Chapter 17: Taxi
Adam took a deep breath and showed an understanding look on his face. He finally realized his mistake.
Even if The Creator's Pen didn't allow him to choose a genre until he was upgraded, Adam remembered his past work, before all the events with this mysterious book.
Each time he tried to write books, trying different genres. And even if these books became more or less famous, Adam himself remained little known.
In addition, Adam's attempt to sit on all the chairs meant that he could not fully show himself in any one genre. In the end, this led to internal confusion, which caused Adam to feel a creative crisis.
- I see, thank you. - Adam thanked them sincerely, and they smiled at him.
The rest of the party was a success. Adam was having fun and fully incorporated into the company. It was deep into the night when he, being drunk, waited for a taxi.
Feeling dizzy, Adam cursed Ronald and the others in his mind. They'd made him drink an entire bottle of whiskey, something Adam's system was not ready for.
Five minutes later, the taxi arrived. Adam was relieved to be in the passenger seat, and the car drove off. On the way, the taxi driver struck up a conversation with him.
- Sir, are you the author?
- Uh... Ah, ick, yeah, yeah! - Adam smiled and nodded. - You know me?
- Of course, sir! - I've read your book "The Shadows of Death. It's very fascinating.
Adam smiled and tried to see the taxi driver's face in the mirror, but he couldn't see anything. It was blurry, making it impossible for Adam to remember what he looked like.
"Shit, have you been drinking too much?" Adam frowned.
- Sir, can I have your autograph? - the taxi driver asked.
- Oh, if there's paper and pen, no problem. - Adam smiled relaxed.
The taxi driver slowed down and pulled out a book from the glove compartment, on which was a text in a language unknown to Adam.
- What kind of book is this? - Adam asked, taking it in his hand. He felt strange.
- Ah, just a cool-looking book, sir. - the taxi driver awkwardly replied without turning his head, sign on the front of the book, please.
Adam only shrugged, and the taxi driver handed him something else. Adam raised an eyebrow.
- Is that a goose feather? - Adam muttered in surprise.
- Yeah. I like that kind of vintage style, you know. - the taxi driver told him as he stopped the car in front of Adam's house.
Adam had no choice but to resign, and he signed his name with a goose feather. Adam got out of the car and walked to the house, swaying from side to side.
The taxi driver, sitting in the car, put his hand over his signature and smiled.
- What an interesting man.
***
The next morning Adam headed back to the publishing house and sat in the café inside the building. Ronald sat in front of him and looked at Adam perplexed.
- Adam, but I didn't call a taxi. - Ronald said sincerely, which made Adam even more confused.
- Then who was it? I don't remember summoning... - Adam muttered, twirling the spoon in his hand.
- Well, maybe you called it in yourself and just forgot? Who knows, you were drunk as a skunk last night, ha-ha.
Adam shook his head and accused Ronald, to which the man only shrugged his shoulders. Soon they came to another conversation.
- The publisher recently recruited a whole team of animators. I tried to apply for a film adaptation of your book, but it was declined. I'm sorry.
- That's nothing, Ronald," Adam smiled and shook his head.
It was obvious that Adam's book contained too many violent scenes and was not suitable for film adaptation. Besides, Adam was an unknown author.
And yes, as of yesterday, Adam and Ronald decided to drop the formalities of being on a first-name basis. Despite their age difference, they became good friends.
- By the way, I remembered something. - Adam said as he cut the cake into two halves. - I've recently been receiving messages inviting me to sign contracts from small publishers. Why are they so active?
- Oh, that's... - Ronald sighed heavily, which made Adam raise an eyebrow. - It's chaos at the publishing house right now. The editors-in-chief have announced that monetization will be much easier to obtain starting next month.
- That's... - Adam suddenly came to a realization. - Are they trying to attract new writers?
- Exactly! The old authors have been in the lead for too long, so there's no novelty in sight. - Ronald said, then thanked the waiter who brought his order.
Looking at the monitor with the latest news, Adam grew gloomy. It was bad news for him, because the more writers there were, the more competition there was.
Adam sighed and leaned back in his chair. It seemed to him that things had become much more complicated.
- By the way, have you chosen your main genre yet? - Ronald suddenly asked, causing Adam to straighten up.
- I tried, but... no ideas at all! - Adam sighed and looked hopefully at Ronald. - Do you have any ideas?
Ronald hummed and pulled out his phone. He opened the portal to the authors and stared into the phone for a while, then smiled.
- Good news. For the past month, the fantasy genre has been leading by a huge margin. - Ronald showed Adam the statistics.
Adam was excited. The fantasy genre was close to him, so it wouldn't be that hard for him to break through. A faint smile appeared on his lips.
- Adam, but you should consider the fact that the competition in the fantasy genre is huge. - Ronald warned him and smiled. - But I believe in you, so do your best!
Adam smiled, too. They continued to discuss new news and together they looked at useful articles and information to help Adam get ahead.
Of course, Adam already knew most of the information, but Ronald's kindness touched him, and he decided to try for the next book. Soon, sometime in the evening, Adam returned home.
***
Sitting down at his laptop, Adam opened a word processor and began to think. There was plenty of room for a book in the fantasy genre, from adventure and magic to politics.
Adam decided to settle on the political novel. He made fantasy the main genre, and the second genres were political romance and intrigue. Adam smiled and began to write the concept of the world.
His smile grew bigger and bigger as he peered. Soon morning came and Adam got up, pulling himself up. He didn't look tired, even though he had been up all night. Sighing, Adam started for breakfast as he was starving.
At the same time, he sent the concept to Ronald so he could evaluate it.
Already in the kitchen, Adam was cheerfully singing along and making scrambled eggs. He turned on the news on his phone.
[Just recently we got a strange video in the mail... The person in that video claimed that this whole world is a lie. What do you think about that?]," the host asked the guest host.
[What am I thinking? That's just nonsense! You can see that the man is not all right at home. Just forget about him!]
Adam laughed and shook his head. He, too, thought the man was off his rocker, so he didn't take it personally.
After breakfast, he checked his mail and saw a message from Ronald pointing out errors and suggesting a few changes.
"Well, he's a senior editor for a reason." Adam smiled and began to work on his mistakes. And so his day passed.
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