Dave Cullen's Blog

Mesmerized by the PBS' 'American Masters' on Philip Roth.

2013-04-01T09:37:00.000-06:00

Now I get why Roth was such a master.

My favorite bit: seeing his corrections. Looks just like mine! What a relief!!

The episode was engaging from the start, because he was so amazingly, refreshingly candid: the good, the bad, the whatever--no bullshit, and amazing self-awareness (and insight into others).

Of all the takeaways of that show, it's that he was a great writer, because he was totally liberated from fears, reticence, anything that comes between him and the page: what he felt, what his imagination was capable of, he spilled it out, let the page soak it up.

PLUS, he's really
smart, insightful--but again, honest person. I think so much of insight comes from inner honestly, clarity: insistence on seeing the world around us (and in us) as it really is, instead of pretending, trying to shape it into what we would like it to be, or want to believe it is. Honestly. "Oh, this is interesting. Not what I would have chosen, but hmmmmmm, interesting that it/I/you is/am/are that way."

Also, SO many little practical things I gleaned about his writing process that are so similar to mine. It was encouraging and instructive. (Including that markup. Just like mine! Nice to see we're on the same page.)

And that also came through: His diligence to make his stuff better, and a lot of awareness about what worked for him and what got in his way. (Like writing outside the city, writing standing up (wow! I might have to try that. Because I have found some of my best work while walking around.) I loved his realization that great writing doesn't JUST HAPPEN. He has to find all the ways to coax it out and stay out of the way. Like the way he develops his characters. He had to learn from himself what worked for him to create them and keep approaching it that way.

I think the show can be great for any kind of artist. I know I learn about my process from watching artists in other fields. It's what I love about Project Runway, for instance. You really get to see some of their process: in miniature--start to finish, you see a project, and where each of them sometimes gets on the right track and rides it to somewhere wonderful, and then a week later (a day later in their real life taping the show), they go right off the rails and the dress goes down the toilet with them.

(Ack! Horrible mixed metaphor. haha. It's OK. I allow them in first drafts. I successfully turned my internal editor off! Haha. Yea!!!)

BTW, great summary of the episode on PopMatters. Their post is called, "A Remarkable Portrait of a Reclusive American Treasure: 'American Masters Philip Roth: Unmasked.' "

Columbine named to 50 Coolest Book Covers Ever

2012-06-13T11:12:00.001-06:00

How cool is this?

Shortlist.com just picked the "50 Coolest Book Covers Ever," with titles like 1984, Catch-22 and Clockwork Orange. (And yes, In Cold Blood.) And . . .

. . . my first book, Columbine.

That is sweet company.

I am ever grateful to Henry Sene Yee for designing such a memorable cover, and Jon Karp for gathering an amazing team to work on my book.

When the book came out, before it won him a slew of design awards, Henry posted on his blog, explaining his whole artistic process of conceiving the ideas, trying out completely different versions (with pictures shown), and making it happen. It's a great read.

(And I'll use this opportunity, once again, to thank all the gracious readers who keep recommending the book, spreading the word, especially all the high school students and teachers who have embraced it.

And thanks to Barnes & Noble and a lot of independents for putting it back out on display tables. That's really helping people discover it.)

Who cares who Cranky McCain endorses

2012-01-04T15:54:00.001-07:00

Regardless of what you think of that particular old crank clinging desperately to his senate seat, I roll my eyes every time I see a "news story" about some politician endorsing.

Who the hell cares? Who is going to let someone tell them who to vote for in a presidential election?

It's refreshing to hear many pundits now scoffing at the idea that Michelle Bachmann can direct her supporters to Romney or Santorum, or that Perry or Gingrich can once they bow out.

Sometimes, on more cheerful days, it makes me smile, though. Because
the nuttiness of the mere idea of it contrasts so starkly with the reality of why it happens. It used to work.

Not long ago, when my parents were young, and perhaps even middle-aged, large chunks of the population used to do as they were told. It seems like a distant universe, or a different race of humans, but it was not long ago or far away.

We have come a long damn way.

Kinda nice.

But I'm curious how long this relic will hang around. A few more election cycles for sure. But twelve years from now, or twenty, will it be gone completely and kids will start to ask "Endorse her? What does that mean?"

Autographed Columbine books

2011-12-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Many of you have been asking about autographed copies of the book. I just signed a dozen copies of Columbine at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in NYC.

They will ship virtually anywhere domestic or international.

Call this number to purchase/ship, and let them know that I signed all their copies on hand Friday night:

212-253-0810.

The BN people assured me it would go smoothly, but if you should have any problem, shoot me an email and I'll straighten it out to make sure others are OK. Thanks. dave@davecullen.com

BTW, I was happy to discover that B&N's flagship store had a stack of Columbine on the "Non-Fiction Favorites" table at the front of the store. Here's how it looked (after she put the autographed stickers on):

New authors: How to break into publishing

2011-11-13T15:18:00.009-07:00

A talentened friend of mine is wrapping up his phd in religious history. His dissertation has promise as a mainstream book, but he knows nothing about the publishing industry. He emailed asking for advice on how to get started (eg, how to approach editors.)

I started by telling him you don't approach editors: you start with an agent. Pretty soon I'd filled a page or two laying out the basics of breaking into this biz, and figured it could help some of you. (I get asked this a lot.)

The email felt like a good draft of a post I've been meaning to put together for a couple years now. But as you might have noticed, I've tried to keep myself from the blog the past year to focus on my next project.

So rather than let this languish in draft form indefinitely, helping no one, I'm just going to post it here as sent, complete with uncaps, fragments and gramatical mistakes. (Minus a few personal details). I think you'll get the gist.

