SAN FRANCISCO-
I recently flew south to do a piece for Poets & Writers magazine about a rather unorthodox writers camp. Called The Write Stuff, it’s run by a writer named Rock Adams. Ever hear of him?
SAN FRANCISCO-
You’re a writer, right? You’ve been writing for eight years, ten years, fifteen… and you’ve had a few small successes. But not with ‘the book,’ the one you poured your heart into over the years, the one that is not merely an entertainment, but is true, containing the essence of yours and others’ experiences, and the little bit of insight it all gave you. You’ve submitted it to the big New York houses hundreds (sometimes it seems like thousands) of times… with no result other than enough rejection slips to stuff a queen sized mattress.
SAN FRANCISCO-
What if you were lucky enough to be a fly on the wall at a publishing house marketing meeting? Or, barring that, a junior intern seated not at the table, but in the second tier of chairs, where your job was to serve coffee to the big boys and girls. Well then, you’d be privy to some really good insider information on what was hot and what was not, wouldn’t you? Well I know such a person and she called this in to me the other night, so I thought I’d share.
SAN FRANCISCO-
I’ve been thinking a lot about book titles lately. My first published book (not the first book I’d written, but the first I’d sold), Calling Crow, had originally been titled by me as Cacique. Envisioned as a historical thriller, ala Clavell’s Shogun, I put a lot of thought into the title.
SAN FRANCISCO-
I sent one of my stories to a so-called literary magazine and got back the strangest rejection letter I’ve ever received — and I’ve been doing this for over thirty years. I’d never heard of The @$$!@# Reader until the night I picked up (but didn’t buy) a copy at my local Borders where I go with my daughter, D, every Wednesday afternoon. (more…)
SAN FRANCISCO-
As usual, I drove to the municipal pool last Sunday. My route takes me past the soccer field. A game was in progress, one team wearing green shorts and jerseys, the other blue. Soccer is really big here in South City with the Mexicans and Central Americans. They’re out there most Sundays, their families picnicking on the grounds, watching. There’s always a truck parked alongside the field selling burritos and tacos. We also have a baseball field adjoining that. They usually play Saturday and some evenings under the lights. (more…)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA-
One of the neighbors in the ‘nage’ flips cars—that is, he buys them, spruces them up, then sells them. There are always at least six of them parked on our little street, so sometimes it gets a little crowded. He “ain’t from here,” as country people would say. He hails from somewhere down south–El Salvador or Guatemala, I think. He is well dressed, respectful, and attentive. He can usually be found outside, cell phone in hand. If I or one of the other neighbors seem to be having difficulty negotiating a turn into our driveways, he will hustle over and move one of the cars like an uptown parking lot Johnny.
