Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, June 01, 2007
"Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Writers"
To make a very long story short: My agent managed to get a large publishing house quite interested in me and my work. This resulted in a productive, positive two-hour meeting and the publishers asking me if I’d like to write a book about activism for them. As much as that topic nauseated me, I was in no position to pass up such an opportunity...so I put together a proposal I could live with. Things were moving forward without a hitch (cue the ominous music) when suddenly: They changed their fuckin’ minds. They decided the idea “just didn’t click” (never mind that it was their idea). My dreams of a big advance and wide audience appeared to be dashed...until one of the editors with whom I met—and with whom I had developed an obvious rapport—unexpectedly moved up to a different, even larger publisher. My agent immediately contacted him about me but, alas, this was his assessment:
"I really like the guy and think him brilliant in many ways, but I still think his audience is niche and that someplace like Soft Skull, which can accommodate titles in more compact numbers would be better suited to his work."
Soft Skull? Hmmm...now why didn’t I think of that?
Bruce Springsteen sez: “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true...or is it something worse?”
Tom Petty sez: “God, it’s so painful when something is so close and still so far out of reach.”
W.C. Fields sez: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.”
You know, if I’d only caught a goddamned break here or there with my writing, I really think I coulda been a contender...
(There will be no new posts for at least a few days)
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