Thanks for the music, Levon. I hope it’s nice up on Cripple Creek.

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Here’s the song, for streaming or download. Enjoy!

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I launched a new podcast! Since I wrapped up the podcast of Purgatory two years ago, my podcasts have been few and far between. I had originally hoped to write and podcast a new short story every week. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that I am not Scott Sigler, who can turn out quality work week after week. I didn’t want to podcast stories just for the sake of doing them; I want to put only quality work out there. Consequently, I released only a couple of interviews I did over Skype. Until a few weeks ago.

My new show is called The Geek Side of Life, and I intend it to be an exploration of all sorts of geeky culture, from old stories to modern books, movies, music, and TV shows, and anything else that fits the geek mold. As I write this, I have released five episodes: Two short stories that are in the public domain (by H.G. Wells and Robert E. Howard), a short story of mine, and two interviews. The interviews have been especially fun (I enjoy hearing someone else’s voice rather than my own.) Jenn from the Jennisodes podcast gave me a crash course in game design and production, as she readies her new role playing game Project Ninja Panda Taco for release later this year. I also had a terrific time chatting with singer-songwriter-podcaster John Anealio about his music. If you haven’t heard his new song Empire State yet, you need to download it now. In fact, I think that song will be the subject of my next post.

I’ve already recorded two more interviews, one with writer-podcaster Justin Macumber, whose novel Haywire is available for sale now, and with author-singer-graphic designer Starla Huchton. Both of those conversations will hit the feed shortly. My plan is to release new episodes every two weeks. That seems to be a comfortable span for me; a regular schedule that shouldn’t prove to be too burdensome.

I continue to ready Purgatory for self-publication. Starla is busy designing a book cover for me while I re-read it for the billionth time and continue to catch mistakes or problems. One issue popped up quite suddenly a few weeks ago. If you’ve listened to the podcast, there is a scene where the protagonist, in an attempt to find the gateway to earth, begins to sing a pop song from the 1960′s. In another scene, one of the other characters sings a couple of lines from a Beatles song. This didn’t seem like a big deal when I was giving away a free podcast; it’s a much bigger deal if one intends to make money from the work at issue. I realized I had to weigh into the treacherous waters of getting permission to use these lyrics.

I am a researcher by day, and I commenced an investigation to identify the publishers of these songs. While at a Barnes & Noble store one day, I found a Beatles songbook that contained the song I used. I flipped to the page, found the copyright information at the bottom, and snapped a picture with my phone. A Google search revealed that the publisher is a joint venture of Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson. I got an email address from their Web site, dashed off a request, and got a response within a few days. The response provided a form for me to complete and return.

Shortly after I returned the form (and in the mean time discovered that the same publisher owned the rights to the other song), I received a licensing price quote from them. They requested $300, and I was to limit the print run to a total of 500 print and electronic copies combined. The $300 was a discouragement; the limit on the print run is a deal-breaker. A very quick rewrite will eliminate any traces of the lyrics from my book.

The weeks ahead will include finalizing the cover, hopefully catching all typos in the text, creating a PDF for the print version, formatting it for the various ebook formats, doing all the uploads and getting it to market. I don’t think it will seem real until I see it for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, the iBook Store, and everywhere else that I can think of. I anticipate selling more ebooks than physical books, but I plan to bring several copies of the print version with me to Balticon in May.

Beyond that, my day job has kept me very busy, I’ve gotten a bit more freelance work lately, my work on two library boards of trustees draws a lot of my attention, and something really nice has happened in my personal life. More on that some other time. My exercise routine has slipped a bit, with the result that some of my pants feel like they’ve shrunk. That’s something that must change immediately.

So, that’s the news from Lake Wobetim. I’ll have a new post again soon. Promise.

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Normally when I exercise, I listen to podcasts on my iPod. I’m a self-confessed podcast junkie. If you see me with my earbuds on, I’m more likely to be listening to a segment of Talk of the Nation or an episode of Podcastle than I am to be listening to music. As I was waiting for the starting horn to sound before the race, I started listening to a podcast, but it didn’t feel right. There was so much energy in the hundreds of runners all around me that I needed to listen to something that would pump me up even more.

I quickly scrolled through my iPod and landed on Led Zeppelin’s PHYSICAL GRAFFITI album, which I had not listened to in some time. Perfect. As the race started, the opening chords of Custard Pie got my legs moving and I was off to the races, as they say.

