SEIZE OPPORTUNITY

A "fella" called Monday. Said Savage Press came highly recommended. He wanted to publish a book about his Mob experiences and then as an FBI informant. He had a good rap so I asked him if he had a manuscript. "No." I asked if he wrote. "No." When he asked me if he could be prosecuted for revealing facts about a murder the phrase, "No statute of limitations on murder" popped into my head. The entire conversation got too long and too fraught with questions so I directed him elsewhere. He called back Tuesday and we went through the same song and dance. Him pitching (pushily) his story. Me being practical and suspicious. Practical: "You have no manuscript." Suspicious: "Is this guy for real?" If half of what he said is true, it could be a blockbuster type kiss-n-tell, sorta True Crime type book. But the whole hyperventilated conversation was too much, too soon, too "good" to be true, so I declined again. Did I pass on a bestseller? What would you have done?

THAT BOOK DONE YET?

When is a book done? That's easy. Never. I'm still filtering through Lambeau Leap, finding sentences that displease me and making them more pleasing, adding fun and puns and jolly scenes designed to inform and please the reader. At some point I'll let it go and move on to another project such as going through Pony Girl, finding and improving sentences and scenes that displease me. Or I may go back to DIEreland, or Death by Corvette, or any number of the many trunk books sitting in the corner gathering dust. There's a couple of poetry books that I think on now and then. Or I could start a new book, plow through a first draft, crunch out a second draft, drag a third draft down a few revisions until a bunch of the rough edges are ground off by contact with skillful, articulate, insightful, helpful, willing advance readers. Whatever the path, I know the book will never be done, even if it gets published for the wider world to see.

THE TITLE'S THE THING

Thinking about cover ideas for Lambeau Leap. This fifth Alphonse "Dave" Davecki book is a fun Packer parody where Dave meets a fascinating bald woman named Davina who lures him to his first Packer game where, at a critical moment in the game, Davecki does a reverse Lambeau Leap into infamy. If this brief description suggests a cover idea to you, please do share.

THREE JOBS

The new Savage Press Intern, Sarah Kaster a UMD grad student, is also working three jobs in addition to learning the publishing ropes. What energy!

Her job title is V.P. of Corporate Development (Intern). She has chosen to work on Lambeau Leap, the fifth Dave Davecki book and developing the potential of the Kelly Culhane Writing Prize.