Page 7 of Coming Home for Fall 5
“One of them might actually be going somewhere,” she said vaguely. “Or rather, it already has gone somewhere.” Ariel pushed her shoulders back and smiled wide. “I guess the secret is going to come out eventually, so I might as well tell you, although I originally wanted to wait until the contract was signed and things were more official.”
“Just tell her,” Taylor said. “What’s the point in keeping it a secret anymore?”
“Yeah, tell me.” Callie nodded, taking a seat on the couch next to Erica. “I want to know what’s going on in your life, honey.”
“It’s a children’s book,” Ariel said with a shy smile. “I wrote and illustrated it. It’s the first in a series—or at least, that’s what I’m hoping it’ll become. Right now, I’ve only been given a book deal for the first one, but—”
Callie gasped. “You’ve got a book deal?”
“Once I sign the contract, yes.”
“Oh my gosh, Ariel! That’s amazing!” She jumped to her feet and threw her arms around her daughter. “I’m so proud of you. Why didn’t you tell me you were writing a book?”
“I didn’t tell anyone,” Ariel admitted. “But I’m telling you now.” When they parted, Callie beamed at her daughter, overjoyed that agoodsecret had been revealed for a change.
“But why keep it a secret at all?” Callie’s smile faltered, recalling her own secrets and how they were not ones worth celebrating. “This is such wonderful news!”
Ariel shrugged. “I just wanted to wait and see where this all went before telling anyone. At first, it was only a hobby. I got back into making art and then created these little cartoon characters. Next thing I knew, I was giving them speech bubbles and dialogue!”
“Ooh, I want to read it so bad.” Callie sat back down on the edge of the couch, eager to hear more. “Do you have a copy with you?”
“Sort of,” Ariel said. “It’s just pages I printed at home and bound myself at FedEx, but it’ll give you a good idea of what the final book will look like. I’m still working on the cover though. That’s been taking me forever to get right.”
“They’re letting you do the cover all on your own?” Erica asked. “Sometimes with marketing material like that, they want to have a lot of input.”
“Don’t I know it,” Ariel scoffed. “I was given an offer a few months back by this publisher I thought I’d love working with, but when I read the contract and some of the notes from their editor… I realized they wanted to change almost everything. They were going to take a lot of creative control from me, which wasn’t something I wanted to give up. It was risky, but I turned them down and waited for someone else to come along.”
“Wow!” Pride blossomed in Callie’s chest. “That’s so brave! Weren’t you afraid to turn them down though?”
“Terrified!” Ariel chuckled. “Several weeks after that, I thought I’d said no to the only publishing deal I was ever going to get. But then, this new agent responded to my query letter, and I like to think it was fate. These people are letting me have a lot more creative freedom. I think.”
Erica frowned. “You think?”
“Well, that’s one of the things I wanted you and Taylor to help me with. I trust the literary agent I’m working with, she seems to really believe in my vision, so I’m not worried she’s trying to screw me over or anything, but I originally thought that about the last one, so…”
“It’s good to have a lawyer look over any contract before you sign it,” Callie said, nodding in agreement. “And since you have a couple of outstanding lawyers in your own family, there’s really no reason not to.”
“Exactly,” Taylor agreed. “We’re happy to help.”
“I’m also going to send it to a friend of mine who does copyright law,” Erica added. “Just to be extra cautious. She might catch a few things Taylor and I would otherwise miss since this isn’t our primary expertise.”
“Thanks, guys,” Ariel said, blushing a little. “It means a lot that you’re being so supportive.”
“Were you worried we wouldn’t be?” Taylor asked, tilting his head.
“No… I just… It’s been hard sometimes believing in myself. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I keep waiting for someone to tell me that I’m doing it all wrong and to just quit.”
“Imposter syndrome," Callie said, snapping her fingers, happy she remembered the term. “I read a whole article about how your generation—and especially women your age—struggle with imposter syndrome. But what you forget is that anyone who haseverwritten a book was once a beginner.”
Ariel smirked. “That’s true. At some point in time, even Steven King was writing a book for the first time and probably had no clue what he was doing.”
“Steven King?” Taylor laughed. “Since when are you a King fan?”
“Oh, I’m not,” Ariel clarified. “His stuff is way too scary for me. I just know he’s written about a million books, so he’s likelypretty confident in his abilities. But who knows? Maybe he’s just as hard on himself as the rest of us.”
“Well, there’s no need to be hard on yourself.” Erica grinned. “You did it! You got a book deal! Meaningyou’rethe real deal.”
“This is so exciting!” Callie clasped her hands together. “We should celebrate! I have a bottle of champagne that I bought for Thanksgiving, but I think we should go ahead and open it right now. I’ll have your dad pick up another one before Thursday. Where’s Mallory? Does she know the good news?”
