. Photos by Ryan Parent
By Connie Adair
“I’m going to write a novel,” she said, matter-of-factly. Her daughter Jade rolled her grey eyes the way a 22-year-old can but she should have known not to take her mother’s words lightly. Around Easter 2009, Peggy Blair wrote the first draft of her mystery novel, The Beggar’s Opera. It took her three weeks.
After polishing the draft, Blair, now a sales rep with Royal LePage Team Carling in Ottawa, sent a letter and synopsis to more than 150 literary agents over a seven-month period. Some responded quickly, some took their time and many didn’t respond at all. When Blair did get feedback, she used the agents’ comments to hone her story before sending it to the next agent. “In January 2010, I figured, this isn’t working,” says Blair. “I changed tactics and decided to enter writing competitions.”
She entered three contests: one in Canada, one in the United States and one in the U.K. “I didn’t make the long list for the Canadian competition and didn’t hear from the American competition at all.” Nor had she heard from the U.K. competition. She focused on writing her real estate exams and began looking for brokerages.
Blair was a lawyer for 30 years and decided it was time for a change. Becoming a Realtor combined her interest in real estate (her father was a contractor and she has been involved in many renovations) and her knowledge of negotiations.
In July, a letter arrived from England. It informed her that she had been short-listed for the Debut Dagger Competition. “Several well-known authors have been short-listed for the Dagger and have gone on to do very well,” Blair says.
The competition organizers, The Crime Writers’ Association, asked her for permission to share her synopsis and 30 pages with agents and editors on their mailing list. Not long after, agents began to call.
In the meantime, Blair thought about the award ceremony. She worked almost every day on the book and was completing real estate exams at the same time. “I had received an exemption from some (courses) because of my legal background (but) had to study to take the challenging exams, so I wasn’t working,” Blair says.
“There was no way I could cover a flight and hotel to go to Europe. It was my friends who talked me into going and said I’d be crazy not to go. They helped me out with fundraising/donations,” Blair says. Even her doctor made a donation. She was off to England to attend the awards ceremony and meet with agents.
Unfortunately she didn’t win, and the agents who promised to meet her didn’t show up. “I was feeling very flattened and was getting ready to leave. I couldn’t afford to attend workshops so I went to a bar to say goodbye to some people I had met.”
The bar was empty – everyone was in workshops. Everyone, that is, except for Scottish author Ian Rankin, U.K.’s No. 1 best-selling author. “Crime Writers of Canada had asked me to take a picture of any celebrities for their site. I happened to have my camera, and had had a glass of wine, so I went up and asked Ian for a photo.”
Rankin complied. Their conversation turned to Canada – he had recently been to the Ottawa Blues Festival in scorching temperatures. Later, when he found out she had been short-listed but didn’t have an agent, he suggested Blair contact his publisher.
“I said I had been rejected by 150 agents. I’m sure your publisher doesn’t want to talk to me. He said, “She will if you mention my name,’” Blair says. She contacted the publisher, who referred her to an agent, Peter Robinson of RCW in the U.K.
On a Friday, Robinson asked if “he could read it in a few months because he was going to the Frankfurt Book Fair and was busy,” she says. That night, Robinson picked up the book, intending to give it a quick scan, but he later told Blair he couldn’t put it down. He contacted Blair on Monday to tell her that he wanted to put The Beggar’s Opera on the hot list at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest book and media fair in the world.
A week after the fair, with Robinson as her agent, Blair got an email congratulating her on the deal with Germany. She also has a deal for foreign rights with Norway and Holland, and a two-book deal with Penguin with film rights potential.
Blair is busy planning her book launch in Ottawa on Feb. 16. Not a typical wine and cheese-type launch, Blair’s event will offer Cuban music, food and art. Some of her co-workers and clients are pitching in to help.
“I love real estate,” says Blair. “Writing is isolating and balances with real estate, which is very social. I’m thankful for the office and the support network.”
Her experience as a writer has helped her real estate career and vice versa. “I have a thicker skin than when I started. When someone chooses to go with another agent, I don’t feel it at all. And I’m not easily deterred. I wasn’t a persistent person before. I learned the only way to guarantee failure is to give up.”
When writing the book, and even into the editing process, she had long days and nights. “I worked hard. I focused on it. I tell clients, if I did this to write a book, imagine what I’ll do to sell your home.”
Real estate has helped with her writing career too. During a Royal LePage meeting about QR (quick response) codes on real estate signs, Blair got the idea to include a QR code on her book jacket.
Her mind never stops, and neither does she. Her business card says, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” Blair loves to multi-task. When she was a lawyer, she owned an antique store, worked on getting her PhD and taught several university courses. Along with writing books and selling real estate, she is now looking for a house to renovate. “Someone else’s full-time would be my part-time,” she says.
“When I started with Royal LePage Team Realty, Kent Browne (our broker/owner) made it clear that they only hire full-time people. I told him about the book upfront and he was extremely supportive. Royal LePage knew when I started that I would have certain obligations related to the book – Kent didn’t think those would interfere with my capacity to work as a full-time sales representative, and he was right.”
To check out the flashy trailer for The Beggar’s Opera, the new series featuring Inspector Ramirez, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55oVtqWocAo&feature=youtube.
For upcoming events, news and blogs, visit www.inspectorramirez.com.
