The Writing Life x3

Ebook pricing experiment continues for Tornado Siren

2012-02-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to figure out the ideal price point for the Tornado Siren ebook. One of the nice things about ebooks is that it's super easy to change the pricing. At the end of December and all through January, I lowered the price from $2.99 to $0.99. I was curious to see if it would dramatically increase sales. I did also have a little bit of PR bringing in some readers, because it was a featured read with a group on Goodreads.

Lowering the price definitely seemed to help. Over the fall, sales had declined quite a bit--over the summer I'd been selling a dozen or so a month. In September and October I sold about 9/ month. In November, it was down to 3. In December, after the price boost, sales went up to 15, and then I sold 32 in January. (These are all numbers just for the Kindle. The other platforms have fairly minimal sales.)

But based on my reading, a lower price isn't always a huge selling point. So for February (and perhaps March), I'm going to try pricing it at $4.99. I'm curious to see if that drops sales down to the bottom of the well.

Obviously, with selling so few copies, sales numbers don't greatly affect my income. However, the difference in royalties at the various prices do add up. Especially because below $2.99, the royalty on Kindle sales drops to 30% from 70%. So at $2.99 I was making about $2/book. At the $0.99 price, only 33 cents or so. All those sales in January brought in about $13. At $4.99, I'd only have to sell about 4 copies to make that same amount. In my case, I'm more interested in gaining readers, but I do have expenses to pay.

Here's hoping that sales continue strong. It's still a lot cheaper than when it was out in paperback (at $14.99). But I'm not sure people will be as willing to experiment on an unknown title and author for $4.99.

We'll see how it goes.

farming? (why and how)

2012-01-27T18:08:00.002-05:00

I spend a lot of my time writing books and plays and am involved with a dozen different theatre and film projects. But I've also been a pretty serious gardener for a while. I used to coordinate two different community gardens in Roxbury. I started the 200 Foot Garden public garden in Brookline three years ago. Last summer, we grew in three different gardens.

Now I'm taking the next step. This year, I'll be in a farm training program, the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, and farming a quarter acre incubator plot in Dracut, MA. The incubator plots come with irrigation, a shared hoophouse and tractor, tools, lots of technical support, and the ability to sell to the World PEAS cooperative CSA. We'll also be selling our produce at two farmer's markets over the summer and fall, under the name of Puddingstone Farm.

This means I'm going to writing less from April through October, which is not a small thing for me. When the kids were little, I was always scrambling to find more time to write and do theatre. Now they're a lot bigger, and I'm committing to a huge project that's going to eat writing time like never before.

Why?

For the most part, it's for the positive things that appeal to me about farming:

I like to work with my hands.
I like to be outdoors, growing things.
I believe that growing healthy food is important, not just for my family, but also for my community as a whole. Bringing backs sustainable small farms is important for the health of the environment.
I like developing the ability to feed myself.
I look forward to meeting and interacting with new people at the farmer's markets. At our stand, we plan to have a small lending library of our favorite cookbooks and books about farming and food. Mostly to serve as a jumping off point for interesting conversations.
I enjoy getting to know other farmers. I know a lot of theatre and book folk, but it's good to widen my circle. The people I see at the NOFA conference talk about different things from people at theatre conferences. That's a good thing for me as a writer, and as a person.
It's hard. I like to do hard things. (Hence writing plays and novels.) The mental part is just as challenging as the physical.
There's a certain concreteness to it. I plant a seed and it germinates. I take proper care of the seedling and it turns into a plant that I can harvest. There's a simple, natural logic to it.
People know that they need to pay for food. They may not understand that they should pay what it really costs. (Which might make it similar to working in theatre or writing books.) It's very hard to make a living as a farmer, and I'm not even planning to attempt to make that much money. But I will be one of the few people entering farming who will see it as a pay increase over what I've been doing.
The New Entry program really fits into my style of learning. I like to be independent and am not afraid to make mistakes and fail.

