Going Public: When do you tell the world that you're writing a novel?

by Jamie Freveletti

I've been thinking a lot about going public-when you finally admit to others that you're writing that novel, play, screenplay, or crafting that poem. For me the process was gradual. My fiction writing career started with a creative writing night course at the University of Chicago chosen for its:
1. late evening start so that I could complete work and,
2. convenience of the commute on public transportation.

I'm a big fan of convenience when starting something new. It's just too hard to quit when the scheduling and transportation issues become a hassle. In my case, working as a lawyer three days a week and as a full time parent, scheduling was key and complicated.

It was easy to tell others about the course. I pitched it for what it was, a way for me to work on my creative side that I felt I had lost in the maelstrom of work, kids, and, in the winter, snow shoveling (I took the course in January).

Once I embarked on the actual novel, though, the disclosure issue became a bit more difficult. When I mentioned that I was writing my lawyer friends were encouraging. They know what it's like to write all day-albeit in a non fiction setting, so they understood that creative writing would be a huge relief from the often dry and technical brief writing that many of us do. When I told a publisher in Germany that I knew she was very encouraging and looking back I really thank her for that, because she had to know the odds of it getting published. Never once did she refer to them in my presence.
But not all people are this way. Once you announce that you're writing a novel, you should be prepared for eye rolling. Yes, everyone seems to be writing a novel. In fact, I have a suspicion that it's one of the entries on many individual "bucket lists" of things to do before they die. I don't have a bucket list, but if I did I think writing a novel is a great item to include. It My usual response to the eye roll was a shrug. I've never been one to expect others to share in all my passions, and if they didn't so be it. I just kept plugging away, asking for help when I needed it, and writing, writing, writing.

A turning point in the "tell" factor was a surprise gift from my husband. He had purchased a weekend writing conference ticket for me at the SEAK writing conference. Seak puts on writing conferences aimed at lawyers and medical professionals and they're located in Cape Cod. My husband joined me, not in the conference, but just for the weekend. He spent his time training for a marathon and I spent my time in the conference. On the third day we were forced to sit at round tables and pitch our novels to agents. The caveat: While you could sit at the table and listen in, only those with completed novels were allowed to pitch. My husband sat next to me and listened--it was a no training day for him-and we were both struck by the number of uncompleted manuscripts. Only two of us ended up pitching out of ten at my table.

When we walked away my husband said: "You tell everyone now not that you're writing a novel, but that you've completed one. It appears to be a tough thing to accomplish."
I never thought of completing an novel as tough, for me it's pure fun, but I'll never forget his comment. If you're writing and you're not done yet, keep going. When you're done you tell everyone that you've completed a novel.
And if they roll their eyes, ignore it. Those of us who have completed a novel know just how much dedication that takes. Kudos to you.

Men, Women, Conflict and No Sex Allowed: The Classics

by Jamie Freveletti

I was pleased to see that the new movie Jane Eyre got great reviews. It's a favorite book of mine and I hope it will do well at the box office. At the same time that I write this I'm struggling with creating a male/ female relationship in a short story with conflict, sexual undertones but one that does not result in sex. Why no sex, you ask? Because I want to take the tougher road as a writer. My writing schedule is packed these days and I'm juggling a couple of different novels, but every weekend I do my best to turn to a short story. I need to write to stay sane, so weekends off aren't always the best for me, but I feel as though I need to switch it up and give my brain time to ferment on the novel-length manuscripts. The change of pace keeps the other writing fresh.

I posted a few months ago on the use of imagery in classic movies to convey tension between characters without graphic results and without having the characters simply say what they wanted out loud. It's a study in conflict, unresolved tension and innuendo. It's wonderful to see unfold and, I'm learning, tough to create. In this modern era writers can simply have their characters hop in bed, resolve some of that tension and then lie around smoking cigarettes and discussing the other plot points in the novel. Kind of a "whew we got that out of the way now let's discuss if Harry killed Sally and where he hid the body."

