Principessa Diana

Chapter One: Diana

Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing in CBS' sandbox.

"Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it – just as we have learned to live with storms."

- Paulo Coelho

"So, to recap: Footprints in the Sand made the New York Times Bestseller's List – at number one, Harlequin expects the finished manuscript for, The Phantom Revisited by the end of next month, and Warner Brothers has put out feelers about buying the rights to Love's Bounty." My agent, Kristy, droned on but I wasn't really paying attention. It was just the same old crap on a different day.

I needed a break. Pushing out five romance novels a year was killing me. I was twenty-nine and had been dong this since I was nineteen and had been discovered after submitting a short story to a contest being run by the romance publisher, Harlequin. I had been a fresh voice, an author writing for teenagers and young adults instead of middle aged, bored with their marriages housewives. I was the pride of the Harlequin stable of authors but I was sick of it. Instead of writing about romance, I actually wanted to live for once. I was the only romance writer that I knew that didn't have so much as a boyfriend waiting at home. Aside from a first love that had left me pretty scared for life and a few dates here and there, I really had no romantic experience whatsoever. I wrote about what I wanted, not what I actually experienced. Fantasy and reality were two extremely different things. How was I ever going to find love if I spent all of my time simply writing about it?

"Diana? Are you even listening to a word I say?" Kristy huffed as she picked up her glass of ice tea and took a sip.

We were at our weekly brunch meeting at Artison's Table, my favorite restaurant in my hometown of Orlando.

"Yeah...what else is on the agenda?" I asked absently.

Kristy just rolled her eyes as she looked back down at her iPad. I had known her since we were in the fourth grade together. I had been the introverted weird girl. Kristy had been the class mean girl...and not much had changed over the years. She was still a colossal bitch. The only reason I worked with her was because her bitchy demeanor also served to make her one of the best literary agents in the industry.

"May first through the seventh you are expected in Boston for the annual Muse and Writer Conference. You are giving two lectures, have agreed to hold a workshop, perform a book signing, and attend an author's panel on the last day of the conference." Kristy rattled off in a bored tone of voice.

I loved Boston. The history of the city alone was enough to draw me in every time. I'm pretty sure the week I got to spend there was the main reason why I agreed to attend the Muse and Writer Conference every year. It sure as hell wasn't because I enjoyed meeting new people.

"After that, don't schedule any more personal appearances for awhile. I have way too many unfinished manuscripts sitting on my desk." I instructed as the waitress arrived with our meals.

"The fewer appearances you make, the less money you make."

"Money isn't everything." I shook my head. I had made enough to retire a long time ago so I really wasn't worried about the financial ramifications of my decision.

When I looked up at my agent, poor Kristy looked like I had just told her that the world was flat. Opps. I had forgotten. Kristy got twenty percent of all my appearance fees. Guess she was going to have to lay off the expensive spray tans for awhile.