Now, they call it Tipperary Hill for a reason, and the course for the run involved running up two steep hills. A mile or so into the run, we went down North Lowell Avenue and made a left turn onto Ulster Avenue, the first significant hill. As I was leaning into the hill and shortening my stride (techniques that I learned as a member of the high school cross country team; thanks, Coach Bachner), the third song on the album started. If you are familiar with the album, you know what I’m talking about.

Yes, as I was running up a steep hill, I was listening to In My Time of Dying. Had I not been panting from exertion, I would have laughed out loud. I could not have planned a more ironic music choice. You have to love these little ironies in life.

I finished the race with a time of 36:59, which I was pretty happy with. First long run of the year and all that. The race was so much fun that I’m already planning on next year. And henceforth, I will always think of that hill on Syracuse’s west side whenever I hear In My Time of Dying.

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Some authors love the phase of the writing process where they pour out the story in the first draft but hate the revision process. I’m the opposite. This book in particular seemed to take me forever to finish (paying freelance projects, day job duties and good old-fashioned procrastination had a lot to do with that.) It took me longer to write this one than either Acts of Desperation or Purgatory did. Once that first draft was done, I set it aside for a few weeks and worked on some other things. I wrote a piece that may end up in an anthology a friend is planning to publish, and I wrote a short story on a whim inspired by a conversation I had on Twitter. The story was goofy and fun, but I have no idea what I’ll do with it. Eventually, I’m sure I’ll submit it to a few markets and see if I get any nibbles.

Having returned to the novel, I find that I really enjoy the revision process. I can spot the places where my character descriptions need beefing up. Words that I use repeatedly start to jump out at me (my characters tend to snort a lot.) Little inconsistencies become obvious. I find that making these repairs is a whole lot easier than creating the world and the story in the first place.

While the entire novel has not gone out to beta readers yet, one of my friends read a few of the chapters as I was writing the first draft. She gave me a lot of valuable feedback, and my first pass at revision focused on many of the issues she raised. Now, I’m going through the book scene by scene and making changes. Once this round is done, I’ll be ready to turn it loose on beta readers. That’s always a scary prospect, but it’s an exciting one, too.

More to come as this work moves from my laptop to readers’ eyes.

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Last year, I interviewed Abbie for my podcast. A few weeks ago, she turned the tables and interviewed me. We had a great discussion about Cowry Catchers, Purgatory, and publishing. Thanks again to Abbie for having me on her show. I hope you enjoy.

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“Ringo played the drums.” (Active sentence)

“The drums were played by Ringo.” (Passive sentence)

In sentence number two, the phrase “were played” is a passive verb. It makes the drums the subject of the sentence, when really, the reader wants to know about Ringo. After all, he’s the one who makes the drums come to life. Too many passive sentences can make a piece sound wooden, stiff, and unexciting.

And sometimes, they can cause significant problems.

Imagine that someone has written a will, and in that will he has left a large sum of money to a non-profit group that supports a local museum or school or orchestra or some other cultural entity. Suppose the will states that the funds “should be used to supplement the services already available.” This sentence is a problem. Why? Because it does not say who will use the funds to supplement services. Is it the non-profit group that has received the funds, or is it the cultural entity that benefits from the group’s support? As you might expect, one’s interpretation will vary depending on whether one is a member of the support group or a member of the entity. The group is apt to disagree with the entity.

When the amount of money involved is small, this is an annoyance. When the amount is large, it can create hard feelings as both sides try to assert control over the money.

Whether you are a novelist trying to scare people with a ghost story, a newspaper columnist describing the latest presidential candidate debate, the author of a textbook, or a lawyer writing a will, improperly used passive sentences can: 1) make your novel or column boring; 2) make your textbook even more boring; 3) start a conflict. When the sum of money is in the hundreds of thousands or millions, that conflict could end up in a courtroom. All because the writing was unclear.

Like any other part of language, passive sentences have their place and legitimate uses. However, writers should take care not to overuse them, and they should give careful consideration to meaning when they decide to use them. We write to communicate — a message, a story, a joke, driving directions, or instructions. If we’re going to take the trouble to write something, shouldn’t we do it in a way that leaves no doubt as to what we mean?

It’s not communication if the receiver doesn’t understand what you said.

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When was the last time you got a letter in the mail? December sees a lot of mail and you remember that sense of delight when the first card arrives. You can have that more often.

I have a simple challenge for you.

1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
2. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

All you are committing to is to mail 24 items. Why 24? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 24 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month. You might enjoy going to the mail box again.

