Breaking Into the Business Read Online Free

unread e-mails. My hand
shook so much that it made it difficult to hover over the e-mail and double
click.
    I
scanned the e-mail first and then went back and read it in detail. There wasn’t
much there, so there couldn’t be a way to misinterpret. Famous author and
journalist Jeremy Towers had personally requested that I be assigned to his
manuscripts. He had heard about my work from another lesser-known author friend
of his, and had been so inspired by the other’s words that he insisted I do all
of his editing. Today, following his brief meeting with Mr. Leighton, I was to
have lunch with Mr. Towers and a calendar reminder accompanied the e-mail.
    “I
can’t go to lunch today,” I told Ben.
    “Is
it that bad?” he asked.
    I
filled him in on the e-mail.
    “That’s
wonderful!”
    “Shh,”
I said. “I don’t want anyone else to hear.”
    “Why?
This is great news.”
    “People
will get jealous. I’m a nobody around here and then suddenly one of our biggest
clients asks for me. You know the others on our side aren’t going to take this
well. I’m going to be ostracized.”
    “Who
cares? You don’t even come into the office that often anyway.”
    “It’s
the principle,” I said.
    “You
aren’t looking at this the right way,” Ben said. “You get to go to lunch with
one of your crushes.”
    “That’s
true,” I said, trying to hide my smile. I was sitting there trying to search
out the negative aspects of this new endeavor, when there were so many
positives.
    I
was going to get to eat lunch with the hottest man I had met in a long time.
And I had chosen that day to fix myself up. Maybe everything would turn out
okay.
    The
little restaurant on the corner was crowded, which lessened the nervousness
that the situation had presented. Jeremy and I had taken my SUV and arrived
within a few minutes. On the way there, he had talked about his latest book
signing when a crazy fan had tried to get him to sign her breast.
    We
had to wait a few minutes for a table, and halfway through the wait, I was
tempted to drop Jeremy’s name to see if it would get us a table any faster, but
thought better of it. My position in the company was increasing in prestige
with this new assignment and I had to act the part.
    When
we sat down, Jeremy actually pulled the chair out for me, which only made me
like him even more. As I sat back in the chair, I crossed my legs and waited
for him to speak first.
    “It
is lovely to meet you,” Jeremy said. “A colleague of mine told me how prompt
and diligent you were on his manuscript, so I knew that you were the one that I
had to work with.”
    “That’s
good to hear,” I smiled. “So, tell me what you’re working on right now.”
    “You’ll
be editing my latest book,” Jeremy said. “I’ve just finished the first draft
and need for you to take a look at it. In it, I detail nearly a dozen accounts
of obese women trying to have children. It’s a very intriguing story and will
be filled with many photographs to chronicle their journey.”
    “Did
any of them get pregnant?”
    “Five
of them did get pregnant,” he said. “But two of them could not carry the baby
to full term. They endured a plethora of health risks. The women that I talk
about are many hundreds of pounds, so the stakes and potential problems are
severe.”
    “That’s
awful,” I said, holding my hand up to my mouth.
    Jeremy
Towers was known for these types of books though. It shouldn’t have surprised
me. His critics in the literary circles asserted that he was no more than the
reality TV of the publishing world. There was truth to many of their claims. If
you read his book titles off, you wouldn’t know whether you were talking about
books or the fall line-up of basic cable programs.
    His
primary profession was as a journalist for one of the largest online magazines
in the world. He wrote very typical exposes, such as stories about puppy mills,
teenage pregnancy, and even one piece on the treatment of