The classics did this in so many different ways that I feel it's instructive to read them to get a feel for how they accomplished it. Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Bronte's Jane Eyre, Conan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia, where the tension is there and the parties, through their actions convey it. Too often modern writers take these stories and graft on a motivation that subverts the original reason for the tension into something that is feels equal but is not. For example, I got the definite impression that the latest Sherlock Holmes film and latest BBC television show made Sherlock appear to be in love with Watson in a way far greater than simply as friends. I don't think the stories support this view (and if you do feel free to point out the instances, perhaps I'm not seeing the sub-context due to its subtlety). To me, Holmes is an automaton and equally as dismissive of any emotion, either that of love of women or men. His moment in the Scandal In Bohemia seems to be one of the few times that he notices women in any other way then a cerebral one, and even then one gets the distinct impression he's just angry that she bested him.

My short story is clipping along, and I hope to finish it soon, commission a cover, and pop it onto the web. When I do I'll give everyone the heads up and you can tell me if I got anywhere even close to the subtlety of the writers above.

Reviews Wanted for e-Anthology

by Libby Hellmann

Hi, all. I've been very fortunate to hook up with a group of fabulous authors (in addition to those on The Outfit, of course), and we're e-publishing a new anthology April 1. We're looking for reviewers to help it launch it in style. Here's what we're saying:

Hold on tight for a literary thrill-ride into the wickedly clever, frightening, and exhilarating world of Top Suspense, a sizzling collaboration of twelve master storytellers at the peak of their powers in thirteen unforgettable tales. Max Allan Collins, Bill Crider, Stephen Gallagher, Lee Goldberg, Joel Goldman, Naomi Hirahara, Vicki Hendricks, Paul Levine, Harry Shannon, Dave Zeltserman, and yours truly.

This unforgettable anthology – packed full of cold-blooded killers, erotic tension, shady private eyes, craven drug dealers, vicious betrayals, crafty thieves, and shocking twists – is coming out on APRIL 1 and is only a taste of the thrills you will find in the breathtakingly original ebooks by these authors at www.topsuspensegroup.com.

But you can get a FREE ADVANCE READING COPY...in your e-format of choice.


Here’s all you have to do:

1. Send me an email through my website with the subject FREE TOP SUSPENSE BOOK and give me your name and the address of your website or blog (don’t have one? That’s okay. Read on).

2. Agree to post a review, positive or negative (but with no spoilers!) on your blog, website, Goodreads page, Facebook page, or the Amazon listing for TOP SUSPENSE in the next 60 days. (You don't have to buy the book on Amazon to review it there, you only need to have an account).

3. Email me a copy of the review or a link to the post.

Each Top Suspense author has been alotted just 25 copies to giveaway, so if you're interested, you'd better hurry. And once you get your book, sit back, bite down on a piece of strong leather, and prepare to get hit by some gale-force suspense and writing so sharp it will draw blood.


Hope to hear from you! Thanks.

Let's Talk Non-Fiction

by Jamie Freveletti

I don't usually read fiction while I write, and definitely avoid thrillers and mysteries. I just don't think I'm free of influence enough yet, (though I'm told by other thriller writers that this will come with time). So, I end up reading a lot of non-fiction. Some relates to crime non-fiction and the rest to subject areas that I find interesting. Here's the latest batch:

1. Magnificent Mind: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential. Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

This book I picked up because I'm pretty much in for anything that will unleash my mind's "maximum" potential. The author, a clinical neuroscientist, runs the Amen Clinics, where he scans brains and helps ADD kids, anxiety patients, and treats depression and memory problems. A quick search on google revealed many critics of the brain scan aspect of his methods, but I like his "let's try a natural product before we bring out the big guns" approach. He has chapters such as: Ignite Your Passion, Light Up the Brain Circuits that Drive Success. You've just got to love that title!

He suggests things we've all heard: fish oil, gingko biloba, but also suggests other natural remedies like Phosphatidylserine, Vinpocetine and Huperzine A. Heard of them? Me neither, but that's what I liked about this book.


2. Life, Keith Richards

This book captured my interest, and while one critic complained that it was a MEmoir, I must say that I really enjoyed Mr. Richards' memories about how the blues influenced him. Especially his memories about the iconic Checkerboard Lounge here in Chicago and the blues musicians that cycled through that bar during the '60's and '70's. (As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother was a jazz singer in Chicago during that time and knew many of the musicians mentioned).

