At another weekly AA support group meeting, Jolene tallied everyone’s drinking frequency from the previous week as usual. She noticed that Norma had only drunk three times last week—huge progress.
Jolene was especially excited. “Oh my God, Norma only drank three times last week—that is so inspiring!”
Norma looked thrilled too. Only people who struggled with alcohol could truly understand the feeling of cutting back.
Everyone turned to her with surprised looks—not one of them suspecting she was lying. They were just curious how she’d done it.
Yes, no one lied. Every week, they all made an effort to record their drinking on their check-in sheets. The top three were chosen every week, and everyone encouraged those who’d made big strides.
Norma thought for a moment, then reached into her bag on the floor and pulled out a book.
It had a blue cover with two black silhouettes—wasn’t that Jolene’s The Ex-Wife’s Revenge?
But popular novels all looked pretty similar—Jolene wasn’t sure if it was the same one.
Another member pointed at the book in Norma’s hand and gasped, “Ha! You’re reading that book too?”
Norma hadn’t expected to meet a fellow reader and perked up immediately. She turned the cover to show everyone the title. “Yeah. I saw that woman on CNN last week talking about how she found out her ex-husband had cheated her, and she got compensation. I got curious and bought a copy. And wow—it grabbed me right away. It’s strange—this book is different from others. Not a lot of fancy words, but it’s so relatable. I felt like I was the main character. The sad thing is, my ex-husband took custody of my daughter. As I read, I was moved by the heroine’s struggle—and also thinking, ‘Who asked me to be a drunk?’ A drunk doesn’t deserve custody. So I want to be like Maria—not only take back what’s mine, but get revenge on my ex-husband too…”
The others remembered Norma had said she started drinking because her husband was abusive. And because of her drinking, she’d lost custody of her daughter.
But Norma used to drink two bottles a day—and now she’d only had three drinks all week. Was this book really that powerful?
“Yeah, I agree. I started reading it purely because the story was gripping. I got angrier and angrier as I read, and I just had to see how Maria would get her revenge. I mean, the book’s title is ‘Revenge,’ so I knew she’d fight back. Before I knew it, I’d read it all in one sitting. It felt so good—I’ve never read such a satisfying popular novel…”
And so, a group that usually shared how alcohol had ruined their lives turned their meeting into a book club that day.
Jolene was a little stunned. Was her book really this popular now?
“Jolene, this book is really good. You should read it,” Norma recommended to her.
“Actually, I read it too. It’s really good,” Jolene said awkwardly.
She didn’t want to lie to her group, but now wasn’t the time to go public. She didn’t want her employer finding out she’d been writing novels on the side. Once she had her own place, she’d show her face—not that it was necessary yet. It was just a mass-market paperback that had gotten a little buzz in a niche circle, not like she was a famous author.
“Maybe we can share other motivational novels we read in the future. For me, it really helps—at least while I’m reading, I don’t think about drinking,” Norma continued.
Others nodded in agreement.
Jolene’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t realized her book could help people quit drinking. It reminded her of something she’d heard—that Chinese web novels helped Americans quit drugs. So it really was a thing.
Of course, her book wasn’t like those male-oriented fantasy novels. Maybe she could write one specifically for people struggling with alcoholism someday.
After the meeting, Jolene went home, helped the kids with homework, told stories, played a few rounds of checkers, and got ready for bed.
These days, Ben had so many board games that he went looking for his brother every single day.
And Raymond had finally learned to play naturally with him. With all these toys, Raymond didn’t have to worry about Ben throwing a tantrum or any situation he couldn’t handle.
After spending several days at the library researching legal materials to fill out her outline, Jolene started working on her second novel.
This one was also around 100,000 words—a complete story in one book, unlike long-running series that made money across multiple volumes.
Jolene’s style was one story per book.
She kept the fast-paced opening: the first chapter introduced Amy’s husband dying unexpectedly, her chaotic life, and the humiliation of job-hunting and getting rejected everywhere.
Only by immersing readers in that situation could she create a stronger sense of empathy.
Then, a turning point—Amy discovered a discrepancy in her husband’s compensation and went through his pay stubs, finding the problem.
Chapter three: Amy went door-to-door to other families who’d received compensation and finally uncovered the issue. But the catch was—she couldn’t afford a lawyer to fight the case.