Feeling intimidated? It’s fewer words than NaNoWriMo and I know how many of you do that. Join me in The Month of Letters Challenge.

It’s an interesting idea. I don’t know if I’ll send letters all 24 days (what with February starting tomorrow and all,) but I might send a few. I used to live for letters back in high school (you know, in the far distant past of the 1970s.) It might be kind of cool to send and receive them again. For a while. Until I get writer’s cramp and run out of stamps.

Think you’ll try it?

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An Indie Publisher Investing Plan

Step One: Set a Goal to Publish Something New Every Two Weeks.

— It could be a short story or your latest book. It could be a collection, whatever. Just put into print one new item every two weeks. (I know of very few writers who haven’t been working for a time that don’t have backlist as well to help with this. If you hate the story and think it sucks, put it under a pen name.)

— Give yourself one week to miss, so you will have 25 books, stories, collections up in one year. (Even if you miss for three full months you will have 20 books, stories, and collections up. Not bad.)

— This investment plan will also keep you writing new work.

Step Two: Consider Each Publication a Deposit into Your “Future Investment Account.”

— So instead of turning into an “Author” with every new published item, consider each new published book or story an investment in your future. Just like putting $100.00 into a 401(k) every two weeks. Think of it in the exact same way.

— Just as you ignore your 401(k) statement most months, ignore how your sales are going. Focus on the writing of the next thing.

— And if you really want to use your writing as an investment, just let the money sit in an interest-bearing account as it comes in each month from your sales. You might be stunned at how fast that will grow as you keep writing and publishing. (I know some writers are already doing this with their indie publishing accounts.)

— Take the long-term approach. Think out five and ten years, not two weeks. (I know, impossible for beginning writers to do, but again, you are investing in your future. It’s all an attitude.)

I like the idea of thinking of my writing output as an investment account. It provides an incentive to write more and to spend more time polishing what I’ve written. This approach reminds me of advice I’ve heard given to salespeople: Rather than think of cold-calling as a chore, think of it as a source of earnings. If it takes on average 20 cold calls to produce one sale, and each sale produces an average of $500 commission, then each cold call is worth $25. The thinking goes that, if the salesperson approaches a cold call with the thought that it will earn $25, cold calling becomes less of a chore.

I’m not a salesman by trade and I think I would hate having to make cold calls each day, but I like the thinking behind this. I am a writer, however, and there’s nothing stopping me from adopting Smith’s attitude toward writing production today.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of this approach.

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In this episode, she interviews public relations professional Joshua Logan Seideman. Some of you may know that public relations is one of the many hats I wear at my day job, so I was especially interested in this one. The conversation surrounds the topic of marketing a game (Jennisodes is a podcast devoted to role playing games, after all,) but his points are valuable to anyone who is trying to get their work noticed. I listened to it once yesterday while walking my dog and driving to work (not at the same time,) and I plan to listen to it again when I can scribble down some notes.

Whether or not you have an interest in RPG’s, I highly recommend Jenn’s podcast simply because every week she gets fascinating guests to interview. This week’s episode features the two attorneys who do the Law Of The Geek podcast. Again, the talk was about the legal aspects of game design and marketing, but they made some very interesting points about contracts with illustrators and other outside content creators. As someone who is contemplating self-publishing, I had not given this any thought, which is especially bad since I spend much of my time on the day job reading contracts. Even if you decide not to bother with a formal contract, you should be aware of the implications of that decision, so I strongly recommend you give that show a listen.

So much to listen to, so little time…

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The following are my bold and not so bold predictions for publishing in 2012.  My boldest prediction will be that Amazon will buy Goodreads in 2012.  The most unlikely to happen prediction is Number 10.    What are your predictions for 2012?

1.  More authors will self publish than in 2011.  I suspect that nearly every author will try his or her hand at self publishing new and previously unpublished content, either in novella or full length book form.  After 2012, I suspect that there will be a retrenchment in self publishing and authors will look to digital first arms of traditional publishers or digital first only publishers as they realize that a) self publishing is difficult and b) they’d rather write than focus on the business aspect.  However, there will be a rise in the number of self publishing success stories and the quality of self publishing will increase as supply increases.  Along with this prediction, we will see the rise of publishing service companies and indie communities of publishing service providers akin to Penguin’s Book Country and HarperCollins’ Authonomy where editors, copy editors, graphic artists will be able to offer their services and be voted on by the community.