While Mr. Richards keeps his drug fueled exploits to a minimum, and I'm sure there are many that never made it into this book, his description of America and England during the rise of rock and roll in the 60's is of interest to anyone who wants to learn about that era.

3. Tapping the Source: Using the Master Key System for Abundance and Happiness. By Gladstone, Greninger, and Selby.

I picked this book up on a whim. It's what I'd call the typical New Age book, but this one had an interesting twist. The authors are expounding on an older method recommended by a man named Charles Haanel. Mr. Haanel lived from 1866 to 1949, and in 1912 wrote a book that attempted to explain and teach a method to explain the Law Of Attraction.

I'm a non believer in certain new age claims, but I am seeing the sense in some of what this book is saying. For example, try not to think negative thoughts, because while you may be right and all is lost, it doesn't really add to your life to think in such a way. (I couldn't agree more).

I'm only a third of the way through, but I'm enjoying it. I think it's worth a read, and apparently the author of The Secret referred to this man and his master key system and we all know how many books that author sold!

I'm headed out tomorrow to get some more non-fiction, because between writing my own number four (number three is written, called The Ninth Day and launches in late October) and working on the Ludlum Covert One series, I'm pretty much writing all the time. I see no fiction in my immediate future.

If you have any suggestions for me do tell!

Character Archetypes: The X-Files had them

by Jamie Freveletti

I was unable to write today due to the need to allow workmen in to replace our water heater. Bored and in a wish to drown out the banging from the lower level, I flipped on the television and found an old rerun of an X-files episode. I used to watch this show religiously back when it was new and I was working as a lawyer. Now, as a writer, I was struck by the broad, but classic, archetypes used by the creators.

There's Mulder, who believes in supernatural and alien forces, and who's mind is always open to the impossible and unique.

Scully, who's scientific and has an earthly explanation that not only makes sense, but is designed to give Mulder the opportunity to shine with his own, eccentric view.

And there are the evil forces. The Smoking Man, nameless government forces, and of course, the aliens.

What I loved about watching this show again was the character of Scully. She ushered in a series of smart women on television. She was pretty, worked hard, tough when she needed to be, but not shrill. She had a lot of sympathy for Mulder, and ends up loving him toward the end of the series.

The relationship between Scully and Mulder, before they hooked up, was one that I imagine most working men and women recognize. Friends, but not really, business colleagues, but a bit more, caring but not family in the traditional sense. They pulled together to get the job done.

This dynamic is present in a lot of buddy teams--Holmes/Watson comes to mind, but I'm sure there are more--the names are escaping me at the moment. I have teams in my thrillers also, although the main character acts alone, which is a key difference. A team with diametrically opposed characters provide built in conflict. It must have been a lot easier for the writers on the show to write the episodes week after week because they could count on a few minutes of Scully and Mulder battling it out over his, (to her) absurd take on the latest mystery. In fact, I found myself eagerly awaiting the moment when Mulder would go on an alien tear and Scully would start ripping apart his theory with scientific knowledge.

Great stuff, and I'm reminded to put this in my own writing.

Now if I could just remember those other teams in literature!

Johnny Depp had Keith Richards: I have Robert Plant

by Jamie Freveletti

My last post was about classic rock and classic protagonists, but let's talk rock and creating a character. I've finished Keith Richards' book Life and must say that I respect him a bit more since reading his views on music, especially Chicago blues. (Full disclosure: my mother was a jazz singer in the 60's and 70's in Chicago and knew many of the people mentioned). While the whole drug

fueled lifestyle sounds painful, it seemed to be a fixture in the scene during the 60's and 70's.

By now most of us know that Johnny Depp used Mr. Richards as inspiration when creating his Jack Sparrow character. The swaying, insouciant pirate owed a lot to Depp's portrayal, and Richards eventually appeared in the movie as well.

I'm currently writing my fourth thriller featuring Emma Caldridge, and in this one she hooks up with a character that is in the music scene. Much of what I'm writing comes from my memories of being a child when my mother used to rehearse with her band at our house.

