Lee Goldberg

Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

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There are some folks who think I was too hard on Tess Gerritsen (A writer whose work I admire and enjoy, by the way)  for lamenting on her blog that her latest book only reached #17 on the New York Times bestseller list.  She also wasn’t too pleased about my post. She wrote on her blog:

It seems that writers who reach a certain level of success aren’t allowed to
have any insecurities, any doubts about our careers. We shouldn’t be allowed to
wonder if our sales are in a death spiral, whether we’ve lost "it". We should
simply smile and wave and feel like, well, the untouchable queen of England.

I think Tess missed my point. Sharing her insecurities is great (I find it very  endearing, actually) it’s what she said  and how she expressed it.  Can she really expect people to sympathize with her angst about only hitting #17 on the NY Times bestseller list? If that’s a problem, I think it’s one all writers would like to have.

My agent calls those "champagne problems." It’s like a lottery winner saying he’s depressed  he just  won $500,000  because he won $1 million before… or a TV producer with the highest-rated show in America who is miserable because his series didn’t get an Emmy nomination for Best Drama. On the other hand,  I think any writer can appreciate the  insecurities Tess feels  when she begins each book:

The truth is, I’ve never conquered my insecurity as a writer, and having hit
the list doesn’t change that. I’ve never lost touch with the feeling that
success is a never-ending struggle. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I
slogged my way up as a paperback romance writer, that I wrote nine of those
before my first hardcover, and I’ve never forgotten what rejection feels like.
Every time I sit down to start a new book, I’m always hit with that panicky
feeling of "How on earth did I do this the last time?"

That’s refreshing to hear coming from someone with the kind of success Tess has had…and it’s good for other writers to know, particularly those struggling to make it.  So please, Tess, don’t let my comments stop you from being so open, honest, and helpful on your blog. God knows I’ve certainly made the mistake of saying exactly the wrong thing on my blog… in fact, I do it almost daily. I may be doing it again right now.

Chicago Trib Review

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Much to my surprise,  Dick Adler reviewed DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE PAST TENSE in the Chicago Tribune today. Here’s what he had to say:

"Diagnosis Murder: The Past Tense" (Signet, $6.99), by
Lee Goldberg, is the latest–and arguably the best–original mystery
based on the popular Dick Van Dyke TV series, which Goldberg wrote and
produced. What makes it more than just another spinoff is the way
Goldberg takes the reader–and his hero, Dr. Mark Sloan–through 40
years of Los Angeles history, a journey that captures the unique flavor
of the city so many of us used to call home.

It’s not often that paperback TV Tie-ins get reviewed in major newspapers… or anywhere...so naturally, I’m thrilled.  I’ve heard a rumor that another Chicago newspaper is also reviewing the book soon…

“Would You Be Interested In Writing a Book On My Life?”

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I got this email today. It’s so, um, incredible that the only way to truly appreciate it is to read the whole thing. I present it here unedited. All I’ve done is remove the sender’s name (why, oh why, do they write to me?)

Dear Sir,

I can only imagine once you have read the first coupple of lines
of this letter you will probably think that I am mad ? but who knows and no one
ever said there was ever any harm in trying?

I was wondering if you would be able to assist or if you would be
interested in writing a book on my life, or at least advice me on how to write a
book, I will give you a brief outline.
 
I was born in the UK my Dad died when I was little and I had a  real struggle growing
up. I joined the Royal air Force and had a good life in the military,
I was in there for 15 years until I met my girlfriend,I came to America and gave up a military career and  pension and
benefits because I got my girlfriend pregnant, I stood by her and did what was
right, I married her she is an officer in the United States Air force.
I was left with the child our son Rhys at 4 months of age while
she went away on a TDY and partied getting drunk and blowing away $7000 of my
money that I gave to her to pay off a car loan to benefit us as a newly wed
couple.

Read more

Zoe Sharp Conquers America

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AuthorMy friend Zoe Sharp and her "Charlie Fox" books are already a success in the UK and now she’s about to hit our shores with the  fourth novel in the series. Judging by the starred, rave review in Publisher’s Weekly, she could be poised for even greater success here:

Sharp’s aim is dead on in her stunning U.S. debut, the fourth
book to star ultra-cool biker chick Charlie Fox. The no-nonsense, 26-year-old
Charlie, a former British Army soldier (and survivor of a gruesome gang rape)
has joined the protection agency of her ex-lover, Sean Meyer. On her first
assignment, Charlie finds herself on a too thrilling roller-coaster ride in
Florida, guarding geeky 15-year-old Trey Pelzner, son of Keith, a computer whiz
working for a small software company specializing in accounting and data
manipulation. After an attempt is made on Trey’s life, Charlie calls for backup
that turns out to be anything but and soon discovers that Keith–the developer
of a faulty stock indicator program–has vanished, as has Sean. Action-packed,
tightly plotted and with an irresistible first-person narration, this crisp,
original thriller should win Sharp (Hard Knocks , etc.) plenty of American fans.
Agent, Anubis Literary Agency (U.K.) . (Sept.)

I’ll be signing with Zoe on Sept. 14 at noon at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood, CA and at 7 p.m. at Mysteries to Die For in Thousand Oaks. I suggest you order one of her signed books in advance because the first editions are likely to sell out fast.

DM Fans Are The Best

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My Mom is going through chemotherapy for a third time and wrote about the experience on her blog. She was delighted and touched to get this email this morning from a DIAGNOSIS MURDER fan. So was I.

