Emma was pacing her apartment like a caged animal when Maya arrived with Thai takeout and a determined expression. It was eight PM, twelve hours before her first intensive editorial session with Jake, and Emma had managed to write exactly three sentences all of which she'd immediately deleted. "Okay," Maya announced, setting the food on Emma's coffee table with the authority of someone conducting an intervention. "We need to talk." "I can't do this, Maya." Emma gestured helplessly at her laptop, which sat open on her dining table like an accusation. "Jake wants me to rewrite my entire romantic arc with devastating emotional authenticity, and I can't even write a convincing paragraph about attraction." Maya opened the takeout containers methodically, the smell of pad thai filling Emma's small living room. "Em, sit down. Eat something. And tell me what's really going on." "What's really going on is that my editor has given me an impossible ultimatum, and I'm going to lose my publishi
Last Updated : 2025-09-06 Read more