There are also a few things about writing that have been dragging me down, which makes it palatable for me to trade in some writing time for farming time.

The book business makes less and less sense to me. I don't intend to stop writing books (I'm deep in revisions for a novel right now), but I'm not sure publishers have a good plan for the future. And I'm not sure where the kind of work I write fits into the system. There used to be a place for mid-list writers. I'm not sure where that is anymore. Self-publishing ebooks is okay, but the amount of promo time required is onerous, and even then, there's a fair bit of luck involved to sell many copies (especially if you're not writing genre fiction).
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find productions of full-length plays in the current theatre climate. Part of the reason is that there are more playwrights (there's been an explosion of graduate writing programs over the past 20 years) and fewer slots for full-length productions. I've had a lot of readings over the past few years, some great development opportunities, and my short work gets performed a lot. But I'm still trying to get my head around the state of modern theatre and new plays and where I fit in. I'm going to keep writing new full-length plays (I can't help myself), but if they don't end up on stage, professionally produced, I'm going to keep bumping into limits as to how much I can grow as a writer.
Money in theatre and fiction writing feels like it's drying up. I'm not in it for the money, but I also wouldn't mind making a little more than I spend. My writing just barely does that, in a good year. Farming isn't likely to be much better, I realize, but I can at least make some good guesses in a spreadsheet and find a scenario that has a positive return. As Kira enters college (in a year and a half), we'll see how any long I can keep up any of these endeavors.

I'm fully aware that I'm in my mid-forties and am reaching that age when people have their mid-life crises and dream about big changes. About life on the farm. Hell, lots of people dream about life as a writer. I'm not giving up the writing life, but I am branching out and learning some new skills and mixing things up a bit.

Because of the commuting required to the incubator site, this particular farming project is likely to only last a year. But if it goes well, I will look to farm elsewhere next season (closer to home).

Writing and farming both appeal to me for some basic reasons: I like to create things, and I like interacting with people. What mix of growing food and writing stories ends up meeting those needs remains to be seen. I'm tempted to change the name of this blog to The Writing and Farming Life (x3), because whatever happens, it's going to remain a mix.

I'm excited to see how this ends up affecting what I write about. This will be year with a lot of new experiences. I'm sure I'll find the seeds for a few new plays and books in there, somewhere.

(The 200 Foot Garden from last year)

Collected Obsessions and other New Releases from Brooklyn Publishers

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

I've been fortunate to have my work published by Brooklyn Publishers for quite a few years now. They specialize in plays for use by high school students, for use in class, production and in competition. For me, they've provided additional life to many of my ten-minute plays which I originally wrote to be performed by adults (and have been) and now are used as duets in competition by hundreds of students every year. If I've learned one thing from my Brooklyn experience, it's that you don't have to dumb down your work for it to appeal to students. As actors, they want challenges.

The new catalog just came in the mail a little while ago. I get a surge of positive energy from thought of this catalog arriving in the mailboxes of tens of thousands of high schools across the country, and directors and students paging through in hopes of finding a script that will excite them.

This year's catalog has a few new entries from me that I hope students will find (In the online catalog, they can read excerpts from the play.) (The short plays have been mentioned on this blog before, but they've only just been added to the printed catalog. Collected Obsessions is only newly available.)

Collected Obsessions. Full-length collection. 3-16 women, 1-3 men (4-20 total). This is a collection of eight of my most popular plays, all of which feature characters dealing with a variety of obsessions. This is a great ensemble piece, giving an audience an evening of comedy and drama. (The plays include Insomnia, Crowded Heart, The Sky is Falling, Quiet, Den of Iniquity, The Invisible Husband, Confirmed Sighting, and Measuring Matthew.)

Confirmed Sighting. Ten-minute duet. 2 women. Fiona and Kelly have spotted an ivory-billed woodpecker, once thought extinct, in the swamps of Arkansas. Fiona is an ornithologist and this sighting will make her career, but Kelly owns the photographic evidence that Fiona desperately needs. This comedy has been extremely popular with audiences in theatres in New York, Boston, and Baltimore.

