Here's to you!

Yesterday was a day of contrasts. I spent the morning at the funeral service of my beloved client Richard Gilbert.  It was truly laughter and tears as we remembered his work, his life, and the love he
brought to everything he did.

And when I came back to the office I spent time talking with a client about the birth pangs of a novel.  In a year the novel will be finished and published.  In 50 years it will be part of an oeuvre of work celebrated by the Center for Fiction, but today it was a novel that made us gnash our fangs and rend our garments.

The woop and warf of life, beginnings and endings.

But there was a very special start to this day, a moment that gave me needed perspective.

I'd stopped at a coffee shop on the Upper West Side because I was early for the service.  It was cold outside so I didn't want to sit in the park and read as I normally would do.  Inside only on this chill windy morning.

I took my coffee to the best empty table and settled in. I planned to read a manuscript; I had my hand inside my bag for my trusty laptop when my attention was diverted to a the nearest occupied table.

An older man and a very young boy, maybe only three or four, were also enjoying hot beverages.   Grandfather was telling grandson a story. The story involved ghosts who didn't want to scare people any more.  The mother and father ghost and the grandma and grandpa ghost were mightily offended that youngster ghosts were abandoning the old ways.  The story took a turn into the mechanics of how NOT to scare people that involved the makeup counter at Lord and Taylor.

It was a wonderful story and I (adept at not scaring story tellers) was very stealthy in my listening. When  they were finished with the morning snack, Grandpa asked if the lad was ready to head off to Barnes and Noble. Dear Reader, I fairly swooned with joy.

As they headed out and as I packed up I was struck that I had just seen the very essence of what makes us human: our ability to tell and our ability to listen to stories.  It's how we learn to be civilized, it's how we learn from those who have come before us.

In that moment I realized, yet again, how profoundly grateful I am to be allowed to work with story tellers of all stripes.  Those who write non-fiction, our history;  those who write memoir, our lives; those who write novels, our hopes, our fears; the ones who crack me up; the ones that break my heart; the very best of them that do both.

So, to all of you who write, no matter your level of skill and success, no matter your frustration or non with the publishing industry, thank you. Thank you from your devoted listener.

13 Things that made me very happy in 2013

13. Blog readers/commenters/pals
I'm profoundly grateful for the camaraderie of the comment column. From the tart spelling or grammar corrections to the hilarious witticisms about some line or another, the commenters here are the absolute exception to what's fast becoming Internet savvy: don't read the comments!

I look forward to more in 2014.


12. Center for Fiction
This year I attended several events sponsored by the Center for Fiction. In January I saw Elmore Leonard and later in the year Daniel Woodrell.  I'm devotees of both authors and the chance to hear them talk about their work, and their writing lives was amazing. 





11. New rule for Writers-the Michael Seese Be Tenacious Rule



10. Writing contests
I have enjoyed the writing contests on the blog this year a great deal.  The depth and breadth of talent in the entries gives me great hope for the incoming query pile set to resume here shortly.

Remember these winners?

Richard Stillman Prime 11:43pm

I wash the floor 262 times. I wash the spade 262 times. I wash myself 262 times. I hear him, though. I hear his blood calling out to me from the floor, and he tasks me – he tasks me, and I am God. It was the spade or the hammer but I am God and He is a gardener and I am a gardener and this isn't fiction and he is slush now and still, still: he tasks me. He is slush and he tasks me and I am God and my punishment is more than I can bear.

Lenny Liang 2:51am

I was an "untouchable" but never quite fit in. I was odd. They were even.

Besides 2, I was the smallest one, a single digit runt. They all bullied me, though none more so than 262.

He often said, "Little 5, sum my parts. I'm still twice the number you are."

His words were like a spade to the heart, a heart he plucked and discarded in the miry slush. He made self-esteem a fictional dream.

But then I learned that I was "prime" and became a celebrity.

And 262? He's languishing in Wisconsin.

He can go divide himself.



And this one?

JD Paradise 2:44pm

"This is just to say --"

"Yeah?"

"--I have drunken the protein shake."

"From the icebox? I was saving that--"

"For breakfast, I know. Forgive me. It was disgusting. Too sweet. But very cold."

And this one?

(7) Michael Seese 10:04am

The bonds we forged over a lifetime of summers...

Playing pirate with swords forged from Christmas wrapping paper rolls.

Seeking asylum from our sisters in your treehouse (accessible only by a really cool, real rope ratline fashioned by your dad).

Finding a family of possums, lodgers under my front porch.

Games of stickball in the street.

Discovering what the girls in our class would look like in a few years, courtesy of my big brother’s Playboy collection.

All of that came unraveling in one horrible second when you yelled, “Police! Put up your hands, Bobby!”

And I drew first.