But the other day I was cruising through a book store and saw a magazine cover picture of a man with a fascinatingly craggy face, experience in his eyes-some pain too-and long, wavy hair which is a rarity on men in their sixties. His face was so arresting that I stopped and stared.

It was Robert Plant. I had to stare, because, thanks to the teen resident guitar player in my house the screen savers on our computers at home have some sort of picture of this man in various stages of his rock god years. This photo above is the current screen saver. Now this is a great photo. Whatever this man is doing, he's loving his life. There's a lot of happiness in this man's face. But the photo above, which stares back at me every morning as I load up on coffee to begin writing, is nothing compared to the photo that I saw on that magazine cover. That photo was a testament to a life lived.

That photo is here:

Whatever you want to say about this man, he's been there, done that, and is probably fascinating to talk to. Like Keith Richards, I'll bet there's a whole lot of stories this man could tell. As a writer, I'd love to hear them.

More disclosure, I like Led Zeppelin a whole lot better now then when I was a kid. The music hit way too early in my life to really match with my musical tastes--which at that point were still colored by a mother who'd sing the standards: Ella, Frank, Lena, Peggy. My favorite song as a child was "Angel Eyes" as sung by my mother. It still is. My favorite writer was Edgar Allan Poe. Still is.

So now I'm writing about my own rocker in the music scene and I'm using an amalgam of musicians that I knew growing up. They were crazy, creative, big pot smokers and God knows what else, and they loved music, the Blues, life, women, and alcohol. They were constantly cycling women through their hotel rooms. They refused to wear tuxedos on stage on New Years' Eve--almost getting the band fired, and wrote in their journals about the first time they got crabs.

They were very nice to an eight year old girl who would sit in the corner of the living room with her plastic horse models and listen to the rehearsals. Some were crazy as hell, some were talented as hell, and all are fodder for this new character that I'm creating.

Rock on.

Best Protagonists--Are they all in the past?

by Jamie Freveletti

I'm participating in a "Best Protagonists" debate over at the International Thriller Writer's blog, "The Big Thrill" and started wondering about past versus present protagonists. So far we've been fairly consistent in picking the obvious classic and unbeatable characters: Sherlock Holmes, Adam Daglieish, and Elizabeth Bennett. But note, these are all classic characters. In reading the responses I thought, what about the classics made them that way? Characterization? Voice? Or is it just that familiarity and retelling over the decades have made them become like friends to us?


But familiarity is not always the ticket. A teen in my household that I'll call the "resident guitar player" so as to preserve some of his anonymity said to me: "How come when Dad was fifteen he got the Rolling Stones and Cream, and I got the pop drivel I hear now?"


I countered with some of the bands from my formative dance years: New Order, The Cure, Talking Heads and REM. He thought about that a moment and said, "But I'm talking about rock classics. Bryne became a composer and the other guys weren't hard rock. Stones and Zeppelin are still discussed more on the radio."

And funny thing is, I agree to some extent (and I'll bet David Bryne, formerly of the Talking Heads would agree as well) that the bands that he's mentioning managed to stay together long enough to create a huge body of work that keep hitting the airwaves year after year. The other bands broke up, and their musicians went their own ways. But, like a great protagonist, a great band must have not only longevity but something so unique, so unusual, that it catches the imagination of generation after generation. I think the Rolling Stones's music will definitely bridge the years, and Sherlock Holmes already has.


But will the current batch- and by this I think I'll limit the thought to those writers that have ten or more books under their belts so that we can see a pattern, do as well?


Or in music terms, the bands that stayed together to create music year after year: the Pearl Jams, Madonnas and Red Hot Chili Peppers of the music scene post 1980?


It's exciting to think that the literature and music of this very moment could become a "classic" in the eyes of generations to come.


I certainly hope so. There is some great stuff out there. And on that note, I'm turning on my ipod to play "Burning Down the House" and "In Between Days."

Amazon vs. The World

by Libby Hellmann

Remember the battle between Betamax and VHS a few decades ago? Remember how VHS won? Well, as many of you know, there's a new battle today in the ebook world: Amazon vs. ePub. For those of you who have been in a cave, ebook formats roughly break down into the Mobifile format, which Amazon uses, vs the epub format, which everyone else (Barnes and Noble, Sony, Google, Kobo, etc) uses.

