Keep To The Script (Complete)

~ Chapter 1 ~

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Judith groaned as her phone went off on the nightstand beside her bed. She grabbed the extra pillow next to her and pulled it over her head, hoping it would stop the noise from coming in. Usually, her phone didn’t bother her, but she had been up way too late, reading the nasty reviews yet again left on her debut novel that her agent, editor, and friend kept telling her wasn’t worth the time to even look at. But, like a fool, she didn’t listen and then cried herself to sleep over the hateful comments, as she had done for the past two weeks. 

She had a lot of fun working on that novel and had well over two decades’ worth of writing under her belt, but she was terrified to put anything out there for the public to read. When her story got into the hands of Legacy Publishing thanks to her sister-in-law, and she got a phone call, along with an email, stating how much they loved her concept and wanted to publish it, she refused to believe it. But she took a leap of faith a month ago and had them work on it. The cover was exquisite, the promotion unreal, and the before comments blew her mind. The comments once the book dropped and people read it, weren’t so kind and forgiving; with a lot claiming that it had been overhyped. Needless to say, it broke her heart.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Judith groaned and wanted to toss her phone out the window. She didn’t need the noise and didn’t want people bothering her! You think most people would understand that because she didn’t answer the first go around. She blinked behind her pillow and yanked it back off, tossing it beside herself. With a frustrated groan, she reached for the phone, surprised to see her editor on the other line.

“Wake up,” Susan said, growling into the phone.

“It was another late night, leave me alone,” Judith mumbled, clearly letting it be known she was not in a good mood. Susan sighed on the other end.

“I told you not to read those comments and yet you still do; why didn’t you listen?” Even though the other woman couldn’t see her, Judith shrugged. She had no real excuse other than curiosity and you know the saying, it killed the cat. Though this time it killed her heart, her self-esteem, and the best part, her belief in herself. f*****g cat was lucky it only died!

“I’m a sucker for cruel and unusual punishment, I guess. You can’t blame me, Susan. I put everything into this book, I want the readers to be happy, and it seems a lot of them are not.” Judith wanted to cry; well, she had actually, repeatedly. She spent a good part of the last two weeks on and off crying at night and had fallen asleep most nights with the tears still wet on her face leaving all kinds of marks on her face.

“I know, Judith, I know. We saw it, but you have to believe me when I say we wouldn’t put our stamp on something that we felt was shit.” Judith could give Susan that. She had read the reviews of the publishing company, had seen whom they worked with, and yeah, they were some big, decent names. So, she wasn’t worried about putting her trust in them, exactly.

“Yeah, I know, I know the works you do.”

“Then listen to me, to your team, not to those people. I also told you, that the first so many reviews are from nay-sayers, that it takes a couple of good solid days and weeks for the real reviews to trickle in. Trust me, damn it. I know what I’m talking about.” Judith yawned and covered her mouth, even though no one was around. At 40 years old, manners were never gone from her, no matter if anyone was around to see her or not.

“Okay, okay, sorry.” Judith finally sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Did you call to check in on me, anyway?”

“Not exactly, although I am glad, I called.” Judith made a face at her phone before shrugging.

“What do you mean? Why else would you call me other than to tell me to stop doing something, huh?” Susan chuckled on the other end.

“You’re right.” Judith could hear the chair squeaking in the background from Susan and she turned to glance at her bedside clock. It was 9:30 in the morning, well past time for her to get up anyway. “What are your plans today?” She tossed the covers off herself and covered another yawn before standing up.

“Um, not much, I think. Avoid the internet at all costs, again. But you know me too, I think I might work on my next story.”

“Good for you that you’re avoiding that horrible crap that you don’t need to read. And even better that you want to write some more.” Judith grinned. Sure, the reviews were harsh still, but not all were, and she knew better than to let them get to her. But for right now, she wouldn’t focus on them. Her story wasn’t crap, she knew that, so she would actually take the advice now and not read them. Besides, if there was news, Susan would tell her.