Recognition. Ten-minute duet. 2 women. Drama. A chance encounter between an adoptive mother, Allison, and the birth mother of her child reopens old wounds. How far will Allison push Tanya for information? This is another of my "adoption" plays, and in some ways is a companion piece to Stop, Rain. I developed this play with Mill 6, as part of their T Plays festival, of plays set and written on Boston's subways.

(Kalie Quinones from the 2010 production of Recognition by Little Fish in California. Photo by Mickey Elliot)

Stick Up for Mars: Fiona and Kelly are halfway to Mars, but after a year in space their personalities are wearing on each other. One little Post-It note might be the last straw. A zero-gravity comedy. (Originally produced in 10x10 in North Carolina. Think "Odd Couple" in space.)

Schedule-Meisters: Schedule-Meisters promises to help ease any mother’s busy schedule, but Mary might be their most challenging customer yet. (This was my first play produced in Australia.) (It's a hoot. A dark comedy that harried parents will appreciate.)

Here's a photo from Schedule-Meisters in Minnesota:

(photo by Joan Elwell of Anissa Lubbers and Jan Arford)

If you're a student or teacher and have production photos from any of these plays, please send it to me. I'd love to feature it on my web site and blog, and put it on the Brooklyn site.

2011 Inputs (and favorites)

2012-01-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

I'm a numbers guy, so I keep track of how many books and plays and movies I take in each year.

Here are my totals for 2011:

Books read: 39

Last year I read 31 books. I read quite a few that I liked a lot, but my favorites were:

Glow: A Novelby Jessica Maria Tuccelli (it'll be out this spring--I got to read a galley)

The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara

Revolutionby Jennifer Donnelly

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

Alice Bliss: A Novel by Laura Harrington

Plays read: 20

A tiny number. I had a goal of reading one a week, but failed miserably. I read some that I liked, especially plays by some folks in my writing groups. I know I need to do better.

Plays and readings watched: 47

This is a few more than I saw last year, and about all that my schedule and budget can accommodate. In 2012, I'll be busy with Puddingstone Farm, so I won't have nearly as much time to attend plays for a big chunk of the year. (I'll have to try to read more.)

Some of my favorites were Comedy of Errors by the Propeller Theatre Company at the Huntington--amazing energy from those guys, a reading of The Fakus by Joe Byers, and Red in the Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney (produced by Company One), and Candide at the Huntington.

Movies watched: 61

Most these were via Netflix, but we get out to the movie theatre every once in awhile. Watched a couple more in 2011 than in 2010 My favorites this year included: the last two seasons of Friday Night Lights, all of The Wire seasons, Zombieland, and Black Swan. I loved The Wire and Friday Night Lights, but wasn't blown away by most films or television this year. I hope 2012 will bring some better films.

In 2012, farming is going to take away a lot of movie and play watching time, but I imagine I'll still get some chances to sneak in some viewing time.

2011 Output

2012-01-04T21:06:00.001-05:00

(Anissa Lubbers in Curse the Darkness produced by the Lakeshore Players)

At the end of every year, I add up my inputs/outputs. It's been a busy year. Here's how 2011 worked out, output-wise:

I completed a first draft of my new historical novel, which runs about 125,000 words (420 pages)
Did a rewrite of my novel, Moving (A Life in Boxes), based on comments from my agent.
Wrote two short audio plays for the Emerging America Festival (one of which was recorded--Another Brick in the Walk.)
Wrote a new ten-minute romantic comedy, Newton's Call.
Wrote a new ten-minute comedy, Organic Seed.
Wrote a new six-minute drama, Second Look.
Wrote four one-minute plays for the One-Minute Play Festival (two will be produced this weekend).
Revised my full-length drama, Flight, based on feedback from readings and workshops in DC, Idaho, and Boston.
Wrote a bunch of blog posts on my three different blogs.
I did a minor proof and edit of my novel, Tornado Siren, and published it as an ebook.
I wrote screen adaptations for two of my ten-minute plays, Christmas Breaks and Measuring Matthew. Measuring Matthew was filmed this fall and is currently being edited, for spring submission to film festivals. I also adapted Christmas Breaks for radio, for a possible production sometime this year.
Started a new full-length play, Distant Neighbors. (I have about 35 pages so far.)
I did a minor revision of my full-length play, Fire on Earth, about the creation of the English Bible.

This feels like a pretty good list, a nice mix of playwriting, novel writing, and even screen and radio plays, as well as first draft writing and rewriting. I certainly never had a chance to get bored.

Production-wise, 2011 wasn't bad. The year saw dozens of productions by schools, through the various publishers that handle my work. I still am finding it extremely difficult to land productions of full-length plays (none of my full-length plays were produced this year).

Productions/readings/publications of my work included:

My full-length play, Flight, was read by the Madcap Players in DC. It was scheduled for development at the Seven Devils Conference in Idaho, and also had a reading in Boston.
Escape to Wonderland was produced in the the Madcap Players Winter Carnival in DC, in the Boston Theatre Marathon, and in New York's Estrogenius (I got to see all three productions!)
Curse the Darkness won a couple competitions and was produced by the Lakeshore Players in Minnesota, by Black Box Theatre in Cranston, and got a reading from Chameleon Theatre Circle, also in Minnesota.
Ship of Fools was in the Best of Ten by Ten in North Carolina. (Which gave me an excuse for a visit.)
My newest collection of short plays, Collected Obsessions (Eight Short Plays of Captivating Lunacy) was published by Brooklyn Publishers and Heuer.
I sold a couple hundred ebooks of Tornado Siren for Kindle, Nook, and on SmashWords. It wasn't a runaway hit, but a lot more people read it in 2011 than in the previous few years. This made me happy.

Overall, I estimate that a minimum of 8,300 people heard, read, or saw my work this year, and I had more than 122 performances of my plays, which is not bad at all.

(Allison Vanouse and Meredith Stypinki, in the Escape to Wonderland at the Boston Theatre Marathon, directed by Jeff Mosser for Fort Point Theatre Channel)

In 2011, I also kept track of how I spent my time. For me, tracking my writing time really helps provide a sense of accountability and encourages me to sit down at the computer and actually work. This year, my goal was to spend 600 hours writing, though I also counted Rhombus meetings and readings/rehearsal of my work, since for that's sort of writing time, too. I managed to log 602 hours this year. (Next year, I'm tracking rehearsals and meetings separately.)

I also kept tabs on how many hours I spent marketing my work--216 hours (submissions and networking).

I spent about 200 hours in my gardens, and managed to grow 200 pounds of vegetables in each of the two private gardens (the amount grown in the 200 Foot Garden is a mystery). I also spent more than 100 hours in volunteer time helping a couple different non-profit groups, as co-chair and board member.

All in all, 2011 was a busy and productive year. 2012 should be interesting, as I try to keep writing and marketing while also taking part in a farm training program and starting a small farm venture (Puddingstone Farm--more about this soon).

Boston One-Minute Play Festival, January 7-9

2012-01-03T22:15:00.004-05:00

This weekend, I'll have two plays in the Boston One-Minute Play Festival, produced by Dominic D'Andrea at the Boston Playwrights Theatre (949 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston). Yep, that's right, one-minute plays. Little blurbs of storytelling, sparks of ideas. There will be 70 such sparks written by 35 different Boston playwrights. It should be an energetic evening, and one that offers a concentrated sampling of whatever has been in the creative air around here lately.

The project (this festival has been staged (with different plays) in ten different cities so far) has a very fun blog, that features interviews with many of the writers who are involved. I'm going Saturday night and very much look forward to seeing the entire collection of work (sort of a taste of the buzzing hivemind of Boston playwriting perhaps?).

