8 years in the life

Chapter 57- 2015 Labor Day weekend

A/N: If you play the song, wait for the last part of the chapter.

Rory looked out of the window: clear blue sky, white sand, endless beaches with palm trees and turquoise sea. She couldn't believe how her life had changed over the summer. She had finished a short story, was writing a blog, New York Media have asked her to write book reviews for them, and more importantly, she had lost her grandfather. Since she graduated from Yale, she was changing her career orientation every two years. She officially was still a non-fiction editor, but the more she was entering the fiction world, the more she knew she was slowly switching. If she were optimistic, it was probably only a matter of time after the meeting she just had before boarding on this plane to Saint-Barth.

Jasmine, the author of the roman à clef she edited for Rodham, had been very enthusiastic about her short story and passed it to her agent, Catherine Targetti. And that was only last week. Today, she had spent one hour with Cath, that's how she wanted to be called, and Rory was still processing what happened. Of course, she had been dealing with literary agents for three years now, and this one didn't dance around the bush as she knew Rory was in the profession. Therefore, Cath wasn't trying to butter her up, right? Anyway, Jasmine had told her that she was very straightforward.

Thanks to Rodham marketing meetings that she hated so much, Rory knew that around 80 percent of books published by New York publishing houses were sold by literary agents. They were experts in this industry and represented their client's interests. They were the ones with inside contacts with specific publishers and knew which editors were most likely to buy a particular work. And more importantly, agents could secure the best possible book deal, and run interference when needed between the author and the publisher. She was dealing with that kind of things on a weekly basis.

All that meant that if Catherine Targetti wanted her to develop her story, she could have hope. Cath already had a reputation, even in the non-fiction world. This woman was a force of nature, and that wasn't a simplification. In front of her, Rory had felt like a leaf on the wind.

Anyway, she could still decide to self-publish. A lot of authors were doing that now, and very successfully. Various tools for self-publishing were now available for authors who prefer to do it alone.

On the other side, having an agent taking charge of the business side wasn't such a bad idea and totally worth the 15% commission.

It didn't mean that she was going to be published, far from it, but at least that someone from the profession felt that her short story had potential. She still had to deliver a book proposal which meant at least three chapters and a description of her novel. Of course, she could also send her story directly to publishers.

Even if at the end should it not work with Cath, it seemed like since she started writing a short story, it was as if she was under a lucky star, the same one that was designated to Robert for the President's biography.

She remembered what Christiane Amanpour said when she met her at the DragonFly Inn: "Just get in there, do what you can, show them what you've got, and the rest will take care of itself." Since then, she had been following this advice, and it drove her just where she was now. Starting to write a fiction novel.

# # #

The girls were chatting laying on sun loungers overlooking the sea, admiring the sunset, while the guys were standing at the water's edge nursing their drinks, the white-capped tide lapping at their feet.

Juliet raised her glass.

"To Steph for organizing this weekend in such a wonderful place. You really have done an amazing job." 

"To Steph!" The girls all raised their glass.

"What fun would have it been staying here alone? Now that I have everything settled for my work event, I can enjoy this place with my friends. Besides, we all needed a nice break before fall, in particular, Rory and Robert who had been working very hard in the city all summer."