Fiction authors: your process is very similar, except you have to write the whole novel and have that ready to send instead of the book proposal.

I hope this helps some of you writers trying to break in. To find it later, I'll add it to my Advice to Writers page.

The email:

the entry key to this business is a good agent. (not an editor, as most people think. they are the second rung in.) agents are the gate keepers. the big houses won't even consider "unagented" material anymore.

(if you want to go to a regional, academic or specialty press, ignore the preceding, though everything that follows will apply to landing them instead of an agent.)

once you land a good agent, you have passed the biggest hurdle, and your book has a very good shot at selling.

finding an agent for nonfiction is pretty straightforward, though a lot of work:

1. write a kick-ass book proposal, and approx 3 sample chapters. (they don't want to read the actual book, they want to read a proposal.)

2. identify agents that are a good fit (a hard part).

3. Write a great one-page query letter.

4. Keep sending #3 to agents until one agrees to see your book proposal. Send to about a dozen at a time, because it usually takes dozens. Once one says yes, you need to be able to mail/email the proposal that day, while their interest is up.

(Hence doing #1 before #3. Also, #3 is the hardest part for most people, and doing #1 distills their core ideas down for them and makes #3 infinitely easier.) You might want to start with a draft of #3 to get started with something small, kind of self-validate, and force you to distill your book into a few graphs. Then you widen back out to #1 and come back to #3 with new eyes and really make it rock. (It needs to.)

5. After they reject the proposal, return to #4 until one likes the proposal, and agrees to take you as a client.

6. The agent will work with you on rewrites to make the proposal much better.

7. He/she takes it from there. but all the work you've put into finding an agent is recycled here, because a) she will start with an oral pitch to editors, where she will probably crib heavily from your query letter, as well as your proposal, b) once she gets them interested, she'll submit your book proposal to them. (and it will be photocopied 20 times in-house.

they have a whole internal process where they have to get one other in-house editor to agree to support the book before it can go up to the editor in chief and then the publisher, and if they buy in, to a big committee with people from sales, marketing, publicity, finance, etc., who must agree to it.)

---

now on the agent front, cold-querying is a real bitch, and it helps greatly to know someone who will vouch for you. your work still has to stand up by itself, but they will give a lot more consideration to someone who a trusted person says is bright, capable, not a nutcase.

as for the book proposal and query, there are entire books on each, because they are that important--and i bought, used three of the books to do mine. but lots of good agents have the basics on their websites. Rachelle Gardner has a good starter.

It links to her two posts on how to write a book proposal and a query letter. I think Nathan Bransford has the very best advice on query letters, with critiques of examples. Links to his stuff is on my Advice to Writers page.

(I think Rachelle lays out the basics best, whereas Nathan jumps right in halfway through, expecting you to already know the basic elements of a query letter, and how it fits in to the entire process. So I'd start with Rachelle, then move on to Nathan.)

if you're looking for a sense of size/time, my proposal was nearly 100 pages (which was too long) and took about 4 months. queries MUST be one page, and when i do them for magazine pieces, i usually spend at least a week on them, usually much more. (not full time, but they suck up most of my creative juice for the week). but i'm slow. really slow.

is that overwhelming? it gets much easier as you get familiar.

doing a great query and proposal are are each tricky in their own way, but the format is very well established, so get familiar with that. then it's all about execution. and the key to execution is to make it INTERESTING. get the flavor of your voice/personality in there.

i think a lot of writers get lost in the format of the proposal, thinking that if they just flesh out all the elements in the outline they are done. the key is hitting all the elements, but doing so in a way that someone would actually want to read. i can help you with that.

if you can tell a great story at a party, you can write a good book. you just have to believe in that same voice--your real voice, and get it onto the page.

much harder than it sounds, as you know, but 99% of the problem is your own lack of faith that it will work there. instead, people try to Write--or worse, Write Importantly--in some other ridiculous voice that belongs to know one and sounds like it.

i tell students that if you've got a great anecdote that you're telling a group of friends, and somebody walks in and interrupts, that once the interruption settles down, try NOT picking the story back up. somebody better ask you, "So what happened with xxx?" or whatever. if they don't, it wasn't that great a story, or you didn't figure out how to tell it.

if people do want to hear more of your stories, then you've got the gift. (and lots of writers lack the confidence to pull it off orally, but can nail it on the page. confidence is not the only thing, but it's an essential thing.)

that's the MAIN thing you should keep in the foreground of your mind as you go: that storytelling approach you already have when you're telling stories to your friends.

i hope i didn't make it sound crushing. one bite at a time, it gets done. good luck with it. it will be great.

d

Survey Says Library Users Are My Best Customers

2011-11-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

Finally, a study about libraries illustrating what most of us authors have learned from our readers. The PublishersWeekly piece:

Survey Says Library Users Are Your Best Customers
Groundbreaking new study shows value of libraries to the book—and the e-book—business

This is wonderful to see documented--though I'm curious to read the full study, because frankly, this piece presented a lot of wonderful conclusions with almost no data to back it up. Hopefully the data is there in the full piece.

I have seen incredible evidence of the power of libraries since Columbine came out in 2009. I hear from
about 30-40 readers a month by email or facebook, and a startling percentage report discovering me in their library--and then coaxing all sorts of friends and family members about it.

The "Power Patrons" described in the piece also makes sense. My final girlfriend Bethany reads more than a book a week--I meet quite a few like her on my tours, and many on Goodreads who do more than 100 books a year).

Few of them could afford to buy that many new books, especially in hardcover, so these are not lost sales. (Without the library they would just be reading a lot less, not buying more.) Most of them tell me they then purchase a few of the ones they really prize each year to keep on their bookshelf, and they also buy more of their favorites as gifts, and spread the word about many more.