That was the first three chapters: Amy found the problem but couldn’t solve it. She was stuck.
This was a web novel technique, but Jolene applied it to print publishing.
This time, she’d realized that while her prose wasn’t perfect, it didn’t stop readers from enjoying the story. As long as the plot was compelling, readers would come. So she stopped obsessively revising every sentence and just wrote what she wanted to tell.
In one night, she cranked out 10,000 words in one go, then recopied it onto clean paper. Of course, she kept the messy first drafts—they were original manuscripts that proved her creative process.
During summer break, to keep the kids occupied, Jolene had to come up with ways to get them outdoors. She also made more board games with the two little ones.
By now, Jolene had received three weeks’ worth of pay. She could finally buy Emma some study books and get herself some notebooks. For now, buying a 486 computer would cost at least $2,000–$3,000—about a month’s salary, assuming she spent nothing else.
Monthly internet service via dial-up would run about $20 a month.
Jolene wasn’t ready for that luxury yet. Most authors still wrote by hand. Once she had her own computer, communicating with her editor via email would be much more convenient.
Browsing in a bookstore, Jolene spotted a giraffe height chart and bought one on impulse.
Back home, she asked Raymond if she could stick the giraffe height chart on the wall, so they could measure Ben anytime.
Raymond didn’t care either way. “Sure, go ahead.”
Jolene found her employer pretty easygoing—and lately, he’d been making time every day to play games with Ben. He kept his word.
The two kids were excited to have their heights recorded. As soon as Jolene finished putting up the chart, Ben rushed to be first.
Jolene had Ben stand against the wall, pressed her palm flat on top of his head, and read, “4 feet… uh, 0.4 inches—the centimeter markings say about 123 cm. Okay, I’ll write that down. We can measure every two weeks to see if Ben’s been eating well, sleeping well, and getting enough sun.”
Ben got all worked up. “I want two weeks to come fast! I’m definitely going to grow an inch!”
Jolene clicked her tongue but didn’t discourage him—there was no way anyone grew an inch in two weeks; that’d be a monster. She just said, “Mm, you can try. We’ll check the results in two weeks!”
It was Emma’s turn. She stood against the wall, a little nervous, hands pressed flat against her thighs. Jolene had to tell her, “Don’t be nervous—if you hunch up like that, you’ll measure shorter than you really are. There you go, relax, stand straight, look forward.”
“3 feet 5 inches—not bad. Emma’s grown! About 105 cm. Great job, Emma’s gotten taller too!”
Emma was so excited her breathing quickened. She nodded hard. “I’ll eat well and sleep well and get sun too!”
After Emma was done, Ben pointed at Jolene. “Jolene, why don’t you measure yourself? And my brother—how tall is Hugh? I want to be as tall as Hugh when I grow up!”
Raymond nearly choked on his water. He stood silently in the living room, giving his brother a look of utter disbelief.
He didn’t have to say a word—Jolene could feel how awkward he must be. They’d already done the childish pinky-swear last time—surely he wasn’t going to measure his height today too…
Jolene found it hilarious but couldn’t exactly tell Ben that the chart didn’t even go up to his brother’s height—it wouldn’t measure him at all.
Seeing both Jolene and his brother stay quiet, Ben got impatient and tugged at Jolene. “Jolene, measure yourself! Let’s see how tall you are.”
Jolene glanced at the giraffe chart—it went up to 180 cm max. Fortunately, compared to Raymond, she wouldn’t be nearly as embarrassed.
So Jolene cheerfully stepped over, marked her height with her own hand, turned around, and read the number. “5 feet 7 inches—pretty standard. About 170 cm.”
Ben nodded, then turned his curious gaze to his brother—his eyes saying it all.
Raymond sighed inwardly, walked over, and turned his back to the height chart—but he was clearly taller than the giraffe’s head. It couldn’t measure him.
“Unfortunately, this chart doesn’t go high enough for your brother. So Ben, you’ll have to work hard to grow tall—taller than the giraffe. You and your brother share the same genes, so don’t worry about being short. If you get enough nutrition, you might even end up taller than him!” Jolene said quickly.
She’d redirected Ben’s attention, and Raymond hastily stepped aside. To him, this was probably some kind of public humiliation—it just kept getting more childish.
Watching him like that, Jolene couldn’t help wondering—if he ever became a father someday, would he still be like this with his own kids?
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