Page 4 of The Author

I smiled. Sometimes, you need to take some risks. I opened up the book for a final read.

???

I woke up with my book fallen on my lap. It wasn’t a great start if my own book put me to sleep. I yawned and stretched out my arms. I needed to sleep for a few days after the amount of stress I had finalising everything. I put my book on the table and reached for my phone.

There was a message from my mum. My eye caught Tom’s email from the publishers. I opened up the email to read it.

Hi Faye,

I hope you are well. Just a quick email to ask you something. We use software to check for plagiarism and there is some duplication with another author's work. I have to ask you.

Did you copy any of your manuscript, or did you share it with anyone?

Sorry for asking. I can tell you that your manuscript was submitted first.

Kind regards,

Tom Elliot

Senior Editor

Rathbourne Publishing House

My heart plummeted.

How could this have happened?

I quickly hit reply and began tapping away at my keyboard.

Hi Tom,

I can assure you I have shared my work with no one else, and I most definitely have not copied anyone else’s work. I have been holed up in my house writing till it was finished.

Surely there must be an error? Please keep me updated. Are you able to tell me what was the same?

I've never come across this situation before.

Regards,

Faye Saunders

Distressed Author

I paused and read through it a few times before I hit send.

It helped that I had submitted my book first. Thinking about the creative process, it was difficult to imagine that two authors could churn out the same story with similar, if not the same, characters.

My eyes didn't leave my phone in the hope that Tom would reply back to me. The guy had been amazing throughout the whole process.

I wondered who the other author could be. It was doubtful he would give me a name. I pitied her for having to possibly re-write her book, but I was grateful it wasn't me having to do that painstaking task. I don't think I'd be able to see my keyboard through my tears.

I saw an email notification pop up, and I immediately opened up Tom’s response.

Hi Faye,

I didn't think you had and thank you for confirming that. Unfortunately, I'm unable to divulge any further information to you. Your book is fine, and the release date hasn't been impacted.

Rest easy.

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