All of those are very positive forces for book sales. It's also nice that it works in favor of books that are really good. Instead of sales based on media hype or any sort of pre-read factors, these are all sales generated by someone who has actually read the book and admired it. All good.

I'm really grateful libraries and librarians are still so vital. I had no idea until my book came out.

Help Columbine book win Readers' Choice Award

2011-10-30T10:51:00.004-06:00

Illinois high school students, teachers, parents, librarians and friends, you can help Columbine reach a wider audience in schools.

Columbine is a finalist for "The 2012 Abraham Lincoln Award: Illinois' High School Readers' Choice Award." Winners are chosen by students, and any Illinois high school student can vote.

Please consider voting and asking a student you know to vote. (Summary of how below.)

I have never lobbied for an award before, but here's why this one matters so much to me:

When the book launched, I was flooded with emails, but then soon after, Facebook started humming. It was students. Thousands of them were reading the book and sharing it. They said it felt real to them, like their life. It made them want to read.

That was the nicest thing I could have hoped to hear.

Teachers and librarians also became big supporters, because of the kids' response. They were reading by choice! And asking questions, wanting to learn more—wanting to learn. Music to a teacher's ears. And mine. They are thrilled at the way the kids are responding.

I had to give up touring to concentrate on my next book, but I've made exceptions for schools, because the impact is so powerful. (I know the kids electrify me.)

In the last two years, I have traveled to schools around the country and met with thousands of students, and skyped with hundreds more. In one week last month, I spoke to about 3,000 kids in four schools around Chicago. The enthusiasm has been overwhelming.

Hinsdale Central last month. More pix here and on Facebook.)

What's so invigorating is the way students are responding. They are excited about reading, asking, learning.

Students and teachers have become my prime focus. I created the Columbine Teacher's Guide and Student Guide—both free. I also created videos for students and class discussions, and do two free skype sessions per month with classes.

The Abe Lincoln Award will open the door
to more schools around the country using the book. It is sponsored by the state's school library association (ISLMA), which carries a lot of clout nationally. It will make administrators much more receptive to teachers who have been asking to use the book in class, or lobbying to get it on official reading lists.

So if you're an Illinois student and you liked Columbine, please vote, and encourage your friends. If you work with kids or parent them, encourage them to vote. (Or to vote for any book on the list they did like. And to read!)

How to Vote

One librarian or teacher at each school (usually the library media specialist) is designated to count all votes for the school and send them in. So just ask your librarian to record your vote.

If she/he is not familiar with the award, just give them this link, with all the info. (If your school is not registered to participate it has to do so by November 15.) And if your school library does not want to participate, you can vote through your public library.

Here's the catch: To be eligible to vote, you have to read four of the books on the list of finalists. There are 22 to choose from, so hopefully you can find three other books that interest you. And all books have been favorites of kids, so you are likely to find good reading material there. You might also be able to do a class project on the four books you choose.

You have through February of 2012 to read four books and get your vote in. Thanks. And spread the word.

My living room is nearly done--supposedly

2011-08-01T13:32:00.003-06:00

We'll see. I tacked on that 'supposedly,' because I imagine I'll change it eight or nine hundred more times. But it's finally feeling complete.

This my first NYC apartment space that I actually created. (The sublet was furnished, and I just moved in there with a couple suitcases.) This place I picked out myself in Hell's Kitchen, and started with almost nothing, except the Moroccan rugs and albums I kept stored in Denver.

It could use a painting or two or even a print, but close. I added a few of the plants and the album covers this weekend:

The bottom left looks really busy, but that's because of the weird angle and the plants too dark to show up well, because of all the window pouring in the opposite window.

Here's the same room, from the right side, instead of the left:

And here from the reverse angle, from the kitchen:

The office is coming around, too, but it's not quite ready for showing yet.

And the bedroom is pulling up the rear, with almost up. That "almost" is only as of noon. I pounded in some nails to hang a column of ballcaps, taped up a favorite Calvin & Hobbes clipping that used to be on my fridge, and got a picture of all my nieces and nephews into a frame. But it needs work. Soon.

Meanwhile, I asked friends on my facebook page if anyone could ID all six albums. That would be hard enough without the dark, fuzzy photo, so here they are closer up:

Anyone? We want name of the artist, and the album. Six of my favorites--though I picked them out of a mix of love for the artist/album and the visual sense. (Eg, that was my third favorite WZ album, but the most visually striking, by far. So it's standing in for all his work in my heart.)

Tricking out a writer’s museum—about me

2011-05-16T12:12:00.005-06:00

This StackedUp.tv video was lots of fun. I did not expect the manservant to come up.

Here's the setup: Anne Trubek wrote "A Skeptic's Guide to Writers' Houses." She really liked Columbine, so she came to my sublet on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to curate its potential as a museum and potential shrine for my work.

That made me chuckle. But I was game.

It was fun imagining myself into that pantheon some day, and considering what people might find revealing in my junk.

This is a great series. Check out more of their videos on authors at StackedUp.tv. Wonderful place to discover authors.

___

FYI, we taped this in January, and I moved to my own place in Hell's Kitchen last month. None of the furniture there was mine, nor any of the stuff on the walls. But it was comfy, and a good place to get my feet wet living in NYC. I spent seven months there.

Here's a shot of my new place.

And way too much product in my hair, huh?

Yoga: a welcome addition, but . . .

2011-04-26T11:11:00.002-06:00

I started yoga, finally, three weeks ago, and absolutely love it. Mostly.

This morning was a bit of a struggle. It's going to be a long road.

I started with a lot of negativity today. Not sure why: just woke up a little tired. I looked forward to yoga, but it was a strain right away, and my brain went right to, "God. Three times a week for the rest of my life?"