There is a fair amount of discussion about this in the comments section of this post. As I’ve discussed here before, I’m giving serious thought to self-publishing one or both of my podcast novels this year. I know people who have self-published ebooks, and they haven’t described the process as terribly difficult. If any of you have a different view, I’d love to hear it in the comments below.

3.  Readers will gravitate to lower priced books, those priced 3.99 and under, so long as the book has a good hook and a decent cover.  These books will be substitutes for traditionally priced books.  In looking back at Bookscan, authors sold well if they had an established name.  Breaking out as a new author is more difficult than ever, particularly from traditional publishers.  I suspect the new books that readers will be talking about will come from the $3.99 and under price range and those books will be available to readers around the world.  That’s the discovery price range.

I’ve heard different opinions on what the sweet spot is for ebook pricing, anywhere from $2.99 to $6.99. I’ve heard of several authors selling well at $4.99, so I’m not sold (no pun intended) on $3.99.

4.  I think the price of most digital books will be $3.99 and that $.99 fiction will fall into either short fiction price (under 25K words) or will be promotional.  Publishers will experiment with book pricing and readers will be more hesitant to buy older titles at full price, hoping for a lower price deal.

If you agree with point #2, then this makes sense. The $0.99 price point for shorter works I think is already pretty much the rule. Some of my peers like Abigail Hilton, Jennifer Povey and Phil Rossi have priced their short stories this way.

5.  There will be a Steam-like publisher offering resellable digital books, available only in the cloud.  This is being experimented with by Austrialian publishers Book.ish and ReadCloud.  This might be offered by a romance publisher, but I suspect it will be a small press publisher for SFF or maybe comic books or a textbook publisher that would allow students resell ability of their digital texts.

If my sons could buy digital textbooks for a reduced price and resell them after the semester ends, I’d buy them Kindles tomorrow. I’m curious as to how this would work. Anyone have any experience with the two Australian publishers she mentioned?

6.  Sites like Goodreads will become more popular and thus more powerful.  Goodreads currently has over 6 million users.  Membership at Goodreads is increasing on a daily basis. Publishers are attempting to break into that market through Bookish, the as yet unreleased website backed by Hachette, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster, but I suspect that Bookish and sites like it will wither on the vine mostly because they won’t be reader oriented but book oriented which I think are two very different things.  My boldest prediction is that Amazon will purchase Goodreads for the community and its recommendation engine.  (Amazon already owns Shelfari but back in 2007, Amazon purchased DPReview.com, the premiere digital photography recommendation site)

As a reader, I love Goodreads; as an author, I have to put it to better use this year (see my last post on marketing.) Not everyone sees a potential Amazon purchase of Goodreads as a good thing. Check out the comments after her original post. Do any of you have thoughts about this?

7.  Digital book sales will represent 50% of trade sales by the end of 2012.

I’m not so sure about this one. Undoubtedly, digital books will continue to grow in popularity in a big way. However, I still hear more people say that they prefer physical books than the other way around. Predictions of a 50 percent share next year may be premature.

9.  BN will continue to move toward offering non book content. BN will allow large store leases to expire and relocate into smaller locations. The larger locations will decrease the book content to half of the retail contents.  BN will begin to carry more toys, house ware goods (like cooking supplies to go with the cookbooks and craft supplies to go with the craft books), and other celebrity designed products ala Target’s pairing with Moschino and Jason Wu.  BN already has Vera Bradley paper goods.

I’ve already noticed how much floor space my local B&N stores are devoting to toys, puzzles and games. Not sure I like it, but this prediction rings true.

10.  There will be an innovative print on demand machine that non bookstores will install.  Maybe it will be something you see in department stores.  The new print on demand machine will print mass market or trade versions of books.  (This is probably something more that I would like to see than what may happen, but I do believe that print on demand technology will increase dramatically in the next few years. There will be a high demand for it.)

Cool as it sounds, I don’t think we’ll see this this year, especially given the continued weakness in the economy. I just don’t see retailers gambling on an expensive, unproven machine when they’re under so much pressure right now. We daydreamed a bit at a meeting of one of the two library boards I serve on about how cool it would be to have a machine like this in our library. The price tag brought us back to earth in a hurry. Employee benefits and pension costs are cannibalizing our budget, and there will be no room for something like for a long while.

So, what do you think of these predictions? Eerily prescient or utter hogwash? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Marketing isn’t about striking it rich with every activity you do. That’s an unrealistic expectation. You can’t expect perfection, but you can expect success. Therefore, your marketing goal should be to build a “body of work” that generates momentum over time and draws readers to you and your books. Think of the process like building a large magnet that begins to consistently attract people. Your objective is show up where your reading audience congregates numerous times and in numerous formats. You want people to think, “Everywhere I turn, I seem to bump into this author’s material, advice, stories, or resources.” Does it take a little more work? Yes, but this magnetic approach also produces larger results over a longer period of time.

