I am profiled on page 214 of the March issue of Albuquerque the Magazine. Will this be the article that finally makes me famous? Probably not, if my last brushes with fame are any guide and that might be a good thing.
In 1989, I lived in Washington DC, and wrote an article called "I fought the law and the law won," for Washington City Paper, the equivalent of Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi. It was about being unemployed in Washington. I had the surreal experience of seeing a Congressional intern in the Metro reading the article. I said "That's me," right before I got off the Orange Line at the Federal Triangle stop. I didn't see his response.
Their were definite repercussions to the article. There was an article about me in Georgetown's paper, which was ironic as I didn't get into Georgetown. When I finally did get a job in the Federal government, I was told specifically that I could not write any more articles. When budget cuts hit and I lost that job, I was so embarrassed that I moved to Roswell, New New Mexico to hide out. I did get a novel out of my Roswell sojourn, but that's another story.
In 1996, I was profiled in the business section of the Albuquerque Journal. The article said that I would be the next John Grisham. My novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer, was not actually published until 2000. Needless to say, I am not the next John Grisham.
A few years ago, my novel, Volcano Verdict was reviewed in New Mexico Magazine. The full page review was the best review of my career. I remember hurrying home every day that month to check amazon.com, and through my careful analysis of amazon ranking, I was able to calculate that ONE person bought my book because of the article. Did I mention that I bought TEN copies of the magazine?
As I've said, I have realistic expectations. I'm still up before dawn writing, working on the next novel. I bought one copy of the magazine, not ten. Maybe my next book will be reviewed in the New York Times...I am not holding my breath if it does.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Dog Day Oscar Ceremony
I recognized someone profiled in the "In Memoriam" part of the Oscar Ceremony. He was the one who nearly destroyed my writing career. Am I still bitter?
Frank Pierson had written the film Dog Day Afternoon and Cool Hand Luke, and then spent much of his retirement teaching at a film school. He almost failed me out.
During my mid-life crisis in film school, we had to produce a short film. A Korean director asked me to write The Silver Cross, the story of a contemporary detective who gets hypnotized and goes back to the middle ages to catch an evil wizard, all in thirteen pages. I would write five drafts, each seemed to be more confusing then the last. What we had here was a failure to communicate...
Our four days of production was difficult to say the least. We were trying to make Lord of the Rings on a Clerks budget. Incidentally, the guy who played the detective's partner would go on to star in the Geico commercials where he would ask "Can Geico save you money on car insurance?"
After the screening of our student film, Frank Pierson called us back to his office and told us that we had made the worst project, ever. He would call leave us all a message that someone would fail. He asked to see my drafts to see if it was my fault or the director's.
Well, he spent a long weekend reading all five of my drafts and determined that the director was at fault, not me. As the Director was a foreign national on a student visa, he was subject to deportation. I was subject to having doubts on my writing for the rest of my career. I was deported myself in a way, I thought of Frank when I left Hollywood twelve years ago and moved back to New Mexico and gave up screenwriting.
Still, I never gave up writing, and I now have eight novels to my credit.
When I saw Frank's face during the ceremony, I thought about The Silver Cross for the first time in years. He was a good teacher after all, and he was right, our film was terrible. If one of my projects ever becomes a film and I get to thank someone, I will certainly thank him!
Frank Pierson had written the film Dog Day Afternoon and Cool Hand Luke, and then spent much of his retirement teaching at a film school. He almost failed me out.
During my mid-life crisis in film school, we had to produce a short film. A Korean director asked me to write The Silver Cross, the story of a contemporary detective who gets hypnotized and goes back to the middle ages to catch an evil wizard, all in thirteen pages. I would write five drafts, each seemed to be more confusing then the last. What we had here was a failure to communicate...
Our four days of production was difficult to say the least. We were trying to make Lord of the Rings on a Clerks budget. Incidentally, the guy who played the detective's partner would go on to star in the Geico commercials where he would ask "Can Geico save you money on car insurance?"
After the screening of our student film, Frank Pierson called us back to his office and told us that we had made the worst project, ever. He would call leave us all a message that someone would fail. He asked to see my drafts to see if it was my fault or the director's.
Well, he spent a long weekend reading all five of my drafts and determined that the director was at fault, not me. As the Director was a foreign national on a student visa, he was subject to deportation. I was subject to having doubts on my writing for the rest of my career. I was deported myself in a way, I thought of Frank when I left Hollywood twelve years ago and moved back to New Mexico and gave up screenwriting.