 

9. Cards Against Humanity
I'd never heard of this card game before playing a round with some devilishly funny people.  If you haven't heard of it, here's their site.  I recommend playing with people who have a very very warped sense of humor. (yea, I'm looking at you FizzyGrl!)

8. Maddie On Things

Maddie is a coonhound with amazing balance. Meredith Barnes sent me the first picture of Maddie. We fell in love with her.  Then, joy of joys, turns out Maddie's agent is in our office suite. Sadly, Maddie did not drop by for cookies and ear scratches, but we did get to meet her when she came to New York and did an appearance at PowerHouse Arena.   If you've never seen Maddie, well, here ya go

7. The Rental Cat
This is New York. You can rent everything.  If  you need purring, or a belly rubbing or just a sardonic stare from the universe, rent a cat!

6. CHUM by Jeff Somers

To his everlasting credit, Jeff Somers did NOT say "took you long enough" when I sold CHUM to Ben Leroy at Tyrus Books.  It was a long time: 8 years. Of course, I did sell a few books in the meantime, but this was the one Jeff queried me on, the one I signed him for, and the one that is pretty close to our hearts.  It was a very happy day to see CHUM on sale.



5. Publication and launch of MAN IN THE EMPTY SUIT by Sean Ferrell (Soho Press)  We had a great time at the reading and at the party that followed.  I love this book with a passion and I'm profoundly grateful to represent Sean Ferrell. 

4. Publication of Laird Barron's THE BEAUTIFUL THING THAT AWAITS US ALL.  This one had a circuitous road to publication that left us both gasping with relief when readers were finally able to buy copies of this wonderful book. 

3. Dan Krokos was nominated for Best YA Thriller by the International Thriller Writers in 2013 for FALSE MEMORY.  And he won!  It was one of the best moments of my career!

2. New readers came in to the world in 201

Max is the grandson of Fabulous Bill Cameron. (photo updated 2015 cause I love this picture with all my heart)

Dash.  He stops traffic where ever he goes.

 


1. His Holiness Pope Francis

"Peace is a daily commitment. It is a homemade peace. I invite even non-believers to desire peace. (Join us) with your desire, a desire that widens the heart. Let us all unite, either with prayer or with desire, but everyone, for peace."

Here's to a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year for all!

The Seven Wonderfuls

I love LA STORY with Steve Martin and Victoria Tennant passionately. Along with Steve Martin's Roxanne, most movies with Cary Grant; and Casablanca, you've pretty much got my Best Of All Time list.

The scene when Harris and Sara walk along Melrose and his voice over is "wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, most wonderful and yet again wonderful" is one of my favorites.

You'll notice Harris says "wonderful" seven times.

I think there are Seven Wonderfuls of my job. Here's the list:

1. Wonderful clients. I am blessed beyond reason by clients who are fiercely talented, funny, smart and hellaciously good writers. That I get to work with them day in and day out makes this simply the best job in the world. Please don't ever tell them I'd do it for free.

2. Wonderful godsends past and present. These young up-and-coming publishing pros keep me on my toes. They are a delight in every way. I literally love going to the office to be around them. They are fiercely talented, funny, smart and hellaciously hard workers. Frankly, they're starting to frighten me they're so good.

3. Wonderful book designers. When a book goes from electrons to pages to book, there's a magician at work called a book designer. They're the ones who make it beautiful, easy to read, and nice to hold. The really good ones make it look effortless. I have no clue how they do this, but I know magic when I see it.

4. Wonderful query writers. And that's every single query. Every single one. The ones who don't follow directions. The ones who are rude, or clueless, or needy, or demanding, or so shy you want to smack em with the gumption stick. All of them: no exceptions. There are days my patience is less than zero, but there's never a day I don't want to hear from an author about his or her book. Sure, I wish they paid more attention to QueryShark.blogspot.com, but I'm grateful for every single time someone says "hey, I'd trust you to be my advocate."

5. Wonderful (slithery) competitors. Agents who work for the competition are frequently the first source of news and the last voice of reason. From advice about contracts, clients, conferences, and the hurried "no you can not defenestrate yourself over ebook rights" they are an extraordinary resource. I'm profoundly grateful they are my friends.

6. Wonderful readers. Readers who find and love books my clients write. Who blog or tweet about how much they loved them. Nothing beats that feeling of knowing another person read and loved something I love too. It's even better when they say it better than I can, and I get to cut and paste their comments for my own nefarious publicity purposes.

7. Wonderful volunteers. The people who organize conferences, judge the Edgars, organize ThrillerFest, Malice and Bouchercon. These are events I think of as a fun escape. A lot of people work very very hard to make them happen. A lot of them are behind the scenes doing things no one ever notices (cause it's only when it DOESN'T happen that you notice!) They work very hard to pull off events the rest of us tend to assume will just run well cause ..yanno..they always do.


Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you again, and thank you always.