For a while now, I've been saying that, unlike the Betamax-VHS struggle, Amazon is going to win this one. Why? Because their inventory is unparalleled, and their interface is the smoothest around. I really wanted to like Google, since they made it possible for independent booksellers sell ebooks, but their interface is lousy. Then we began hearing that Apple was going to restrict the Kindle app on the iPhone and iPad -- previously it was free -- and people started to say, "You see? Amazon is on the decline."

Well, think again. SHELF AWARENESS today reports news from blogger Chuck Toporek:

Will bookstores eventually be able to sell Kindle books? Cnet reported that Amazon might be working on a way to circumvent Apple's new rules on subscriptions by utilizing the Kindle app for iOS...Bookstores, authors, retailers, bloggers and other website owners will be able to offer Kindle books from their own sites, let their readers start enjoying the full text of these books instantly, and earn affiliate fees for doing so....Toporek suggested "the reason we haven't heard Jeff Bezos screaming about this recent change to the IAP rules is because Amazon isn't worried. They have a solution already in beta testing.

Read the complete post here.

Interesting times we live in...

Went to the Idea Store....

by Michael Dymmoch

...the other day— Er... the CVS pharmacy. I was getting instant prints made at the Kodak kiosk when I noticed U.S. Passport wallets for sale at the camera counter.



Then, along with my prints, I received some prints left by a previous customer—passport photos, judging by the size. Which gave me an idea for a story about a devious or desperate person who finds someone else’s passport photos in a film kiosk and notices the passport wallets conveniently for sale and a security camera recording the activities in the store, and...

My reprints cost me $3.82. There was no charge for the story idea.


On another note, my Cannon G10 is way too convenient—fits in a pocket so it goes almost everywhere with me. I use it to record really cool stuff:








and odd signs,

















and what I call visual puns:

(pigeon & scare pigeon)








Great fun.

But then, I'm easily amused.

Selling an Expensive Item: Does it Translate to The Book Industry?

by Jamie Freveletti

I spent the weekend in Florida, speaking with publishing professionals, editors of the books section of the local newspaper, and other writers. We, of course, all discussed the rise of the e-book and the change it will bring in the industry. But it was a discussion with a man not in the book industry that made me think.

I visited one afternoon with a writer friend whose husband sells high end merchandise. In particular, grand pianos. These beautiful musical instruments are costly, easily selling in the high five figures and above, and are geared to a wealthy clientele. We talked about how one ships the instruments, tunes them, and runs the stores that display them. He commented that not all the franchisees were profiting, especially in this current economic climate. When I asked him what advice he would have for a struggling franchisee he said:

"They should think about what the ideal piano store would look like, how it would function, who would be drawn to the store, and how one would provide stellar service. Then he should look at the stores in his control and strive to make them this way. Not in two years, not in six months, but in two weeks or shorter if humanly possible."

It wasn't until much later, on the flight home, that I got to thinking about what he said. What he seemed to be saying was: "visualize your ideal situation, then make it happen."

Except he was really saying something a bit more concrete. If one took his advice, one would have to not only analyze the store under their control, but then take the steps to make it happen.

It's the last part that writers often stumble upon. Dreaming of the ideal situation is easy and fun. Creating the manuscript that will make it happen requires dedication and time. In short, keep writing. The writer, whether faced with a hardcover, paperback, ipad, nook or kindle, needs to remember that she must make the story happen. Without that story, the career doesn't exist. Without it, all the marketing in the world will not provide long term sales.

And isn't that the best part anyway? The creation? It's a magical thing that all writers love to do.

The Book Machine

by Libby Hellmann

We're all talking about ebooks, the future of publishing, and everything else. (Btw, this is a not-to-be-missed blogpost. So is this by Kris Rusch.)

But what about this? Would you buy a book from this machine?



What do you think?

BREACH OF TRUST is now on sale

I am recounting this story in case I am not around when the dust settles. If some accident should befall me, as they say, and I am unable to testify, I want to have some account of what I did and why. I will not try to justify my actions. I could tell you that they made me do it, but that's hardly the point, and it may not be entirely accurate.