Plus, I've been doing everything imaginable to help my back. Started a daily spreadsheet of activities, pain and tightness to document what leads to the next bad patch, and used it to log every time I stretch, shooting for five times a day of 10-15 minutes.

And I was very happy about it, until this morning it suddenly seemed like a huge, endless struggle.

But I felt much better at the end of yoga. I've got a great teacher, too--Tim Bouldry at David Barton Gym. He's always exuding joy and plus he said he was proud of me today. That helped immeasurably.

Helped. It will be a challenging day.

This makes writing 'Columbine' worth it. Again

2011-04-08T11:07:00.002-06:00

Two years after the birth of my book, I had quietly come to the unconscious conclusion, that it had finished surprising me. Then went downstairs for today's mail.

Truthfully, I ran down to get my royalty check, which I really need, and it wasn't there, but something better was. Four bulging manila envelops from the same address: Fremd High School, where I'd appeared at their Writer's Week last month.

It was an incredible day and I am so behind on posting about it--which I will, with great pictures. But the gist was: two great sessions with students, back-to-back in their auditorium, maybe 600-800 each, followed by two hours in the teacher's lounge talking to students and teachers in small groups and signing their books. They were bright and energized and it was amazing. But it didn't prepare me for this:

This was the best I could capture on my iPhone. It's about a two-inch stack of thank you letters:
mostly typewritten, quite a few handwritten, and all sorts of different stationary and cards. Each one from a different kid, expressing the impact it had on her or him.

I open the first envelop and sort of gasped. I read a few, tore open the next one, and I was crying by the third.

Maybe this is what teachers feel, or ought to. When I do these events, the rush of emotion is overwhelming. Kids are so expressive and I can see right there are excited they are and interested, and it's invigorating hear them describe what they can't wait to learn next.

But it's one big rush, more than I can really absorb. And I wonder, too, how much of the enthusiasm will last. Next week, will they remember? Will they really dig into that subject or will some new idea replace it thirty minutes later? Maybe that replacement idea will be better. Maybe I was just the excitement of the moment.

I never see them the day after.

I've gotten reports the weeks after. Teachers often write me to say the kids are still talking about it. Librarians email about their waiting list. Those are reassuring. Very. But I've never been bowled over like this.

Thank you so much to every kid and adult at Fremd High who wrote one of those messages. And to whatever teacher organized this wonderful gesture. (I think I know who.) What a difference it made.

What an amazing feeling to know hundreds of kids were touched in some way by my work. I hope it makes them read more. I hope it makes some of them write.
___

It's also a nice time to reflect on the book itself. I knew the anniversary of the tragedy was approaching, because I've heard rumblings from the survivors and always worry about them this month. I had forgotten the book had its own birthday as well--this past week I guess.

It's out there now--two years on a life of its own. It's even more like parenting than I had imagined. I birthed it, and I still feel responsible, but it detached from me publication day and started a separate life I can neither forsee nor control.

I can help it here and there, open doors for it--like these events, skypes with schools and the Columbine Teacher's Guide. I think that helps, but only on the margins. Most of it comes from readers--especially students and teachers and book clubs--and weird outside forces and the book itself.

I saw a Broadway play last night, and was talking with my friend outside the theater afterward about how exciting it will be when the stage-play version of my book comes out. (We optioned those rights to a very talented writer.) Someday, I'm sure there will also be a film. Who knows when.

Oddly, I was conflicted, talking about how excited I am about my new book project, and finally ready to put Columbine behind me. But not for good. Just off the front burner. I expect it to return several more times for who knows what developments. Definitely the play and the film. A few other possibilities I can foresee. I never saw this one coming.

___

And if you're curious what one of these school events looks like, I actually had a student tape the sessions at Fremd, and posted one of them on my youtube page. It's here:

Hell's Kitchen: my new home

2011-03-16T17:04:00.005-06:00

I signed a lease Friday, and I'm moving to Hell’s Kitchen next week. (Pix soon.)

I had two big reasons from the outset:

Get closer to the city.
A second bedroom for an office in a real room with a real door, and room for two tables for writing vs web. That worked really well in Denver. I need it badly.

I found a great apartment in a cool building in a great spot: in midtown, a five-minute walk from Times Square, which sounds horrifying, but that crap ends abruptly and HK is completely different. This is where friends said I belonged a year ago, but I had to test out the Upper West Side. They were right. The UWS is OK, but feels a bit far, and not at all my people. Somebody else’s neighborhood. This feels like home.

My place overlooks a garden on a quiet tree-lined block. My office is in the back, which is not perfect, but two big windows, southern exposure and no close high-rises. So lots of sky, tons of light, and trees below. It will easily fit my desk and a table with lots of breathing space, also crucial.

One window opens onto to the (sturdy) fire escape, which I easily clambered out to on my first visit. I plan to write out there sometimes. My econo-balcony. I love the feel of it, can't wait to write in there, which was my #1 priority.

(And when friends come, I can collapse the table and inflate the air mattress in its place for a guest room.) My bedroom is small, but will fit a queen bed with room to get around it, which is all I need. I'd much rather have the space in the office. It's got just one window with a different angle onto the garden. Key things for sleeping: easy make really dark and pretty quiet.

It’s a pre-war building with high ceilings, exposed brick, hardwood floors, crown moldings, and lots of character. It’s a big living room for NY, especially with no wall to the kitchen. I only share one wall with one other apartment, and windows facing north, south and west for great breezes.

Finding a new place in NYC is quite the adventure. I spent weeks looking, and still ended up paying a broker. I thought I was headed to Chelsea, but finally accepted it's just too expensive. I would have to sacrifice the office or live in a dump. (I checked out quite a few sad little tenements.)

