Keepin’ it Real

We had an incredible turnout at Dutton’s in Brentwood on Friday night for the “Keep It Real” launch party. The crowd was divided into two groups: Friends I talked to so little it was insulting, and friends I didn’t talk to at all. In spite of my social shortcomings, your generosity was overwhelming – we more than doubled the store’s sales projections. (And they do these dog-and-pony shows almost every night, so they’re pretty good at knowing what to expect.)

We had another fine crowd Saturday afternoon at our neighborhood store, Village Books, driven in large part by a swell article by Bill Bruns that ran in this week’s Palisadian-Post. To all of you who came out for these events, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thanks also to those of you who couldn’t make it, but either ordered the book online, or are planning to come to Book Soup Monday at 7pm. (Even if you did come to Dutton’s or Village, in the event that you find yourself anywhere near West Hollywood Monday night, you may want to stop by Book Soup. Rumor has it that a very BIG special guest will be making an appearance. I mean HUGE.)

I know a lot of people didn’t get their books signed at Dutton’s, so call or drop by the house anytime and we’ll remedy that.

I hope you all have lots of fun reading the book and, if you do, please spread the word. A great way to do that is to go to Amazon , scroll down to “Customer Reviews,” and write your own. Please be completely honest about how much you love “Keep It Real.”

See you soon,

BB

Like everybody else who once wrote TV and movie scripts and now writes books (okay, book), I made the switch largely in an effort to become less collaborative. In saying that I prefer to work without people looking over my shoulder, I should stress that I am not one of those bitter scribes who believe that every studio and network executive is a feckless swine. In fact, I’ve known several who weren’t feckless. In any case, my complaint is not with the people, but rather with the process. If we all traded places and it was my job to guide their creative efforts, I can assure you that TV would be in even worse shape than it is now (if such a thing is scientifically possible).

What’s got me reminiscing about the Good Ol’ Days, you ask? Why, it’s the task of choosing a cover for “Keep It Real,” which took much longer than the writing and editing of the 100,000-word text. We went through dozens of concepts and endless variations on each, none of which pleased everyone involved. In the end, we decided to go with two completely different designs, one for the hardcover and another for the paperback. I like them both very much, and I greatly appreciate the extent to which I was allowed to participate in the process - highly unusual for a first-time author. But if the whole book-writing process were like this, I think I’d go back to TV. It’s pretty much the same bullshit, except they actually pay you.

Click here to share my pain.

The comments attached to this message, along with my replies, originally were posted to the sign-on blog entry, “OK, now what?” But because the individual making the comments - identified only by the deceptively benign handle “Lit Chick” - immediately changed the subject and tore off on her own agenda, I thought it was appropriate to place them under their own heading. If you follow the comment chain to the end, you will understand why this is the last you’ll be reading about Lit Chick. Unless it’s in the police blotter.