You can find out more details and buy tickets here (they're $20).

(They actually just posted some of my thoughts on their blog--you can read them here.)

Also, check out a great interview with Dominic at the Playwrights Perspective blog, especially part II, where he talks about what's unique about the Boston/New England voice and version of the festival. Staging this festival in so many different cities has given Dominic an unusual overview of the theatrical atmosphere in a variety of communities.

pricing ebooks--conflicting advice

2011-12-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

Pricing of ebooks seems like a tricky proposition. Amazon encourages pricing ebooks at a certain level by offering higher royalty rates on ebooks prices between $2.99 and $9.99. They pay 70% royalty on such ebooks, whereas ebooks between $0.99 and $2.98 only earn an author 35%. This ends up being a lot less money earned.

But of course, the question is: will a cheaper ebook sell a lot more copies, and thus even out the price differential, while at the same time reaching a broader audience (and increasing future sales of future books)?

I've read lots of conflicting advice and opinions on this one. There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal about author Darcie Chan and the success she's had publishing the her ebook, The Mill River Recluse. In the article,

She noticed that a lot of popular e-books were priced at 99 cents, and immediately dropped her price from $2.99 to 99 cents. The cut would slash potential royalties—Amazon pays 35% royalties for books that cost less than $2.99, compared with 70% for books that cost $2.99 to $9.99. But sales picked up immediately. "I did that to encourage people to give it a chance," she says. "I saw it as an investment in my future as a writer." The strategy worked. Several reviewers on Amazon said they bought the book because it was 99 cents, then ended up liking it.

She took some other interesting and smart marketing steps for her book (some of which I might try), and also got some positive mentions on web sites that helped her start to sell a lot more books. Sales started to grow fast. So far she's sold more than 400,000 copies, earning more than $130,000.

Sounds nice. My sales of Tornado Siren have not been quite that strong. Not even close. (Yet.) (Says the perpetual optimist.) And sales have actually dipped quite a bit since the end of the summer, and now they're getting very, very slow. (I've seen NO holiday season boost.)

Hm. So, I wonder, should I lower my price to see if that will help boost sales? It's been at $2.99, but is that making it hard to attract readers who have never heard of me?

And then I read this post on Joe Konrath's blog, a guest post by Elle Lothlorien, who writes about the opposite effect. She found that raising her price on her ebook, Sleeping Beauty, from $2.99 to $5.99, helped boost sales, and made her a lot more money at the same time. Her theory being that people don't value things that they don't have to pay as much for--so you enjoy your expensive cup of coffee from Starbucks partly because you paid more for it.

For authors with one book, it’s worth considering creating “imputed value” first with higher pricing. With a decent novel, this will “prime the pump” with positive reviews from readers who are invested and who want to like your book. This in turn will lead to more sales.

I'm not exactly sure what to do. The nice thing, though, about ebooks is that it's pretty easy to change the price. I've been reluctant to do so, but it feels like I should try something. So I'm going to experiment a little. I'm going to try lowering the price to $0.99 for a month, and then try raising it to something above $2.99, maybe $4.99, and see what happens.

Measuring Matthew film

2011-12-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

Back in October, I was on set for a short film being made of one of my ten-minute plays, Measuring Matthew. The film is directed by Boston filmmaker Gul Moonis and produced byJeanne Shapiro and Shemoon Films, with the intention of sending it various festivals and competitions around the country early next year. So who knows, it might be coming to a theatre near you someday. (And certainly will be available on the Internet.)

The whole thing happened purely by luck. Gul stumbled across my web site and started reading some of my script samples (Sure am glad I finally added them). Several caught her interest and we had lunch. In no time, I was adapting Measuring Matthew for the screen. The stage version is published by Brooklyn Publishers, and has been produced by small theatres and schools across the country.