Hell's Kitchen is just one neighborhood north, but felt too warehousy. I‘m kinda over that. But once I spent time looking there, I started falling in love with the place. I’d only been to the edges, or passing through late-night from place to place on some previous trips. The heart of it is packed with brownstones and new restaurants and clubs and has got great charm and character. And it’s also become homo-central, as the gayboys were priced out of Chelsea as it gentrified. (Which explains all the hot clubs and restaurants and shops and so forth.) They are chasing us northward.

Mobility is huge to me, I'm already a subway hound, and the access is amazing. I had to give up walking to my gym, which was a deal-breaker initially, but I finally let that go. It’s half the subway ride I take now to get there.

The gym-walk is less about walking there than being walking distance from there. And from members. Gyms are one of the nuclei of a gay neighborhood/life, with the homes, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, dentists, dry cleaners, etc. radiating out from there. This is a Chelsea gym, and I’ll be a Hell’s Kitchen guy, so that part of my life won’t reinforce. It's a different neighborhood with its own nucleus, one click uptown. I think a lot of members “commute” from Hell’s Kitchen, though. Haha. I could switch to Gold’s Gym, just a few blocks from me, but I tried it last summer and didn’t love it. Not really my crowd.

I actually ended the same distance from Central Park—just in a different directly. And if I ever do go to a Broadway show—I’ve been to a few off-Broadway plays, but have yet to see a musical or even a Broadway play—I’m just blocks from some of the big theaters.

Now I have to figure out furnishing it. Yuck. Good thing I have gay friends. Haha. A few of them will be in heaven, I think. A whole new place to outfit from the floor up, shopping with somebody else’s money. Hopefully not too much money. That makes me nervous. And for me, shopping and decorating are a chore. (I predict no paint will hit those walls, even if I stay 20 years. Have I ever painted a wall? I think only when a roommate or boyfriend initiated it. I helped Gregg paint his walls. That was fun.) I gave all my stuff to charity in Denver, and the sublet was furnished. About to start from scratch again after to many years.

---

I wrote all that on the plane to Tucson Friday, right after I signed. I was mostly excited, mixed with stabs of buyer's remorse: terrified I'd blown my budget and/or moved to the wrong place.

But spilling all that really turned it around. I gathered 20 pages of notes on all the places, and assessed a big list of factors and got most of what I wanted, especially the big ones. It was reassuring to see it all enumerated for myself. And it helps that I've moved so many times and tried out different situations, figured out what I like and what's important.

And Tucson took all my energy—two events, and lots of prep for the second one—and I forgot all about it. My mind came back to it on the plane home, all refreshed and happy, all the fear behind me. For now. Just a lot to get done.

This place has a few flaws, and I guess I’ll see whether they turn out wear on me evaporate. I’m sure I’ll discover others I was oblivious to, which will irk me, but you can't think of everything.

Moving to NYC was the first time in my life I felt like I'd found my home. It wasn't quite there up on the UWS, but this feels much closer. Maybe even there.

Thursday Update:

A friend just texted a photo of my neighborhood, taken nearby my place, which I added to the top of this post.

It was shot from 11th Ave (right near the Hudson) and 46th looking east. You can see the stark contrast between Hell's Kitchen—the low-rises in the foreground—and the high-rises of midtown rearing up right behind it.

(Labels are in flux. People use "Midtown" different ways, often broadly enough to include everything between Downtown and Uptown, including Hell's Kitchen.)

(For perspective, the Empire State Building is about 10 blocks south in that clump of high-rises. Hell's Kitchen also extends further north and south, but that's cut off.)

The foreground shows the grittier edge of HK, where it's warehouses and industrial/shipping plants close to the docks. You can sort of make out how it gets more brownstoney each block east (further from the camera).

BTW, West Side Story was set in Hell's Kitchen, to give you an idea of how rough it used to be. It was gentrified in the 90s/00s and that's all changed now.

My Lincoln Center apt open to sublet

2011-03-14T14:00:00.000-06:00

I'm officially moving. Signed a lease Friday on the way to the airport to head to Tucson.

More about that very soon, but first I thought I'd let you know that my current apartment near Lincoln Center (71st & West End) is open for re-subletting immediately.

It's been a great place. I just really wanted to get down to midtown, and a separate room to write in.

I don't normally hawk stuff on my blog, but Lisa, who I have rented from has been great and I've enjoyed the place, so if you know someone looking, I can vouch for it.

The craigslist post with more info is here, and you can email Lisa at lds616@hotmail.com .

The description:

Spacious Upper West Side One Bedroom

- 2 to 3 month sublet (potentially available for longer; negotiable move-in/out date)
- Fully Furnished
- Located: 2 blocks from 72nd St 1,2,3 trains; blocks from 72nd St B,C trains
- Large Bedroom with great light facing quiet tree-lined block; Walk-in Kitchen with Dishwasher; Spacious Living Room; Pre-War Elevator Bldg with Laundry and live-in Super; LOTS of Closet Space.
- Cable/DVR, Wireless Internet, Land-line and AC available upon subletter's request.
- Blocks from both Riverside and Central Parks.

71st Street at West End (google map) (yahoo map)

In Tucson for the Book Festival today

2011-03-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

I landed in Tucson last night and man, it's summer here. What a nice time for a book festival. And I've only gotten to my hotel, but so far it's a very tranquil place. Such a different feel flying in from Manhattan.

I'm looking forward to a great day.

My panel this morning is 'Bringing Meaning out of Meaninglessness: How Literature Can Respond to the January 8th Shootings.' Roger Simon is the moderator, and lots of other great journos. It's 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM. Chemistry - Room 111. We'll all be signing books immediately after.