I won't lie to you, which is to say I will not deliberately mislead you. I will give you the most accurate account of events I can muster, but I can't promise it will be the truth. Truth is a matter of perspective, and if you don't believe me, then just watch how this whole thing plays out. Everyone who is a part of this story will tell a different version, when their time comes. In most of those versions, the hero will be whoever is telling the story.

In many of those versions, no doubt, the villain will be me.

Thus begins my new novel, BREACH OF TRUST, the one that is kinda-sorta based on the prosecution of Rod Blagojevich. Here is the Chicago Tribune's review of BREACH OF TRUST.

You can buy the book here. And while I'm at it, I have a new website, where you can read another excerpt from the book or anything else related to the novel or me, for that matter.

Thanks for letting me plug! Just leaving Scottsdale and Poisoned Pen, now off to Houston and San Francisco....

Bad Advice. Some breathtakingly bad, and some just....weird.

by Jamie Freveletti

I spent the weekend at the Love is Murder conference and gave a presentation about writing query letters. We discussed bad advice that we'd received and I mentioned the concept of "selective hearing."

It's important to cultivate selective hearing in this industry, because there are those that insist on giving the worst advice possible--all under the umbrella of being helpful, of course. This is where a writer needs to learn how to hear the good and throw out the bad.

The Bad:

1. Bad: Telling a Thriller writer with an International thriller manuscript to give up on it and "Write a cozy from the perspective of a mom in a Chicago suburb."

I got this from a well known editor in town for a writing conference. For a reading fee, she had accepted the first chapters of manuscripts to read and edit. When my turn came, she began with one good suggestion to keep the tone dark (it was fluctuating), but kept claiming that the story (a plane plummeting to the ground) didn't include people screaming. When I pointed out the lines where the people are screaming so hard that they lose their breath, she closed her eyes for a moment and put the paper down. It was then that I saw the notes from her assistant. She hadn't read the manuscript, was reciting someone else's suggestions, and that person clearly hadn't read the chapter very closely. I think she was embarrassed. I had a certain sympathy, as a partner in a law firm I'd had underlings mess up projects that I'd delegated as well, but she kept soldiering bravely on, reading the assistant's notes that included the bad advice above. Were I her I would have asked me to give her a few moments to "reread" the chapter and then address it again, but I think she didn't want to appear negligent. I took the suggestion to fix the tone in the piece and ignored the rest. I don't live in the suburbs, don't have a mind for cozys, and knew I was onto something with this novel. (Running From the Devil sold on preempt, has won several awards, and became an international bestseller).

2. Bad: Go ahead and send the entire manuscript unsolicited to agents. They'll be curious enough to read it.

This reportedly came from a creative writing coach who runs paid classes in how to sell your manuscript. A smart writer in a conference who had taken his class came up to ask me what I thought of the advice. She seemed wary of it. I told her it was dead wrong, never send an agent a full without first being asked to do so. Will an agent read an unsolicited full? Not likely. Will they read the first page? Not if it's an attachment because they may unwittingly download a virus. Will they delete it completely? Yes. Will they toss a printed manuscript that is unsolicited? Yes, but a few might read the first page before they do. However, I don't think they'll be disposed to represent you, and you could have gotten the same result by sending a one page letter and the first page. Moral of the story: follow the guidelines.

3. Bad: Give an agent an exclusive right to read your manuscript when at query stage.

I had one agent tell me at a conference that she wanted to read my manuscript, but demanded an exclusive six weeks to do so. I told her the truth: that it was already out on queries to six other agents, and that I couldn't, but I understood if she declined. Within a second she said what I would have under the same circumstances: "Oh, okay, well can you send it anyway?"
And why not? She's a businesswoman, as am I. No one has six weeks to give you the inside track on a hot manuscript--either grab it and beat out the competition, or be left behind. I liked her better after she asked for it despite the multiple submission, and while she doesn't currently represent me, I still think she did the right thing by throwing aside the exclusivity request. I'm not a fan of agents that demand exclusive reads before they've even gotten the query. After the query is accepted and they ask for a full, I see nothing wrong with giving them two weeks to read it, but not much more. It's likely they will not finish in that time, but you have been fair and after two weeks can continue your agent search with a free mind.

