This is the fifth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV before continuing.
“You will never guess the conversation I just had with Louisa Sanchez,” Kiara said, triumphantly slamming the door behind her.
“Who?”
“Isabella Vargas.”
“Oh.” Once she heard the famous romance author’s pen name, Dana knew who they were talking about. “Was it about synonyms for ‘penis’?”
“No. It was about the memoir she’s been contracted to write, and guess what they want her to focus on?”
Dana cocked an eyebrow at her wife before saying, “Based on our previous conversation, I’m tempted to say ‘her sexuality,’ but since she’s never written a book that focuses on a homosexual couple, I’m guessing that’s not it.”
“Nope. How being Latina has shaped her identity as a writer.”
Dana snorted.
“It’s funny,” Kiara continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a white writer say their editor is pressuring them to talk about how being white shaped their identity as a writer.”
Dana didn’t even bother to dignify that with a response. She just gave her wife a look that said, “What do you expect?”
“It’s not exactly a moral, but what if it’s the closest thing we have? Editors and publishers are trying to tell stories, and what story do WASPs love more than the American Dream? They love seeing stories of how people (especially minorities) struggled to achieve success.”
“Of course. Because it makes them feel like the members of oppressed minorities who didn’t make it failed because they were stupid or lazy, not because of systemic oppression.”
“Right. So, what if that’s your story?”
“What? My memoir? You know I was never really going to write a memoir.”
“No. I mean the story you’re going to write for your magazine.”
Dana cocked her head and lifted an eyebrow.
“Come on,” said Kiara. “You can’t tell me you’ve given up on your magazine article.”
“Actually, I can tell you that, because it’s true.”
“You can’t give up now. Think of what you could do with this information?”
“What information? One author’s experience, plus my own experience, is not information, it’s two case studies. Nowhere near enough to build a case.”
Kiara had remained standing by the door throughout this conversation, but now she came around the couch to sit next to Dana. She lowered her voice as she said, “What if I could get you access to a data base of memoir authors from minority communities?”
Dana’s jaw dropped. “You could lose your job for that.”
“Only if they catch me.”
Dana gave her a skeptical look. “And if your wife just happens to publish an exposé on the memoir publishing industry citing all authors who have published memoirs with your employer, you don’t think they’ll put two and two together?”
“What if I already took the database?” She held up a USB she had been holding behind her back.
Dana gasped. “You didn’t.”
“I 100 percent did.”
“Kiara, what were you thinking?” Dana chided her while simultaneously taking the USB and holding it with a reverence she normally reserved for very old first-edition books.
“I was thinking this story is too good not to be published. Besides, if I do get caught, I can always get another job.”
“Not in publishing you can’t.”
“Maybe I’ll start my own publishing company.”
“And where would you get the funding for that?”
“From all the money you’re going to make blowing this story wide open.”
To be continued…