Tonight I'm also doing a Dart Society seminar to support local journalists who have been covering the tragedy. That should be really interesting, too. I hope coming out is helpful to them.

Thanks very much to Dart for sponsoring my trip, to make both events possible for me.

I will post more soon, and watch my facebook page for updates and pix. And I have so much to say about my wonderful week of high school visits about Columbine in Chicago and St. Louis last week.

(I signed a lease on a new place in Hell's Kitchen yesterday. It's been a frantic search. More on that soon, too.) .

And free Columbine Teacher's Guide here. And here is my Columbine Intro Video.

Why Do Writers Abandon Novels? NYT vs Black Swan

2011-03-06T07:21:00.001-07:00

“A book itself threatens to kill its author repeatedly during its composition,” Michael Chabon writes in the margins of his unfinished novel “Fountain City.”

That's the opening line of a new essay in the New York Times Book Review: Why Do Writers Abandon Novels?

There are a lot of interesting thoughts on that from very successful writers, though none live up to that amazing opening line.

I felt Columbine trying to choke me to death countless times. And about three years into the process,
I did have to set the failed book project aside, work on it as a magazine piece for a few years, and then start completely over in 2004—five years in—with a completely different approach, scrapping nearly all the original material.

My advice for anyone who has never abandoned a huge writing project and finds the whole concept puzzling is to read the Times piece as an intro, and then go watch Black Swan. That film is exactly about what Chabon refers to—the work threatening to kill its creator—via a different art form (dancing).

The film proves once again that an art work hurtling you into the experience is profoundly more illuminating than an essay describing it.

Back out to high schools about Columbine this week

2011-03-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm off to LaGuardia for a great week of high school visits about Columbine in Chicago and St. Louis areas. Free Columbine Teacher's Guide here.

I'm also doing the Tucson Book Festival a week from Saturday, a panel titled 'Bringing Meaning out of Meaninglessness: How Literature Can Respond to the January 8th Shootings.' Sat 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM. Chemistry - Room 111

More soon, and watch my facebook page for updates and pix.

Here's a pic from my assembly at Hersey High last year:

How to interview a victim humanely--Today Show

2011-02-23T10:50:00.003-07:00

In December, I posted a video/blog post critiquing the disturbing interview of a victim on the Today Show. It was pretty awful, and riled a lot of you up.

This morning, I'm happy to report the flipside, on the same show. Watch how Ann Curry handles the end of this interview with a rattled mom, whose son committed suicide. I just clipped the end of the interview, so it runs just about 20 seconds:

Look how the mom reacts. She really needed that. She has a tough road ahead, and that moment could make a huge difference to her recovery. Having her pain and her actions validated that powerfully, and that publicly mean the world to many people in that situation.

Ann could have done it off the air, but then the woman's friends would never see it. She would not see it herself when she watched the tape again. For her, what happened on-air is the historical record. That is crucial.

Every reporter does not need to end every interview this way. It's a matter of instinct. And when your instincts say, This person needs support, give some.

I've learned a lot about empathetic reporting as a fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, which is part of the Columbia Journalism School, and the Dart Society, which is doing outreach. Click on their sites to learn more.

(I'm going to do an event with the Dart Society in Tucson in a couple weeks, about reporting the recent tragedy there. I'll have more info on that soon.)

Want to stop HIV? Gayguys needed for Microbicides study

2011-02-21T10:18:00.002-07:00

I was so overwhelmed by the response to my 'It's inside you now' post about my stint in an HIV vaccine trial, that I was inspired to promote this different line of attack.

Microbicides are one of the most promising areas for HIV research.

Vaccines have been futile so far, and we'll never get everyone to use a condom every time. But if we can find something to slip into the lube that gay men are using anyway, and straight women are mostly open to using . . . that would be a lifesaver.

So most of us were taken by surprise a few years ago when the first studies began to show that might actually work.

Of course we need to test the hell out of this stuff. If you're a gayguy, that's where you come in.

I just got an email from ProjectGel, looking for volunteers for a big study in Boston, Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico. It's sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, so that's good enough for me.

This study is limited to gayguys under 30 for some reason. But there are so many studies on so many approaches going on all over the place.

Here's a map to one group of vaccine trials. Click for info or call 1-800-448-0440.

Someday, there will be a cure. Help make it sooner.

I lost the five pounds. More, please

2011-02-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Back in January, I posted about New Years Resolutionaries and my goal to lose five pounds, the slow way. (A pound every week or two.)

Damn. It's still the best approach, I think, but I'm restless. I'm down from a peak of about 194 right after Christmas, to 188 now, so I've lost the five, plus one, in eight weeks. OK, so maybe I needed to lose ten or fifteen. Haha.

Seriously. First, my waist is not where I wanted it to be. It has crept down from an even 36 to an even 35, but I think it needs to be 34. All of this is tricky though, since I'm also working out more, trying to pack on muscle. (And I've started an abs class twice a week, which also hits obliques and lower back, and I think I'm working against the tape measure.)

And I have to confess, I do not like this slow bit.
I mean I like that I'm not starving all the time—not ever—but it feels glacial. Two months has felt like forever to make a very modest improvement. I want to look ripped now!

Not going to happen, though. I do feel good that just by being really good about what I eat, and consistent at the gym, I can have my sixpack back well before beach season.

I discovered green tea last week, BTW. (Discovered = I finally listened.) Damn if it doesn't give me more energy, and it's supposed to be packed with anti-oxidants. I added mixed frozen berries to them in the morning, too. They're quite cheap that way, and convenient. Supposedly ultra good for you.

It's coming along. I hope your plan is.