I should print this out and read it every day, because I recognized myself in a lot of what he wrote here.

Have any of you done any of the following?

• Sent out a few query emails, then stopped after you received a few “no” responses or “no responses”?
• Written a bunch of blog posts, then slowed down to a crawl when you noticed you weren’t getting a lot of comments on your posts?
• Released a couple of novels as podcasts, then followed up with…nothing?
• Groused about how no one ever asks you to be in their podcast productions, even though you never announced you were available?
• Wondered why you don’t get invited to be on con panels, even though very few people know about your books?

Yep. I’m guilty on all counts.

I had a very eye-opening experience at Dragon*Con last summer. I was hanging with Starla and Scott Huchton and their friends, and at some point in the conversation I mentioned something about one of my podcasts. Starla said, “I keep forgetting that you’ve podcasted novels, because you never talk about them. Ever.” ZING! Those books are on my mind all the time, but apparently I’ve done precious little to make others aware of them. If Starla, who is an active participant in the podcasting community and a sought-after narrator (see her fine work in Lindsay Buroker’s The Emperor’s Edge) doesn’t think I’m promoting my work, then clearly I’m not.

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but this year I have to make a schedule for promotional activities and stick to it. That means writing down a plan for regular blog posts (and interesting topics) at the beginning of the month. It means a numeric goal for queries each week, both for my fiction and my freelance work, which has slowed to a crawl. It means becoming a regular poster in the Facebook Podcast Community and letting the folks there know that I want to play roles in their podcasts. It means getting assertive about telling people that I want to be on panels and do readings at cons.

And when I do all that, I have to keep this Writers Digest blog post in mind. Not everything I do will have an immediate payoff, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. I go to the gym four or five times a week, and though I don’t yet fit into size 32 jeans or have the physique of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, I keep going because I know it will pay dividends in the long run. So it is with promotion. Every activity helps build the brand, which will hopefully make people interested in listening to or reading my books.

Next Dragon*Con, I want Starla to say, “I’m f**king sick of hearing about your books.”

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If you like this song, please share it with your friends and anyone else you can think of who would like it. I’d love to see them get more widespread exposure. Enjoy!

“Frosty’s slowly melting watching episodes of ‘Lost’…”

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Here’s the beginning of the story, as posted on Podcastle’s site last Christmas:

Trish led Nate from the room, into the hall — their parents’ door was
closed — and onto the stairs. She could hear someone moving down
there. Trish crept down the carpeted steps. The only light in the
living room came from the bright Christmas tree. Even the yule log in
the fireplace had burned down.

Two men, dressed in black pajamas with their faces covered, were tying
a big red ribbon around a crate that was bigger than the couch.

“Ninjas?” Trish whispered to her brother.

“Christmas ninjas,” Nate said.

One of the ninjas pulled up his mask a little and ate one of the
cookies they’d left for Santa. He drank the milk, too, leaving a white
mustache on his ninja mask when he pulled it back down over his mouth.

I hope you like this as much as I did.

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Here’s the description from Douglas’s Web site:

The Podcast Community on Facebook has come together this season to record an audio version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This reading is based on an edited version of the story created by Dickens himself for his own live readings.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Listen to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Our cast includes:

• Douglas E. Welch – Career Opportunities Podcast
• Michael Falkner – The Weekly Podioplex (part of the Chronic Rift Network)
• Bryan Lincoln – Fullcast Podcast
• Paul Ellis – It Was A Dark & Stormy Night
• James Bennett – All Things Geek
• Heidi Jenkins – Castlecast
• Paula Berinstein - The Writing Show
• Jason James – thenutgallery.com podcast
• Michael Lawshe – Eclipse-1 Media
• Peter Lythgoe – The Zzipp & Co. Podcast
• Browncoat – thenutgallery.com podcast
• Megan Enloe – Podcast Community
• Rish Outfield – The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine
• Hatton Humphrey – East Coast Conservative Podcast
• Rosanne Welch – WelchWrite.com
• Lauren “Scribe” Harris – Pendragon Variety Podcast
• Lauren “Skrybbi” Nicholson – Pendragon Variety Podcast
• Raven Wei – Pendragon Variety Podcast
• Tim Dodge -Podiobooks ACTS OF DESPERATION and PURGATORY
• R.E. Chambliss – Podiobook Dreaming of Deliverance

Produced by Douglas E. Welch and WelchWrite.com

Interstitial Music and Sound Effects provided by Michael Lawshe of Eclipse-1 Media

Join the Podcast Community on Facebook

Enjoy!

