The Maine Event

Chapter 6

The week had been immensely productive for Rory. Setting into familiar homework mode had really helped, having guided her in plotting the whole book out on an old piece of wallpaper she'd found in one of the closets, the contents of that closet now scattered around the room, dusty books and albums piled up on chairs and dressers, the wallpaper itself now rolled out onto the study floor, covered in post-it's and scribbles. She'd even told Catherine just to leave it, feeling a little bad for making such a mess. But strangely enough the mess seemed to accommodate her thought process these days.

It was safe to say she was feeling very at home by now.

Having reached a certain balance point now, finally knowing what the book was going to entail, she'd also realized she needed some advice. And while she knew Logan would likely be just as much help, she also knew he had been working crazy hours all week, having just texted with him a few times before he went to bed. Besides, she felt like she owed Jess a call at least. After all, writing the book had been his idea.

Jess was at his office, procrastinating editing one of the manuscripts, that he just hadn't learned to love yet, a nordic noir thriller, where the main character just reminded him of himself a little too much to make it comfortable reading.

As his phone rang, he looked at the caller-ID with some surprise. He hadn't felt like calling her despite Lorelai's request. This didn't seem like his place, but now as the opportunity proposed itself, surely he could explore. He too was a little concerned.

"So you do have my number!" Jess answered his phone, teasingly.

"I do, and as much as I'd like to lie that this is a social call, I am actually calling to ask for some advice," Rory cut straight to the point.

"Auch, now I am offended," he laughed.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I wanted to ask your advice about the book, it's going really well," she added. She actually sounded happy.

"Sure, shoot," he replied. Though he doubted he possibly could add much if Huntzberger had already seen it. He might not have been the fan of Logan Huntzberger, he had seen him in action first hand, and stupid was not one of his adjectives.

"I want to try to get this published on my own, without asking for any favors. But I think I could use some tips on the game plan," she explained with a deep sigh.

Jess was impressed by that thought process, realizing how easy it would've been for Rory to just ask him or even Hunzberger to get her a contract. It would've happened in a blink of an eye, yet Rory was just as stubborn as ever.

"Have you settled on a genre?" Jess asked.

"Non-fiction novel," she replied.

"Okay, so what you do is write a proposal rather than the whole thing. You can keep working on what you have of course not to lose the flow," Jess suggested. "Have you been reading what you're up against in this category?" Jess inquired.

"I have it plotted out, about 7 chapters written, a few more drafted. Overall that's about one third of it. And, yes, I read some good memoirs. And I think I've managed to make it original enough," she explained, feeling pretty good about herself.

"Good, you always were good with your homework," he commented, his smirk being audible in his tone. "I'd love to take a look at what you've got," Jess admitted, the fact that Logan had read it first still stinging a bit.

"Sure, if you want," she replied a little hesitantly. Somehow she worried more about giving it to Jess to read than to Logan, one of the reasons being that the book dealt with her life until she went to college, which also meant Jess would be mentioned in the book.