Saturday, March 29, 2008

Greed! Power! Lust! --the stuff dreams are made of

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program features The Maltese Falcon, one of the great novels in any category, not just crime. There are several Maltese Falcon events coming up in April here in NYC. Mark your calendar, and we'll go sneer at danger together!
(The Merc is going to show the classic movie, too, at the fabulous CampbellApartment.)

April 3, 2008: 6:30 p.m.
Authors Talk: The Influence of the Maltese Falcon on Your Writing ,
Chris Grabenstein, moderating.
Mercantile Library, 17 E 47th St., NYC, 10017

April 8, 2008: 6:30 p.m.
Tough Gals: The Influence of Sam Spade on the Contemporary Female Detective,
Jane K. Cleland, moderating.
Mercantile Library, 17 E 47th St., NYC, 10017

April 12, 2008 1:00 p.m.,
a showing of the classic film version of the Maltese Falcon.
Seating is limited, please RSVP to info@mercantilelibrary.org
or 212-755-6710.
The Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Terminal


April 15, 2008, 6:30 p.m.,
Letting Go: Books Into Film,
Jonathan Santlofer, moderating.
Mercantile Library, 17 E 47th St., NYC, 10017



thanks to Jane Cleland for the info

Friday, March 28, 2008

One fast way to be rejected or fired

Be mean, rude, or otherwise unbearable to the non-agent staff in the office.

Yup, that'll do it.

There are three people in our office who you might think of as "assistants." They are not. They are godsends. They are incredibly valuable, and I treasure them. These are the people who sort the mail, run the manuscripts through the xerox, prepare the UPS shipments, order the office supplies, and answer the phone. They are worth every penny they get paid, and should be paid a lot more.

Anyone who is rude to them is foolish and shortsighted. Given a choice between them and anyone else, I pick them. They make my life easier. It's not a hard choice.

They get to put up with exactly as much crap from people as they choose. If they don't want to deal with you, you're fired. As a client. As a prospect. As an anything.

If you want to yell at someone, you can yell at me. Don't even think about yelling or being rude to anyone else. You're replaceable. They are not.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

No Library Unvisited!

John Reisinger is a relentless promoter. 

Even on vacations he takes his book and is ready when opportunity knocks! 

Here he (John's the guy on the left in the tan slacks) presents a copy to a Royal Caribbean exec on his recent cruise. 

Notice John looks a little pained? I think his hand hurts from signing autographs! Rights just sold in Taiwain for Master Detective!

 

 I'm pretty sure John will find a way to get there too!












Kim Stagliano, you rock

I've known Kim Stagliano for awhile now. She's a writer (represented elsewhere quite ably), a contributor to the Huffington Post, and mother of three daughters. Kim has written about her life, and her family in a way that defines "laugh and cry at the same time." I still think about her post on "The Crappy Life of an Autism Mom"...usually when I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Last spring Kim invited me to attend a panel called Writers on Autism. I wasn't expecting much; I didn't know exactly what to expect in fact. I sat in the back, I had my New Yorker secretly stashed in case I got bored. Well, I wasn't bored, I was blown away, a tired cliche for what was a paradigm shifting (another cliche) experience.

Kim read her piece about what makes a good day at her house, and we all laughed along with her. Then, Rachel Kaplan who attends Hofstra University, and has autism "spoke". Using a word board device she was able to write about her life. Because she does not communicate orally, her work was read by an associate.

Listening to Rachel describe how she felt, seeing clearly how her mind was fully engaged, lively and bright, despite not speaking, and looking very "disconnected" from the world around her (as many people with autism do), it was clear there was a very bright, very sensitive young woman "in there." Hearing her 'speak' altered my sense of what autism is.

And thank god for that because not soon after, a dear friend of mine received an autism diagnosis for her beloved four year old son. When she told me, my first reaction was 'oh damn' but I knew what to say: your son is there. He might not look you in the eye, he might look disconnected, but he's there.

I have Kim Stagliano to thank for that insight.

Kim's of the funniest people I know. She's also one of those people I most admire and respect. The world got a brief glimpse of her here on Good Morning America last week.

You can read her blog here.

But mostly you can just say thanks to Kim by understanding that autism doesn't equal retarded, and it doesn't equal the end of the world. Her three "perfectly imperfect perfect" daughters are definitive proof of that.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I love this















I found it here
and the artist Melinda Beavers is here.

This should be a greeting card and a calendar. Hell, I should have them made up into notecards for rejection letters. hmmmm....

Monday, March 24, 2008

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Best news of the day except for that Resurrection thing

Unshelved is one of my favorite RSS feeds. Today it's my all time favorite.

Here's why.

It arrived in my mailbox at 11:50pm.
ONLY because I love Jeff Somers wife a LOT and I want my colleagues to not hate me, am I not on the phone to every single person in my office plus Jeff and all the folks at Orbit right this very second.

Excited?
Who? Me?

HELL yes!!!