The Neutral

4. Neutral: Write what you know.

I wanted to put this under "bad" advice, because none of us really write what we know. Thriller novelists have not been pursued by international consortium of spies, cozy writers don't find dead bodies in the tea room, and mystery writers don't solve serial murders on a daily basis. However, there is a kernel of truth in this one in that you should either know about the field in which you write or at least research it enough to learn about it, so I consider it neutral, as opposed to bad, advice.

5. Neutral: Hire a book doctor.

A book doctor, if they're good, can probably do a lot to improve your novel. I'm neutral on this advice, because a. they're expensive, and b. eventually you'll need to do this on your own anyway, so what better time to learn? However, I have some friends who used book doctors with success and, when done right, they can be a help.

I'd be interested to hear the bad and neutral advice given to other writers. I'll be writing about good advice in my next post. There's a lot more of that, thank goodness, than the bad.

Two Sixties Stories

by Libby Hellmann

Following are two stories from the Sixties. Both are true. An abbreviated version of one is in SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE, but the other has an ending I just discovered, so it’s not in the book.

I lived in Georgetown near here during what I now call “The Summer of My Discontent.” I shared an apartment with four other people above a movie theater at 28th and M. (Both are gone now). I was working at an underground newspaper, selling them on the streets, and generally trying to make sense of the world. Next door to the movie theater was a head shop run by a weird – but sweet -- guy named Bobby. He wore black all the time, before there were Goths. The scent of Patchouli oil hung in the air.

I used to drop in every once in a while. Often two of his friends, Donna and Linda, would be there. They were a couple: Linda had long brown hair and appeared to be kind of spacey. Donna had short blond hair and wore a leather jacket, even during July. They were cool, though, in the way that everyone was cool back then, and we’d smoke a joint, laugh a lot, and discuss what a shitty place the world was becoming. Then, around August, they disappeared. After not seeing them for a week or so, I asked Bobby where they went. He hemmed and hawed and wouldn’t tell me. Finally, he did.

Donna used to be Don, he said. And was going through the process of becoming a woman, but hadn’t completed it when she met Linda. They fell in love, and because of that, they jointly (no pun intended) agreed that Donna should turn back into Don. So they hustled some money from someone and were off to California to reverse Donna’s transformation.

I never saw them again. But I still think about them.

The other story is more political. As I said, I worked at an underground newspaper in DC for a summer. I was just a flunkie, not even considered staff. But there was a photographer, Sal, who was in and out all the time. He took photos at every demonstration, interview, and event that could be considered “alternative.” I actually had a crush on him at one point. (Yes, I know. Very bourgeois).

At any rate, the editor of the newspaper was very cautious about trusting people, almost to the point of paranoia. He always thought the paper was being infiltrated by CIA or FBI types (these were the days before COINTELPRO proved the FBI was indeed infiltrating radical groups) At the time, I thought his paranoia was exaggerated. Triggered perhaps by an inflated sense of self-importance.

I left at the end of the summer to hitchhike across country (That’s a different story), but I heard a few months later that Sal had left too, and was off to Paris. He stayed there for a while, then disappeared. I never knew what happened to him. Then, about a month ago, well after I finished SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE, I Googled some of the people from the newspaper. Suddenly a photo of Sal popped up. It turns out he had been featured in Secrets: The CIA's War at Home by Angus MacKenzie.

Yup. You guessed it. Sal had been a CIA agent, recruited when he was in college in Chicago. The entire time he was taking photos for the paper, he was reporting to his CIA handler. Eventually, I think the editor suspected him. Maybe he even confronted him, which precipitated his abrupt departure.

It doesn’t end there. According to MacKenzie’s book, Sal went to Paris, befriended Philip Agee, himself a former CIA agent turned whistleblower, and fiddled around with the typewriter on which Agee was writing his story. Agee discovered it, and Sal fled. From what I understand he changed his name and now lives in Southern California.

True stories. Really. I mean, who could make this stuff up?