Still, I never gave up writing, and I now have eight novels to my credit.
When I saw Frank's face during the ceremony, I thought about The Silver Cross for the first time in years. He was a good teacher after all, and he was right, our film was terrible. If one of my projects ever becomes a film and I get to thank someone, I will certainly thank him!
Monday, February 25, 2013
And the Oscar Goes to...Me?
I watched the Oscars last night. I've actually held an Oscar in my hand a few years back when I was in film school. I was attending a party at someone's house. They are heavier than you expect. As I am no longer writing screenplays, it's unlikely that I will win one, but a man can dream, can't he?
As you know, nearly a thousand people downloaded my novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer, for free last month, Perhaps one of those people is indeed a good screenwriter, who does indeed have good connections. Maybe one of those thousand people is a producer looking for new material. New Mexico is now back on track with film production, so maybe this producer puts it on the fast track.
If I get attached as a producer myself, I would get to go up to podium at least. Hell, when I was in film school, I had a crush on a fellow student who directed a film where the actress won the award. She was thanked up on stage. I would settle for a good thank you!
I've told you about my cousin who won an Emmy for writing. He looks exactly like me, but it ten years younger and ten pounds thinner. The genes are there. People have heard me give a lecture and have gone on to win writing awards, and that's something too.
I've won ONE award in my life. Best non-fiction book proposal from Southwest Writers. Last year, I was up for the same award again and took second. That was the worst dinner of my life, but that's another story. In national awards, La Bajada Lawyer took a second place too. I'm not exactly Susan Lucci, who was nominated and never won.
Am I up at dawn, writing to get an award? Of course not. Yet, it is a fun motivator before I sip my morning coffee. At the end of the morning, just getting a few good pages done is job satisfaction.
Still...A man can dream, can't he?
As you know, nearly a thousand people downloaded my novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer, for free last month, Perhaps one of those people is indeed a good screenwriter, who does indeed have good connections. Maybe one of those thousand people is a producer looking for new material. New Mexico is now back on track with film production, so maybe this producer puts it on the fast track.
If I get attached as a producer myself, I would get to go up to podium at least. Hell, when I was in film school, I had a crush on a fellow student who directed a film where the actress won the award. She was thanked up on stage. I would settle for a good thank you!
I've told you about my cousin who won an Emmy for writing. He looks exactly like me, but it ten years younger and ten pounds thinner. The genes are there. People have heard me give a lecture and have gone on to win writing awards, and that's something too.
I've won ONE award in my life. Best non-fiction book proposal from Southwest Writers. Last year, I was up for the same award again and took second. That was the worst dinner of my life, but that's another story. In national awards, La Bajada Lawyer took a second place too. I'm not exactly Susan Lucci, who was nominated and never won.
Am I up at dawn, writing to get an award? Of course not. Yet, it is a fun motivator before I sip my morning coffee. At the end of the morning, just getting a few good pages done is job satisfaction.
Still...A man can dream, can't he?
Saturday, February 23, 2013
I Am Not My Main Character!
Now that people are reading my new novel, Rattlesnake Wedding, I worry that they will confuse me with my main character. Well, I am not him. Seriously.
My main character apparently inherited money from his Dad and is floating through life when the story begins. He falls in love with a woman with a ten year old and then meets the father of said ten year old. The father, Marlow is accused of kidnapping and the main character is stupid enough to defend him.
In reality that would never happen. If I got a call on a case like that I would refer it away.
People read my books in jail. One guy wanted me to "set him up" with the Luna Cruz character when he got out of jail. I told him that she was fictional, he didn't care. "I've got fictional charges too. Maybe she can help me."
The main character supposedly lives in the Bank Lofts on Second and Central, a building I chose because I have never seen a light on in ANY of the nine stories of the building. His office is in a converted bank vault or something like that.
The wedding takes place in the atrium of the District Courthouse, but unfortunately there is a shooting at the reception at a nearby hotel. Thankfully, neither event happened in real life. I had a very nice wedding where the worst thing that happened was that the DJ played "Under the sea" as our first song rather than "And he kissed me."
Still, I went to every place mentioned in the book and used my own memories to re-construct the scenes. I imagined my own dialogue in certain situations. I was crying as I wrote the final scene, even though I have never suffered a loss like the main characters do.
There is a scene where the main character sits next to an author at a "gentlemen's club." That author isn't me, either.
