To better understand Steven’s past, Genevieve starts reading the available posts and articles by his sister, who died in a car crash in 2005. Steven has continued to pay the annual fees on Rebecca’s main blog account.
“Hey, I’ve been reading some of Rebecca’s blog entries,” Genevieve tells him one afternoon at L. J.’s office.
“What did you think?”
“She never pulled any punches, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah. I’ve thought about compiling them and shopping them around to see if anyone’s interested in publishing a volume.”
“You have?”
“Becky had a friend who’s an agent and they were talking a few months before Becky died.”
“You should. I think there’s a market.”
“No time. Becky’s work is scattered across several publications, not to mention side projects she had. She was rather prolific for the short time she was writing.”
“They’re online, right?”
“Mostly. There were print magazines, but I think they have online components.”
“Maybe I can help. I’m a whiz at searching the Internet.”
“Wouldn’t that interfere with your studies?”
“Not really. I can set up a search function to run while I’m at school and see what it digs up.”
“Sure, if you don’t think it will take up too much of your time.”
“Not a problem.”
“Oh, talk to Leah. I gave her the hard drive off Becky’s computer that was damaged in the accident.”
“I will.”
“Let me know what you find.”
“Count on it.”
That night, Genevieve asks L. J. about the hard drive.
“It was in very rough shape,” L. J. says. “In fact, it was about the only thing salvageable from her computer.”
“Steven gave me the okay to search for material on the web. He also suggested I get with you about the drive.”
“I’ll give you that and the CD I compiled of files I managed to recover. Maybe you’ll have better luck with it.”
Genevieve writes a script to mine the Internet for every mention of Rebecca and to tag any articles authored by her. She lets it run while she’s at school, and when she checks it that evening, it’s uncovered several hundred links. She enlists Abigail and Gloria’s assistance in sorting through the material.
“I met Rebecca once at one of our family’s jams, when I was a freshman in high school,” Gloria says while they’re on a three-way call. “She kind of hit on me.”
“Really?” Genevieve says.
“Yeah. She was really drunk. Caused a stir during a performance then passed out in the living room. I think she snuck out later. Mom said she apologized when they ran into one another at a show the following month. She died later that year.”
“Steven thinks Rebecca wrote enough for a book, but honestly, I think there’s too much for one book,” Genevieve says. “She published an original blog post several times a week for nearly two years, plus she published at least weekly in five or six local publications for at least as long. Whatever her faults, she was certainly diligent in writing.”
“You should talk to Claire,” Gloria says. “Also, Brian and Charlotte would be good sources. Rebecca helped them reach a wider audience.”
“Ooo, I volunteer to talk to them,” Abigail says. “Oh, and Brian invited us to a jam at their place at the end of the month.”
“Sounds good,” Genevieve says. “L.J. didn’t know her but says Alyssa was a friend, so Abby, talk to her, too.”
“On it.”
“I worked with The Signal — GSU’s campus paper, and I know my way around a computer,” Gloria says. “I’m happy to help out with editing.”
“Welcome aboard, then,” Genevieve says. “I’ll set up a secure Cloud account so we can compare notes and share info. Steven says he’s talked to one of Rebecca’s friends who’s an agent. She asked him to send her a draft, if he gets enough compiled. It sounds like she was talking to Rebecca about it before she died and knew a publisher who was interested.”
“That’s great,” Abigail says. “I’m able to help as much as I can until I hear something from Emory.”
“Right now, I think we just need to get everything in one place to get a handle on what we’re dealing with,” Genevieve says. “From there we can develop a plan to put something together.”
