Writing

So This is Why I Spent Three Hours Yesterday Organizing my iTunes Library…

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Author Donna Andrews is on deadline and procrastinating.

I'm only one day behind where I want to be on the book.  I'm
chugging along, slowly but steadily.  But my writing avoidance
behaviors are in full bloom.

One of the most common writing
avoidance behaviors is nesting. Cleaning, organizing, and tidying. 
It's not just me; a year or so ago, a writer friend reported a
bafflingly  sudden and uncharacteristic urge to clean her desk. . . her
office . . . perhaps her whole house.  Several of us asked if,
perchance, she was on deadline.  Of course she was.  You may tell
yourself that you can write better in a tidy office; you may claim that
you're thinking about your book while dusting, mopping, scrubbing, and
sorting; you may even be telling the truth.  But never try to fool
yourself that these sudden domestic urges aren't writing avoidance.

I know exactly how she feels. Last night I "cleaned up" my iTunes library and playlists and when I looked up again, three hours had passed. I've also been obsessive about trimming our trees. I think it's because I'm nervous about actually starting to write the "standalone" book that I've been noodling with in my mind for months…

I'd start to write it at this very moment but I have to Twitter somebody, make some more connections on LinkedIn, and clean out my office closet first…

Something to Look Forward To

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My friend Jerrilyn Farmer has teamed up with Joan Rivers to write MURDER AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS. The Pocket Books hardcover comes out in February and is the first in an intended series of "Red Carpet Murder Mystery" novels that draw on Rivers' showbiz background.  Jerrilyn has a pretty wicked sense of humor herself so I'm sure these books are going to be a lot of fun.

The Mail I Get

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I debated whether to post this email or not with the actual producer's name in it. I decided that I probably shouldn't but I will give you this hint…I have sparred with him here before, which is why I got this email:

 XYZ  just called me and said he wanted to read
my script. He emailed a contract and then stated that I need to pay him $600 up
front against his 15% commission. I know this isn’t normal but he is a
real producer. My question is, am I getting scammed here?

Yes, you are getting scammed. No legitimate producer or agent would ask
you for a fee. A producer also doesn't ask for, or get, a commission on sales. He may have been a "real" producer once…but if he is asking you for $600, he's not any more.

My Dark Past, the Sequel

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Not so long ago, I was surprised when a blogger reviewed my second book .357  VIGILANTE #2: MAKE THEM PAY. Now another blogger has reviewed it, too:

…if you're
familiar with Goldberg's TV work as a writer of middle-of-the-road
crime dramas like SPENSER: FOR HIRE, HUNTER and DIAGNOSIS: MURDER, you
may notice that the .357 Vigilante books are written in the same
glossy, straight-ahead style, albeit with slightly ramped-up sex and
violence that would probably not be too outrageous for today's
prime-time audience. I don't use "middle-of-the-road" in a disparaging
way above; matter of fact, I think television could use more shows like
HUNTER in a time when solving mysteries has become a grim pursuit,
rather than something fun (yes, I realize the concept that chasing
murderers should be "fun" sounds kinda weird, but that's what murder
mysteries are all about).

Townsfolk Remember Crumley

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The Missoula Independent solicited memories and anecdotes about author James Crumley from the folks who knew him best… bartenders, drinking buddies, and fellow authors:

Crumley wrote 11 books, most notably The Last Good Kiss, which was
published in 1978, and is often credited with inspiring a generation of
hardboiled crime fiction writers. But Crumley the author meant little
in Missoula compared to Crumley the man. His phone number was always in
the book, he usually sat on the same barstool, his anecdotes never
failed to impress. Everyone, it seemed, called him a friend. He was, in
the words of longtime cohort William Kittredge, our storyteller.

The newspaper was swamped with contributions and couldn't publish them all. But you can find each one, in their entirety, here. (Thanks to Richard Wheeler for the link).

PSYCH Out

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Psych coverHere's a sneak peek at the cover for A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO READ by William Rabkin, the first in a new series of original novels based on the TV series PSYCH. The book comes out in January from Obsidian, the fine folks who published the MONK and BURN NOTICE tie-ins. (You can click on the photo for a larger image).

 

Me on Me

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Writer/producer/screenwriter David Simkins (DRESDEN FILES, BRISCO COUNTY, ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, etc.) and writer/producer/author Marc Scott Zicree (TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION, MAGIC TIME, SLIDERS etc.) came over to my house and interviewed me for their on-going podcast conversation about tv, movies, and sci-fi.

Lee Goldberg's resumé reads like a TV what’s-what for the last twenty years. He’s
staffed shows, ran shows, written, directed and produced them in the
U.S. and Europe. And if that’s not enough, he’s also a published
novelist. Next up: splitting the atom. Listen in.

Under their intense interrogation ("Hello, Lee, how are you?"), I don't shut up for an hour-and-a-half.

The Mail I Get — What Happens After You Turn In Your Book?

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Charmi congratulated me on turning in MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP and asked:

Out of curiousity, how much work will you still have to do on it? At this point in writing Monk novels, do you get many change requests from the editor? Or, can you pretty much consider this "done"?

I'm sure that's a question a lot of you have, so here's what I told her:

I usually don't get any major notes from MONK creator Andy Breckman or my editor, so the next step will be to go through the copy-edited manuscript. That's basically my own manuscript sent back to me, all marked up, after my editor and the copy editor have gone through it, spotting typos, punctuation errors, inconsistencies, awkward phrases etc. They will make suggestions on the page for corrections,  changes and clarifications. They will also suggest trims or places where I might want to go into more detail…but the choice is mine. For the most part, it's very minor stuff and I get through it very quickly. It's also my last chance to do any rewriting that I want to do for creative reasons…which usually only amounts to a line or two, here and there.

A month or two after that, I will receive the typeset galley, also known as the advance proofs, which is basically an unbound version of what the final book will look like. The editor, copyeditor and I read through it for errors (although we inevitably miss two or three big ones, much to my embarrassment) and send it on to production.

At that point, my job on the book is done…if you don't count promotion (like going to book signings, attending conferences, speaking at libraries, etc.)

Become the Next Norman Lear

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This November, Emmy Award winning comedy writer Ken Levine is hosting another one of his phenomenal SITCOM ROOM writing classes:

With all the writing classes and books around, I realized there’s one thing none of them teach – what it’s actually like being in a sitcom writing ro>Practically all sitcoms are “room written” these days (even single camera shows like 30 ROCK). That’s
when a dysfunctional group of funny, creative people somehow manage,
collectively, to craft a brilliantly funny (or at least not
embarrassing) script while suffering from incredible time pressure and
personality clashes.
[…]I found myself imagining a weekend workshop that gives you the hands-on
experience you could only get in a professional writing room […]A cross between a seminar/workshop and comedy writing fantasy camp.

If you want to be a TV comedy writer, you've got to take this class. There are still a few spaces left, so sign up fast.