Upheaval in Bahrain: hitting home

2011-02-15T13:17:00.003-07:00

I was a little surprised how upset it made me this morning. The lead headline on the New York Times site was/is:

Unrest Grows in Bahrain as Police Kill a 2nd Protester

"Home" may sound like a stretch. I only lived there for three months, back in 1993-94. But for that stretch, it was home.

(I was a computer systems and management consultant for Arthur Andersen, and I led a project at GARMCO: Gulf Aluminum Rolling Mill Company. Khatar, another consultant, and I moved into a furnished apartment. Home.)

I adored the place, and the friends I made there. It will always have a place in my heart.

It's sort of like hearing my nephew was in trouble, I guess. I'm not responsible for him, but I would feel horrible if anything happened to him.

You could feel the unrest already, especially during Ramadan. Khatar was Lebanese, and would periodically translate what the Shia muezzins were wailing in their call to prayers. Often it was about the stranglehold of the Sunnis on them, and of Ali one day freeing them of that bondage.

They were pretty openly calling for revolt. I was shocked to discover that's what was going on in what to me was sort of background noise. I was walking through it oblivious.

On the plus side, the fact that they were getting away with it, suggests some measure of religious freedom. (There were other countries in the region where I believe they would have been arrested immediately.)

One day, Khatar assured me, it would blow. (It wasn't a purely religious thing, but religio-economic, too. Is that the word? There was great economic disparity between the two sects.)

There was also frustration with the monarchy.

So far, this uprising seems to be more about the latter, though they may or may not go hand in hand.

I'm excited by the idea of people there gaining their freedom, as I've been elated all month watching Cairo. But I'm more apprehensive this time.

Raising my shoes at Mubarak in solidarity with crowd in Tahrir

2011-02-10T14:23:00.004-07:00

Mubarak's speech was unbelievable—and endless. An endless, whiny, incoherent speech casting himself as martyr and refusing to leave. The oddest part was the translator, who kept groaning audibly, and sounding terribly annoyed. I've never heard anything like that. He was channeling my emotions precisely.

How infuriating it must have been to watch it in Tahrir. The protesters are raising their shoes at him, their ultimate insult. I'm raising mine, too.

Wish I could do more.

The crowd is enraged, apparently marching on palace (but that's 5 miles away).

NY Times story here.

Ground Zero—today, in pictures

2011-02-09T10:38:00.003-07:00

I went down way to the bottom of the island Monday for a meeting to plan a fundraiser for The Dart Society Monday. I took the long walk back to sign copies of Columbine at a Barnes & Noble, and passed by Ground Zero.

What I saw:

I was walking uptown (i.e., south to north) on West Street, with Ground Zero to my right/east. This first shot is facing north, a new building with the superstructure already in place:

I turned to my right for a wider shot, capturing more of the construction. I still couldn't get all the cranes:

Pedestrian traffic is blocked just before you reach the site, so I had to travel north inside the cluster of buildings that run a long city block. I think the x is about where I stood for the remaining pictures:

There is a huge glass viewing area inside to view the site:

Here's a tighter shot of the building on the left, from a slightly different angle:

And a still tighter shot, to give you a sense of the people actually working down there:

Update:

I got some quick response on my Facebook page about how glacial the pace has been. I know it feels slow, but my experience observing what to do with sites after big tragedies (Columbine, OK City, Virginia Tech . . . ) is that slow is much better.

Most individuals survivors don't even know what they want the first year or two after. It's too close. Five years later, they have a much better distance to gauge what they will want fifty years later.

Groups can't form consensus when even its individuals are unclear. It's so much better to wait and get it right.

One of the Arizona papers interviewed me a few weeks ago about lessons from their predecessors regarding Tucson. It's good to see them asking. It's not always what you think. I'll look for the link to the piece.

The breakout novel of 2011?

2011-02-03T14:15:00.005-07:00

Every year, we see one or two breakout novels by new writers that suddenly capture the public's attention.

These are notoriously unpredictable, but here's my prediction anyway. The novel with the best shot at that title is just released this week:

The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore.

The novel is narrated by the world's first chimpanzee to speak. He tells it from prison, where he's been detained for murder.

Here's what I wrote about it last month for The Hipster Book Club, in an entry titled Five Gems You Haven't Read (scroll down toward the bottom for my entry):

I got my first taste of Bruno at a reading in an East Village Bar this fall. I was kind of dreading it. The first reader earned my revulsion. Benjamin won me back. Bruno bit into a peach, and it was so vivid I could taste the spattered nectar filling the room.

Bruno is our narrator, and a chimpanzee. That could go horribly wrong. Or make for one hell of a romp. Guess which landed him on this list.

. . . Listening, watching, tasting, smelling...understanding. You can't spill it onto the page unless you absorbed it as it wafted by. Every author on this list understands that. And infuses it.

Each page, I love this book more. I'm a slow reader, so I'm still making my way through it, but relishing every line.

You will be hearing much more from Benjamin Hale. He's got incredible talent, and twenty years from now, he may well be considered one of the great writers of this generation.

And I've met him a couple times, too. Very nice guy. It's great to meet gifted creative people with unswelled heads.

You can check out Ben's dazzling prose in an online excerpt. It's getting rave reviews, with a big one coming in this weekend's NY Time Book Review.

Chuck Palahniuk's site is also going to do something with him--I think an interview. I know their critic, and he was blown away by it.

The book made B&N's Discover Great New Writers program, which I believe means it will be 20% off in all there stores for a few months. It's on Amazon, and in all the bookstores. Check it out.

And if you live in NYC, the book launch event is tonight at BookCourt in Brooklyn. He'll be in Manhattan early next week. National tour schedule here. (Chicago, Denver, Iowa, Arkansas, etc.)

