Other Random Posts

I’m heading down to La Quinta soon for Thanksgiving with my family. My brother Tod and his wife Wendy are hosting the feast this year, to be attended by my mother, my sisters, and their families. I heard that steak and lobster are on the menu, along with some Julian Apple Pies and other assorted diet-busters (alas, no turkey this year). Over the next couple of days, you won’t find me around here muhc, I’ll be hanging out with my Mom at the nickel slots at the Fantasy Springs Casino or catching THE ICE HARVEST (based on our friend Scott’s terrific book) with Tod at the local multiplex.

My sister Linda, co-author of the upcoming book VISUAL CHRONICLES, tells me that the new Neil Diamond CD is now available free on-line for your entirely legal listening pleasure.

…when there is Plot-0-Matic? I’ve seen dozens of movies that must have been written with this. Here’s the plot the software generated for me.

Broken
Badges by Lee
Goldberg Action: A renegade cop teams up with the
straightest cop on four continents to investigate dirty cops on the take. In the
process they rescue Parker Posey. By the end of the movie they hijack 5 planes
and end up winning the admiration of their department, living happily ever
after. Think Die Hard meets Goldfinger.

I’m going to start pitching it on Monday.  (Thanks to my Uncle Burl for the heads-up)

The International Thriller Writers (ITW) is looking for submissions for awards honoring the best  thrillers and suspense stories of 2005. The categories are Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Original Paperback and Best Screenplay.  For more information, contact Jim Rollins or visit the ITW site.

I’ve been busy with odds and ends the last couple of days — going to the doctor, attending HOA meetings, doing booksignings, working on content for the IAMTW website, and plotting the next DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel, which I should already be writing.

Today, my brother Tod and I were guests at Pinky’s Paperhaus, where we talked about our new books SIMPLIFY and THE MAN WITH IRON-ON BADGE and played some music that influenced our writing, all for a podcast that will go live in October. We also teamed up for a clumsy duet of  "The Ballad of Irving" (from  the 60s comedy album "When You’re in Love, the Whole World is Jewish.")  Until you can hear our immortal rendition, here are the lyrics:

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I had a big day hit-wise at A Writers Life, so I was curious what people were searching for that brought them here. There were an extraordinary number of people looking for details about Andi McDowell’s breasts, Hunter Tylo’s plastic surgery, Steve Erhardt, Lindsay Lohan’s breasts, and information on Temperance Brennan, the hero of the new series BONES. Here were some of the other searches that brought people here:

"hair dresser Michael Jacks0n Los Angeles cleft chin same surgery"
"Alexander the Great fanfic"
"Obi Wan Kenobi sex"
"Nipples"
"Jeff Lindsay Dexter Literary Agent"
"How to Write a Treatment"
"Author Jan Goldberg" (that had to be my Mom googling herself)
"Tod Goldberg" (that had to be my brother doing his hourly self-google)
"JK Rowling is a plagerist"
"Another bullshit night in suck city + lousy"
"asshole + Lee Goldberg"
"How to sell my book"
"PublishAmerica"
"How to write a sex scene"
"Fanfic + Lee Goldberg"
"Janet Evanovich’s phone number"
"Lord of the Rings real cities on earth"
"mpreg stories"
"mpreg + Spock"
and my name + every science fiction show ever produced (is someone preparing a blog post about my views on sci fi TV?).

I spent a few hours today reading through the campaign statements, the non-candidate statements and all the email spam I’ve been getting from both slates…and I voted.

This was a difficult election for me. I wasn’t moved by either slate. I am moved by a profound disappointment in the way the Guild has been run in the last few years (while, at the same time, I personally know and respect many of the officers/board members). As it turned out, my votes were more or less split between the two slates. Here is how I voted:

President: Patric Verrone. This was the hardest decision to make. I have serious reservations about both candidates. Neither one strikes me as someone strong enough, and charismatic enough, to reinvigorate our Guild.  I wish there was a third choice.  But I finally chose Patric Verrone. Even though I am not sold on his "organize, organize, organize" platform, and am stunned that he voted in favor of honoring Victoria Riskin, he has impressed me in the past with his intelligence, energy, and dedication to writers.  I admire Ted Elliott as writer but he has failed to inspire me with any kind of vision for his presidency.

Vice-President: David Weiss. I’m a big admirer of Carl Gottlieb. He’s smart, experienced, and cares deeply about our Guild. I have voted for him time and time again… too many times, perhaps. Even so, I was ready to vote for him again until I read his rebuttal of Weiss’ statement — which basically trashed Weiss for not being active in Guild affairs. Frankly, at this point, I think not having a long record of Guild service means more than being deeply entrenched in Guild affairs (and I’m speaking as someone who has served on numerous WGA committees and even ran for the Board once). I don’t agree with a lot of Weiss’ views — on the other hand, I’m impressed by his energy, his intelligence, his humor and his zeal. And I’m swayed by what worries Carl the most — that Weiss hasn’t been very involved in Guild politics. We need a fresh pov and new energy because our Guild is an ineffective  mess that only seems to really succeed lately at one thing — embarrassing itself and it’s members. I don’t have to agree with everything Weiss stands for (and I don’t)…but I admire his zeal and his obvious dedication to the betterment of all writers.

Secretary-Treasurer: Irma Kalish
For the Board:
Douglas Eboch
Scott Frank
Peter Lefcourt
Dan McDermott
Howard A. Rodman
Melissa Rosenberg
Dan Wilcox
and, as a wild card,
David S. Weiss. What he has going for him, at least in my view, is that he isn’t on either slate, he’s an experienced writer who represents an under-represented group (late night comedy writers), he’s angry, he’s fought for his fellow writers, and he hasn’t  served on any WGA committees. He’s also focused on the core issue with most writers: Getting the money we are owed for the work we have done.

So there you have it.