Provided Authors Robin Epstein and Renee Kaplan will sign copies of their new book, "Shaking Her Assets," 4 p.m. Saturday at Borders.

So it goes for Rachel Chambers, the quirky editor-turned- entrepreneur protagonist of Robin Epstein's and Ithaca native Renee Kaplan's snappy first novel "Shaking Her Assets."

Epstein and Kaplan, who will do a reading and signing at the Ithaca Borders this Saturday at 4 p.m., are no strangers to the kind of career change Rachel undergoes when, forced to change direction after being downsized, comes up with a business idea that actually takes off. Kaplan has studied law and worked as a magazine editor, newspaper reporter, and television producer; Epstein has her M.F.A. in non-fiction writing and has done stand-up comedy and sitcom and freelance writing. The best friends have long anticipated the latest addition to their list: novelist.

"It was in one of those moments of transition, when I was in the process of inventing myself as a television journalist, and she [Epstein] was in the process of becoming a freelance writer, that we realized that this story of reinvention was kind of a story that a lot of people of our generation had," said Kaplan.

How did the pair meet?

"Robin and I met the very first week of our freshman year at Princeton...we immediately distrusted and disliked each other, and ended up not becoming reacquainted until our junior or senior year," recalls Kaplan, who says she had the "typical professors' kid's childhood" growing up in Ithaca, with one parent teaching at Ithaca College, the other at Cornell.

After graduating in 1995 with a degree in History and European Cultural Studies (Epstein majored in English), Kaplan went on to Harvard Law School. She dropped out two years later after realizing she wanted to go into journalism.

"One of the important aspects about both my reinvention and Robin's over the years is that there's always been a common thread," Kaplan said; hers is news, Epstein's is entertainment. "So those themes hold steady, and it has worked in my favor and hers because change keeps you fresh and keeps you strong."

"Shaking Her Assets," which is a unique hybrid of chick lit and graphic novel, took a year or so to write and revise. The authors outlined the book together and wrote alternate chapters before exchanging, editing, re-exchanging, and discussing them. "At the end, our biggest concern was coming up with one voice," Kaplan said.

Epstein, who has wanted to write a book from day one (in college, she promised herself she'd write a novel by age 25), never dreamed that she would one day write one with her best friend. "As it turns out, we have very different styles... we applied her [Kaplan's] background in newspapers and magazines and my background in sitcom writing...and fused them together...

"What I sort of learned in the process is that...you still have to get to your point pretty quickly in a novel before you lose people. Especially in the world we live in, with things competing for your attention, you need to draw a reader in fast."

True to Epstein's philosophy, Rachel gets canned from her editing job and dumped by her boyfriend of two years within the first five pages. And when the art director at Rachel's temp job turns her into a comic book superhero named Marilyn, a feisty, successful woman who knows how to take New York by a storm, Rachel begins to find a confidence that she never knew she had.

Likewise, both authors have seen good things come about in times of change. "As you keep moving forward, you keep finding something you like even more," Epstein said. "That's very exciting. I'd love to continue to reinvent throughout my life."

Originally published Thursday, June 23, 2005