Dear Mrs. Curran,

You don’t know me, but I  know you through your son Lee.  I am a big Diagnosis Murder fan and a devoted reader of Lee’s books. Sometimes I click on your blog and read how you are. Today I read that you are facing a chemotherapy again.  I am sending  you my best wishes and hope that the new therapy doesn’t make you sick! Keep strong!

Sincerely Yours,
Ute

Ute was also one of the many Diagnosis Murder fans who inundated me with get-well cards, letters, emails and stuffed animals with bandaged arms when I had my bad accident a year ago.  I dedicated my DM:  THE WAKING NIGHTMARE to them but, in truth, all the DM books I write ar for them.  They’re the best!

The Struggling Writer

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Author Tess Gerritsen is saddened because her book only reached #17 on the NY Times Bestseller List.

I’m sorry to report that I didn’t drink champagne on Wednesday
night. Alas, the first partial week’s paperback sales of BODY DOUBLE
only got it to #17 on the NYT list. Sigh. Then I looked at the other
authors whose books debuted the same week: Nora Roberts. Dean Koontz.
Clive Cussler. Catherine Coulter. Janet Evanovich. And I realized —
whoa, there’s some pretty tough competition there! I’m going to hang on
tight this coming week and see what happens next Wednesday. And hope
that there are enough readers out there who care enough about Jane and
Maura to want to find out what happens next in their lives.

Publishing lesson: Success is never a sure thing in this business.
Ever. This is what keeps me humble and always feeling like a struggling
writer.

Gee, life is tough.  I guess when you reach a certain level of success, you lose all perspective. Having a book reach #17 on the NY Times bestseller list may put Tess  in the doldrums…but for the vast  majority of published authors, cracking the list at all would be cause for celebration. Surely, she knows that, right?

On the other hand, here’s a peek at the real world that most authors have to live in. Author Beth Ciotta has had three mass market paperbacks published but isn’t making a living at it.

Last week, I visited my family in Indiana. When I mentioned this box
office gig and the one I’m waiting to hear about, my mom said, "What do
you mean you had to get a job? Don’t you make money from your books?"

Last
night my husband and I met up with a group of musician
friends. Everyone asked if I was still gigging a lot, to which I had to
answer ‘no’ and then I mentioned the ‘jobs’. Again I got a strange look
coupled with comments like, "But I thought you had another book coming
out."  The thought behind it… can’t you live off of that?

Well…
no. Not yet. Just now I need to supplement my writing income to make
ends meet. It’s a reality many writers face. Another reality is
juggling the alternate job, writing, and promoting multiple
books–building a ‘name’. It ain’t easy.  Every now and then I allow
myself to dream and think, someday I’ll be writing full time and all
this angst will be history.

   

I bet if Beth reached #17  on the NY Times Bestseller list, she’d not only be drinking champagne, she’d be bathing herself in it.

Writing You Don’t Need

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Screenwriter John Rogers offers some excellent screenwriting advice on his blog today.

Your scene descriptions and actions — don’t waste time on specifics. Somebody
else is going to visualize the set, someone else is going to design the set,
someone else is going shoot on that set. Don’t write for the storyboard, write
what the TONE of the set is, conveying how it informs the actions, creates the
context for the characters within. Is this limiting? No, it’s freeing. It’s
paradoxically MORE power. You’re creating the world, mood, story — let other
people sweat the window size and wallpaper pattern.

Character intros:
gahhhh. I never, ever want to read a line of character backstory again. The
audience will know this character by what he says and what he does. (in that
sense, in-script backstory is actually cheating) The actor will create whatever
mindspace/backstory for the character they need to work the person up on screen.
Just get the best, snappiest description of who this person is — not how they
dress or how they talk or how their goddam hair’s cut, but who that character
is in the
script-world– and move the fuck on. Again, not saying we’re just typists. Not
saying it has to be bland. The challenge is to create the most telling
impression in the fewest words.

Don’t sit their like so many screenwriters
and try to jam whatever central casting idea of a character you have into the
reader’s head — create the notion necessary for the reader to complete the
image of the script in his head, to personalize it, and move on with the
read.

Great stuff. And there’s more, much more. Check it out.

Latest from Hard Case Crime

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File000I love Hard Case  Crime. They harken back to the glory days of Gold Medal Paperbacks… not only are their books are great but so are their covers.  Their upcoming titles include WITNESS TO MYSELF by Seymour Shubin, 
BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, and THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins. They’ve also got reprints of Ed McBain ‘s  THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE, Richard Stark’s  LEMONS NEVER LIE and Madison
Smartt Bell’s  STRAIGHT CUT in the pipeline (and, oh yes, an original noir novel by some writer named Stephen King).  I’ve been lobbying Charles to consider reprinting one of Richard Prather’s "Shell Scott" Gold Medal novels and some of Harry Whittington’s more obscure stuff. We’ll see what happens…

Score one for Brown

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Lewis Perdue reports that he  has lost the first round in his lawsuit against Dan Brown.

Judge George Daniels sided with the world’s largest publishing conglomerate and
issued a decision that would keep the Da Vinci Cover-Up complete.

I’ve
already talked with my lawyers.

We’re appealing because there is ample
evidence and law to indicate that Dan Brown copied my work and that a jury trial
is the ONLY procedure that will bring any measure of justice.