Mean literary agents

I’ve been having the same conversation a lot lately. It goes something like this: A nice professional has gone to the trouble of crafting a book proposal, honing a query letter, even landing a call with an agent or two, only to be told one thing. “Your...

This is the kind of argument you want

A lot of manuscripts slide across my desk each week, which shouldn’t surprise anyone seeing as I run a publishing house. After all these years in the business, I can identify why a particular book draws me in and where another immediately goes off the rails. I...

The girl in the puffy red coat

You know how, at the start of a big endeavor, you worry that you’ll never drive it to completion? That you’re about to bite off more than you can chew and delude yourself in general? How embarrassing the very thought of failing to finish what you started feels?...

This fly-by-night actor who knows bupkiss

I once had a conversation with an actor who wanted to write a book about public speaking. I’ll call her Gloria, even though that’s not her name. Gloria had figured out, thanks to years of professional training and experience, how to be comfortable on stage...

Who knew this would be such an epic?

Walt got it into his head that he wanted to paint our deck. He figured, with a little scraping and a gallon of outdoor, weather-resistant paint, he could have the task done over a weekend. To this end, we ran to the local home and garden center with a paint chip to...