“Well, writing is my passion, and for the moment, a part-time job. So, though I’d love to slack on it, I can’t. And because I’m not famous yet and have millions rolling in, I must get the ball rolling on the next book.” Judith walked into the bathroom and pulled her dirty brown hair up into a haphazard ponytail. No one would peg the woman in the mirror as a 40-year-old and she was grateful for that. In fact, it was an ego booster that some places still carded her, not that she thought for a moment she could pass for someone under the age of 21. But many people didn’t believe she was 40 either; something about a youthful face and not a lot of wrinkles.

“Yeah, about that.” Judith watched in the mirror as she frowned to herself, the words being odd to hear from Susan. What exactly was she referring to?

“What do you mean about that? About what? Are you letting me go already because I failed to achieve overnight success? Please, Susan, don’t can me already!” Okay, so maybe Judith was a bit of a smart-ass and loved to be dramatic. Maybe that’s why she loved writing drama too, it fit her and her life so well.

“No, no, no, geez, stop. That’s not even going to happen. Besides, the men in charge would kill me if I canned their rising star.” Judith gave a very unladylike snort at that.

“What rising star?” Judith wanted to laugh at that, the various comments she read shifting through her mind. However, with that question, she could hear the chair squeak again and then the papers being shuffled.

“Judith, when’s the last time you logged off the net?” The woman in the mirror crinkled her nose and thought that over.

“You mean when did I give up on reading those nasty, no-good, reviews again?” She could just tell that Susan was rolling her eyes at that one.

“Yesh, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Uh, um, I’d have to say around 11 or 11:30 last night. I was at it for a couple of hours, so I gave up.”

“And everything you saw, up till that point, was negative?” Judith turned around, her back to the mirror, and leaned against her bathroom counter. She saw quite a few messages that were good, and her ratings weren’t bad, even for all the negative comments that she saw. She tapped her nails on the counter as she leaned back, replaying what she read through.

“Pretty much. There were probably about a few good comments for every 10 or 12 I saw. Why?” The good ones were nice and thoughtful, but they sure didn’t dampen the harshness of the other reviews. So, for Judith, that was an odd question. Even from a publishing side, she couldn’t see how those few good comments were going to help her.

“When anything gets released, there is a time limit set up on it. Movies drop every Friday night, and the weekend allows them to rake in the funds along with the stars. New music tends to drop on Tuesday and ratings kick in by Wednesday evening.” Judith made a face but nodded at what Susan told her. She couldn’t quite understand why that was being explained. Sure, she got it, had even figured it out, but what did that have to do with her? With the reviews?

“Okay, and?”

“Books, novels, ebooks, poetry, any type of writing drops Monday morning, as you saw and why we dropped yours.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a specialized time.”

“There is because of the Monday blues if you will. A very sure study found that most people tend to read by Monday afternoon and night to help them get through the day and to sleep at night. That being said, Monday’s sales, reviews, and ratings are always the biggest issues and will show the wave for the incoming piece, and like everything else, your piece followed the trend we saw.” Judith wanted to groan at that. If the wave was that, her piece was going to get tossed within a few more days. “Yours skyrocketed over the weeks.” And what was she going to do with a book that…what? What did she just say?

“What do you mean?” Judith asked.

“Your book was the biggest download we’ve had in over six years, the highest grossing to debut, and the highest number of reviews received on an opening day, let alone over the last weeks. Weeding out the bad reviews, the comments are amazing. So much so that within two weeks of the book dropping, Legacy got an email.” Judith’s heart dropped at that.

“What type of an email?”

“The type of email that any author wants to hear. Your book is the best we’ve seen, the best a lot of people have seen, and it seems it’s caught the eye of Victor Sullivan from Big Sky Productions out of Hollywood. He wants to turn your book that he heard so much about, read in hours, and loved, into a movie and he wants you on set.” HOLY. s**t.