Hustler of Culture
I’ve always thought of myself as the world’s least photogenic person. The picture you see here (taken, with skill, by one Ms. Mena Trott) is the only nice picture of me in existence.
Until today…
Rannie, who is now an unqualified master, took some phat photos of me at SXSW. At least half of these make me look way hot. I’ve got at least half a dozen here I’d feel ok, like, showing to someone.
Which are your favorites?
Mega-talent, San Francisco it-girl and all-around nice person Beth Lisick mentioned me in her column today.
I can retire happy now.
Lunch with Jud the Agent Guy went quite well. We talked about publishing (he knows way more than me, which is good), the book (he has a strong feeling about it, which is good) and Brooklyn (which I’ve only been to once, but seems good). When I get home next week, I make a few inserts on the proposal then he hits the bricks with it.
This could get exciting real fast.
Mr. Powazek has posted the audio from Fray Cafe 3 in Austin. There’s some great stuff on there including a couple of fly songs from Scott Lepera, and wonderful tales from Jish Mukerji (on being the biggest stud in third grade), Meryl Evans (about her new baby), and John Styn (on his love for his grandpa). I did a little something about working at a video store. At minute 38:50 on the real audio feed (sound provided by the inimitable Michael Brown).
The whole agent thing now has a conclusion. A few days ago, I signed on. Now Jud Laghi of International Creative Management in New York is my agent. Everyone, meet Jud. Jud, meet everyone.
I split for South by Southwest tomorrow and will be gone until the 15th. When you do here from me until then, it will be from the conference floor.
See ya soon. I’ll let you know how the whole agent thing goes.
Central Booking (1999-2003) is done. It’s been a terrific ride but it’s time for me to do something else. Thank you all for your support. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Now for the next step: There’s a New York agent who wants to represent me. I’ve seen some of his other projects. I actually even know one of his other clients.
I’ve been spending the last 48 hours obsessing over whether I should sign on with him or not, thinking it was about his level of experience, does he have the right relationship with the right editors to make the book happen? That’s really not it though. After talking with several other writers and with old friends, what I’m really fussing over is my commitment to this project. Signing on with this agent means this book may very well become a reality, a living, breathing thing that I spend the next two years working on, that ends up on a shelf at your local bookstore, that I go on tour for, get interviewed about and on and on. That’s huge. And it scares the wits out of me.
But I’m probably going to do it anyway. Perhaps this agent isn’t right for my second book or my fifth, but he is the right person for this one. And if our relationship works for both of us, we’ll keep working together when it’s time for the next book. If it’s not, we won’t. We’re not getting married.
Last year, I had a conversation with an old friend and I was moaning about all these great professional opportunities that were coming my way, how I wasn’t ready for them and what if I screwed up etc. I told him I felt like I was standing on a very tall ladder, affraid to go up or down. He said this…
“I’ve felt that way too, scared about what comes next. Once I acknowledge that, I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and jump.”
Here I go…
My book just took a big leap forward toward becoming a reality. Enough of a tease for ya?
Jeez, what a weekend.
Saturday I was a panelist at Mills College as part of their MFA Professional Survival Day. Spent the day talking about how publishing works and how being a professional writer usually involves more networking than selling plumbing supplies. Much chatting, many business cards exchanged. Got home from Oakland about 5:30.
Sunday Jon from Central Booking and I took the train out to Concord and spent the afternoon recording with Eric Rice of Slackstreet for a syndicated radio program we’ve got in development. Left at 9:30, got back at 5.
All great stuff to be sure. I love my work but that was not a weekend. I think I’m taking a personal day today.
I’m going to be on the radio today. The show is Invisible Ink, the frequency 91.7 KALW FM in San Francisco or streamed live on the web at kalw.org. The time, 2 PM PST. Please adjust according to your time zone. I’ll be telling a little story about loving bad music.
UPDATE: The show sounded GREAT! It’s now archived online. If you hear it please let me know.