My main character apparently inherited money from his Dad and is floating through life when the story begins. He falls in love with a woman with a ten year old and then meets the father of said ten year old. The father, Marlow is accused of kidnapping and the main character is stupid enough to defend him.
In reality that would never happen. If I got a call on a case like that I would refer it away.
People read my books in jail. One guy wanted me to "set him up" with the Luna Cruz character when he got out of jail. I told him that she was fictional, he didn't care. "I've got fictional charges too. Maybe she can help me."
The main character supposedly lives in the Bank Lofts on Second and Central, a building I chose because I have never seen a light on in ANY of the nine stories of the building. His office is in a converted bank vault or something like that.
The wedding takes place in the atrium of the District Courthouse, but unfortunately there is a shooting at the reception at a nearby hotel. Thankfully, neither event happened in real life. I had a very nice wedding where the worst thing that happened was that the DJ played "Under the sea" as our first song rather than "And he kissed me."
Still, I went to every place mentioned in the book and used my own memories to re-construct the scenes. I imagined my own dialogue in certain situations. I was crying as I wrote the final scene, even though I have never suffered a loss like the main characters do.
There is a scene where the main character sits next to an author at a "gentlemen's club." That author isn't me, either.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Rewrite for your Right to Party!
The Beastie Boys implored their listeners to fight for their right to party. I had thought that I could write my way to a big book contract party after a single draft of my novel. Unfortunately, I need to be doing some serious rewriting before the party begins. I had been bragging about writing a novel in the span of a few months, and then I went back and read what I wrote. No need to brag any more. Let's just say, I am very glad that I did not send the book out.
Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather, supposedly said "The secret to writing is rewriting." Well, my book has made me an offer I can't refuse, I better rewrite it in secret.
Speaking of rewriting, I just had to rewrite this blog as I was calling it re-wrting.
I noticed that I use the word notice. I noticed that I used the word noticed noticeably more than necessary. "As in "he noticed." I went through every time I used the word and took it out just on general principal. My book is 87,000 words already, the word "noticed" is probably 200 of those. I also realized that I used the word "realized."
It's time to stop realizing and noticing and start living.
In other books, I usually use the word "I" as if I was being paid by the word, and I wanted to get the most bang for the buck. Thankfully, in this project, I'm writing in the third person. Still whenever three people are in the scene, I have to make sure that we know who is who.
My characters also need to stop laughing so much. Rather than "he said," characters tend to be in sentences, when they say "he laughed." Usually, the sentence isn't particularly funny.
There will be a party of intergalactic proportions when this book is done and sold. Until then, it's back to a party on the computer.
Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather, supposedly said "The secret to writing is rewriting." Well, my book has made me an offer I can't refuse, I better rewrite it in secret.
Speaking of rewriting, I just had to rewrite this blog as I was calling it re-wrting.
I noticed that I use the word notice. I noticed that I used the word noticed noticeably more than necessary. "As in "he noticed." I went through every time I used the word and took it out just on general principal. My book is 87,000 words already, the word "noticed" is probably 200 of those. I also realized that I used the word "realized."
It's time to stop realizing and noticing and start living.
In other books, I usually use the word "I" as if I was being paid by the word, and I wanted to get the most bang for the buck. Thankfully, in this project, I'm writing in the third person. Still whenever three people are in the scene, I have to make sure that we know who is who.
My characters also need to stop laughing so much. Rather than "he said," characters tend to be in sentences, when they say "he laughed." Usually, the sentence isn't particularly funny.
There will be a party of intergalactic proportions when this book is done and sold. Until then, it's back to a party on the computer.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Paperback Fighter
I downloaded my new novel, Rattlesnake Wedding a few days ago, but even I will admit it's not the same thing as holding 360 pages of trade paperback in your hand. Yesterday, I received a twenty-three pound package from Brainerd, Minnesota. I felt like I was ten and just got a twenty-three pound Tony the Tiger from Battle Creek Michigan.
I waned to carve the box open with a knife, but I didn't want to carve up the front cover by mistake. It took me a few moments to open the cardboard with my car key, I then ripped open the flaps and grabbed the book. I made my wife take a picture of me holding the book. The book looked far better than I did.
When I saw my first novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer back in 2000, I caught a spelling mistake on the first page. I had actually cried in the Chicago convention center the sight of Book Expo America. My only complaint was a minor one, there is no blank page between the Author's note and the Prologue, so the Prologue appears on the left side. Will careless readers miss the Prologue page? On page 300, Luna is spelled Liuna.