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Look no further. Give a listen to the E.P., Seasons Geekings by nerd musician extraordinaire John Anealio. You can stream it here, and if you like what you hear, you can download it from his Web site. While you’re there, check out some of his other songs. My personal favorites are his theme song for Mur Lafferty’s podcast I Should Be Writing; his ode to Steve Jobs Blue Lego (Steve Jobs Hates Flash); The “NaNoWriMo” Song, his tribute to masochistic novelists everywhere; and the iconic George R. R. Martin is Not Your Bitch.

I’ve heard John play live at the last two Balticons, and I’ve really grown to enjoy his music and the weekly podcast  he does with Patrick Hester, Functional Nerds. Give him a listen!

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• Cut down a Christmas tree. This is a family ritual going back 23 years — I cut one down the week after my oldest son was born, and we’ve been doing it ever since. Traditionally, we go the day after Thanksgiving, as we always wanted to have it up for his birthday, and that was one day when we could get around work schedules, basketball games, etc. This year, we went a day later; we had to work around a schedule conflict on our usual work-around day. The tree is a beauty and it’s been gracing the family room for a week now.
• Music: Messiah by George Frideric Handel. When I was in high school, I sang in a chorus that performed parts of this at Christmas-time. I try to listen to at least some of it every year since. I also love the CD We Three Kings by The Roches, several of the old classics (Bing, Andy Williams, etc.). This year I’m listening a lot to On Thin Ice by Pandora Celtica. This is not a Christmas album in the strictest sense, in that I don’t think the lyrics mention Jesus once. It’s more of a Yule album, but the harmonies are breathtaking (par for the course for them), the versions are different than those you’ve heard before (imagine Deck the Halls sounding sad,) and the original song Santa Claus Got Eaten by the Kraken is wickedly funny.
• Books: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (natch — I blogged about this last year). A relatively new ritual is to re-read the fine stories in Connie Willis’ collection Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Thank you to Mur Lafferty for making me aware of this book. The stories have the holiday spirit without excess sentimentality.
• Movies: Sure, I like It’s a Wonderful Life as much as the next guy, and I can quote several of the funniest lines from A Christmas Story. However, one of my favorites is a made-for-TV movies that most people don’t know about: The Gathering. This excellent 1977 film stars Ed Asner as a curmudgeonly successful businessman who, through diligent effort, has managed to alienate most of his adult children, not to mention his estranged wife, played to perfection by Maureen Stapleton. Shortly before Christmas, he learns that he is terminally ill and probably won’t see February. Reconciling with his kids suddenly becomes very important to him. When his ex-wife figures out what’s going on, she offers to invite all of the kids home for an old-fashioned family gathering. He agrees on the condition that his illness be kept secret. The story that follows warms my heart every time I watch it. One scene in particular, in which the man and his son (played by Lawrence Pressman) have a confrontation that’s been brewing for years, is very powerful. The film sends a wonderful holiday message without ever getting sappy. It used to get rerun on cable every year, but it seems to have been forgotten the last few years. For a long time, I was reduced to watching a recording I’d made on VHS on some long-gone cable channel back in the 90′s. However, when I finally found it on DVD online a couple of years ago, I had my credit card out before the screen refreshed. Now it’s a permanent part of my collection.
• TV specials: Love me some Charlie Brown Christmas (“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown”) and I caught up with my old friend the Grinch last week. I have a soft spot for Rudolph, of course. Another of my favorites from childhood is Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town with the voices of Fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney. I don’t get to see that one every year, as I don’t think it gets repeated as prominently as some of the others, but I look for it in the listings.
• Watch the Christmas Eve midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. Our local NBC affiliate carries this every year (tape-delayed, of course; Rome is several hours ahead of us here in the eastern U.S.). Most years, I don’t watch the whole thing, but I try to catch at least some and hopefully most of it. There is something about the pageantry of midnight Mass, especially when celebrated by the pope, that I love. We’ll attend Mass ourselves on Christmas Day, but it’s obviously not quite the same.

That’s my list. I’d love to hear what yours are. Fill up the comments with ‘em — maybe I’ll end up stealing adopting some of yours.

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