Search Results for: The Mail I Get

Tied Up in Tie-ins

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I got an email from someone who has written his first original tie-in novel, which will be released very soon in paperback by a major publisher. He was paid a flat, work-for-hire fee of $5000 to produce a 90,000 word novel and was put through at least one revision.  He had this question for me: … Read more

I’ve Been Fanficced

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I was a writer/producer on SEAQUEST 2032, which was cancelled mid-way through production of  its third season, though scripts were ordered for several more episodes. William Rabkin and I wrote one of those scripts, which was entitled "About Face," and would have been episode 14 of the season. The script has been lost, but a … Read more

Brain Dead

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It seems like everybody is apologizing lately for not keeping up their blogs.  Author Duane Swierczynski, for instance, blames the book he’s working on and Tess Gerritsen blames the beautiful Maine weather. Me, I’m just brain dead. I finished my 8th DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel last week and it feels lke my brain has been wrung … Read more

Back from Germany

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I returned from Cologne late last night. It was a great experience working with the German writer/producers and it looks like I may be going back soon to continue what I started. On the 7 1/2 hour flight from Dusseldorf to LA, I worked for a bit on DM #8, which is due this week, … Read more

The Age of Instant Video Is Here

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I don’t usually rave about products on this blog, but I can’t contain my enthusiasm for this nifty new gadget that we bought our daughter for her birthday. It’s the Pure Digital Point-and-Shoot Video Camcorder. It’s the size of an iPod and every bit as simple and ingenious. You just point and shoot. It’s that … Read more

Gimme Gimme Gimme

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I’m a TV writer/producer and a novelist. I don’t buy scripts, finance movies, publish books, or take on apprentices. And I’m not a celebrity. Even so, every day I get emails from strangers asking me to buy their scripts, read their scripts, plug their blogs, blurb their books, or take them on as apprentices. I … Read more

Recommended Publishers

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A reader posed this question to me in an email: I read your comments about Publish America, and so I thought I would write and ask what publishers you would recommend for an aspiring writer trying to get their first short novel published? Reputable ones. It’s a simple as that.  Publish America isn’t one of … Read more

I’m No Help

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For some reason, Fridays is the day I seem to get the most blog-related email.  Here’s one from Kelly Cyr: I read through your blog and find you extremely negative and cynical. You also hold yourself well above the rest of us writers. Maybe you should find another line of work. I don’t think writing … Read more

Thingies II

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So my 11-year-old daughter gets home from her "Human Growth and Development" class at school and has some questions about sex. "Why does a man’s thingie have to get so big?"  she asked. "So he can get his sperm inside of  a woman and fertilize the egg," I said. "Couldn’t he just mail it to … Read more