No need crying over minor mistakes, I have my book in my hands!
I did not feel the same elation when I downloaded the book from amazon. I certainly didn't feel the same sense of ownership. Reading a book on a computer is like reading a newspaper article on the computer or reading an email on the computer. It still feels a little like work.
That's not to say I don't want people to download my books.
I was reading an online article in the New York Times about Google Glass, the eyeglasses people can wear that connect to the internet. That means someone can get an email from someone regarding my book, pay for it and download it instantly and begin reading it, all while being waiting at an intersection in their automatically driven Google car. Presumably I would still be paid for that as well . . .
The Beatles sang derisively about the Paperback Writer. Well, I'm a Paperback Fighter for now...
I waned to carve the box open with a knife, but I didn't want to carve up the front cover by mistake. It took me a few moments to open the cardboard with my car key, I then ripped open the flaps and grabbed the book. I made my wife take a picture of me holding the book. The book looked far better than I did.
When I saw my first novel, Rattlesnake Lawyer back in 2000, I caught a spelling mistake on the first page. I had actually cried in the Chicago convention center the sight of Book Expo America. My only complaint was a minor one, there is no blank page between the Author's note and the Prologue, so the Prologue appears on the left side. Will careless readers miss the Prologue page? On page 300, Luna is spelled Liuna.
No need crying over minor mistakes, I have my book in my hands!
I did not feel the same elation when I downloaded the book from amazon. I certainly didn't feel the same sense of ownership. Reading a book on a computer is like reading a newspaper article on the computer or reading an email on the computer. It still feels a little like work.
That's not to say I don't want people to download my books.
I was reading an online article in the New York Times about Google Glass, the eyeglasses people can wear that connect to the internet. That means someone can get an email from someone regarding my book, pay for it and download it instantly and begin reading it, all while being waiting at an intersection in their automatically driven Google car. Presumably I would still be paid for that as well . . .
The Beatles sang derisively about the Paperback Writer. Well, I'm a Paperback Fighter for now...
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Maniacs and Asses
George Carlin had a famous routine about your fellow drivers on the highway. Anyone faster than you was a maniac. Anyone slower than you was an ass. (well, you get the idea) I try not to feel that way when people talk about how their writing is going. I have to resist the urge to shout.
I've been a member of several writing groups, some online. Invariably there's a discussion on how people are doing. One elderly woman bragged about being halfway through her haiku about flowers. Seriously. I had the urge to shout ass. One guy said that he appeared on a radio show with his self-published book about quantum physics in the bedroom and sold over a hundred thousand copies in an hour. I wanted to shout maniac.
I'm not even going to talk about the people who go on and on and on and on when they talk about their writing. They can be maniacs or asses, and if someone makes an announcement for longer than a two minute movie trailer during a meeting, it doesn't matter.
With my own announcements, I have made myself a target, both in person and online. If I brag about selling fifty books at a book signing, I am most certainly a maniac. If I announce that I wrote a really nice paragraph then I almost always an ass.
The important thing is not to let it get to you either way. As I've said, be happy for other people's success. Have empathy for people's difficulties. Realize that when you make an announcement that you are going to cause a reaction in other people's feelings either way.
So next time you are making an annoucement, pretend that the late George Carlin is peering down from the great comedy club in the sky. Don't worry about whether he considers you a maniac or an ass. Just ask yourself, am I entertaining him?
I've been a member of several writing groups, some online. Invariably there's a discussion on how people are doing. One elderly woman bragged about being halfway through her haiku about flowers. Seriously. I had the urge to shout ass. One guy said that he appeared on a radio show with his self-published book about quantum physics in the bedroom and sold over a hundred thousand copies in an hour. I wanted to shout maniac.
I'm not even going to talk about the people who go on and on and on and on when they talk about their writing. They can be maniacs or asses, and if someone makes an announcement for longer than a two minute movie trailer during a meeting, it doesn't matter.
With my own announcements, I have made myself a target, both in person and online. If I brag about selling fifty books at a book signing, I am most certainly a maniac. If I announce that I wrote a really nice paragraph then I almost always an ass.
The important thing is not to let it get to you either way. As I've said, be happy for other people's success. Have empathy for people's difficulties. Realize that when you make an announcement that you are going to cause a reaction in other people's feelings either way.
So next time you are making an annoucement, pretend that the late George Carlin is peering down from the great comedy club in the sky. Don't worry about whether he considers you a maniac or an ass. Just ask yourself, am I entertaining him?
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