You have never read anything quite like this, and I think you're going to like it.

Friday Update:

The Brooklyn event was standing room only, and they really ate the story up.

We went out for food and drinks after, and I got to meet two wonderful agents, and a slew of Ben's very funny friends. And I started to really get the charm of Brooklyn.

I'll add a pic once I'm fully awake. I didn't leave till nearly 2, and then it was a long subway back to Manhattan, because I always forget they all run local overnight. I'm am dragging ass now, but still very glad I went.

Great report, and historical perspective on Egypt

2011-02-01T13:49:00.001-07:00

I'm getting more cardio done the past week, because I can't pull myself away from the Cairo TV feeds on the elliptical.

I have been tweeting the best print pieces I've seen, and here is one of my favorites, just up on Slate:

We Are Making Our Future
A dispatch from the massive protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
By Sarah A. Topol

Hend is walking slowly, one halting step at a time. The 79-year-old pauses to rest on a raised curb across from two burned-out state security trucks and the looted headquarters of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party. The streets surrounding Cairo's central square are closed to cars, and getting to the massive gathering in Midan Tahrir is taking a lot of energy, but Hend is unwavering. After five minutes, she gets up and starts shuffling forward again.

This is Hend's second time protesting. The first was in 1952, when the Egyptians overthrew the British.

That is some perspective, huh? It goes on with many other points of view, vividly rendered.

Update, 4 p.m.:

I'm watching Mubarek speak live. He's whining and blaming everyone else. Totally tone deaf.

And if he's honest in turning over power, what is the point of clinging to office for a few more months?

Congratulations, Charlotte. Enjoy

2011-02-01T10:17:00.002-07:00

A few minutes ago, Michelle Obama sent an email announcing the Democrats would hold their 2012 convention in Charlotte, NC.

That gave me a big smile, and a reminder to send a big thank you your way for supporting of my book, Columbine. (More on that below.)

I still lived in Denver when it came to our city in 2008, and what a week. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, you are in for a treat, and I hope you enjoy it. (Same to residents of Tampa, where the Rs are convening.)

I never managed to get into the convention center, but thousands of fascinating people descended on the city, and milled about at parties and other gatherings all week. I was surprised to discover how many friend-of-friend connections I had that got me into a few of those, which led to others.

And then I got really lucky.
Mid-afternoon on Thursday, a friend called and said he had an extra ticket to the nomination speech at Mile High Stadium (aka Invesco Field). Did I want to come? Wow.

Traffic in that section of the city had been shut down, and the last shuttle buses had left. (They were asking people to get there 5 hours early, I believe.) So I hopped on my bike. I lived near downtown, so it was about a 20 minute ride.

We snaked through the line for four hours, which was a bit of an adventure in itself, and the ceremony was already in progress when we got in. (Al Gore was halfway through his speech.)

We had pretty good seats, and nearly everyone was already in place, so we spotted some better seats below and took them—figuring we'd just give them up if the people came late, but they didn't.

Somebody was smiling on us, because that turned out to be the press area, and some Dem staffers came around with printed copies of the text of the speech a few minutes before Obama took the stage. So I got to read along, and ahead, and view it as an essay—as a piece of writing, with a narrative arc—and marked it up as he went, the way I write all over the books I read.

(Plus, I have a copy of that historic speech: first African American in our history accepting a nomination for president, and then becoming our first minority president. Whatever you think of his politics, what a glorious moment for our country it was to break that barrier.)

I also got a few mementos to send along to my friend and volunteer assistant, who deserves more than I could ever give her. (She lives just one state over from North Carolina. Maybe she'll travel to Charlotte next year.)

It was one of the highlights of my life. I hope you lucky people in Charlotte plan ahead better than I did, and find a way to be part of it.

(They always need volunteers, who then get access to all sorts of fascinating behind the scenes stuff. You never know where you'll land.)

The Charlotte Observer knew their city was a finalist, and prepped for it. They are up with a big package about what to expect, a guide to the convention, etc.

Here's a bit from Michelle Obama's email, titled "Thrilled":

Charlotte is a city marked by its southern charm, warm hospitality, and an "up by the bootstraps" mentality that has propelled the city forward as one of the fastest-growing in the South. Vibrant, diverse, and full of opportunity, the Queen City is home to innovative, hardworking folks with big hearts and open minds. And of course, great barbecue.

Barack and I spent a lot of time in North Carolina during the campaign -- from the Atlantic Coast to the Research Triangle to the Smoky Mountains and everywhere in between. Barack enjoyed Asheville so much when he spent several days preparing for the second Presidential debate that our family vacationed there in 2009.

And my very first trip outside of Washington as First Lady was to Fort Bragg, where I started my effort to do all we can to help our heroic military families.

___

This also gives me a moment to say thank you people of Charlotte and North Carolina. In December, Amazon struck a deal with BookScan to start sharing sales data with the author of each book. (Not just Amazon sales, most of the industry.)

I was stunned to see Charlotte as my seventh-highest city for sales in the first month tracked. It is the 33rd biggest Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to the U.S. census. Raleigh-Durham was alsor remarkably high, and for their size, so were Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem and your SC neighbors Greenville-Mauldin-Easley-Ashville-Spartanburg.

I'm not sure what's going on in Charlotte and the Carolinas that got you all interested in my book. Sometimes I think one book club can get it rolling, or one school adopting it for class.

(Teachers, check out the free online Columbine Teacher's Guide, or the Student Guide. Book clubs, we did reader questions with Oprah.com. And click for Skype opportunities for schools or book clubs.)

Whoever, however the word spread down there, I'm grateful. Thanks for reading, and spreading the word.