When I showed up for my two days on set (they shot for five days total), I was brought back to my college days, when I was making lots of short films and was certain that I was destined for a career as a screenwriter. (Hey, I did eventually get one optioned by Hollywood.) Except this crew was a lot more experienced and a lot bigger than anything we ever put together. There were twenty people on set working to turn this into a film worth watching. I did my fair share of standing around watching people work, but I also got to act as security guard, stand in for corpse, sherpa, and grip.

Back in the day, we shot everything on actual film, either 8mm or 16mm. Measuring Matthew will be in HD video, shot on a camera that looked like a regular old SLR camera, but was a lot more powerful. We had a great cast, including actor Nael Nacer, with whom I've worked before and whose work on stage I've always admired. The two lead actresses, Renee Donlon and Audrey Claire Johnson, are talented young women I think you'll see often in the Boston film scene.

I was reminded how much the process of producing a film differs from producing a stage play. There's a lot more control over the final product of a film, but the process can sometimes be tedious for the people involved--there's so much waiting involved. (I happen to love the initial writing process for films--they may be the most fun of all scripts to write.) For theatre, half the fun is in the process, and sometimes the process of putting the play on stage is more fun and fully engaging for the people doing it than for the audience. For me, I'm grateful that 2011 has had me working on books, stage plays, films, and radio plays.

Now Measuring Matthew is being edited. I can't wait to see how it all comes together. I'll paste some photos from the shoot below. And the film has its own Facebook page, where you can lots more photos and links to interviews with the cast and crew, and find updates on how it's coming along. And the DP, Chris Portal, has a nice post with lots of photos, too.

Lots of people crammed into a small balcony, for a ledge scene six flights up.

Inside a very nice apartment we borrowed, all for some very quick shots that might take up all of about 10-30 seconds on screen, by the time it's done.

This an exterior shot that goes with the balcony scene. The character is out on a ledge, way up high, but the magic of movie editing allowed us to shoot part of it only a few feet off the ground. This was my first day on set, with nice and warm weather. We shot at this location again a few weeks later, and it was cold and damp.

And this is me on the final night of shooting. Talk about super long day--we were on set by 7:30 am, and worked until midnight. I was acting as a stand-in for a character who gets run over by a car, so I had to lie on the cold ground while they got the lighting right. Ah, the glamorous life! At least I got to wear a coat and gloves--the actor who was in the shot had to be on the ground just in plain street clothes. He was tough.

That's about it. I'll let you know when the actual film is ready to be seen.

Q&A at Urban Paranormal

2011-12-14T14:19:00.001-05:00

Deva has posted a nice Q&A with me about Tornado Siren over at The Urban Paranormal Blog. (Thanks!) Check it out. I met her through GoodReads, where they have just about every kind of book group you can imagine. Deva runs a GoodReads group that specializes in reading and discussing Interracial and African American Paranormal fiction. I think there's a group on the site for just about any kind of book you might write. There are probably more GoodReads groups that would be suitable for reading and discussing Tornado Siren that I haven't even discovered yet. (Deva found me, rather than me finding her.)

The Urban Paranormal Book Blog: Contest #2: Tornado Siren by Patrick Gabridge

2011-11-28T14:41:00.000-05:00

You can win a copy the paperback version of Tornado Siren at:

The Urban Paranormal Book Blog: Contest #2: Tornado Siren by Patrick Gabridge

It's pretty easy to win, so if you haven't read it yet, I hope you'll check it out, and check out her blog.

(I still have a bunch of blog posts to catch up on here, including posting photos from the film shoot for Measuring Matthew, and an explanation of all the farming stuff that's keeping me busy now, and will occupy a lot of my time and energy next year. Soon!)

(I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!)

Reading at Brookline Booksmith tonight, 5:54pm

2011-11-17T11:41:00.001-05:00

From 5-8 p.m., during Brookline’s 1st Light Festival, members of The Brookline Library Authors’ Collaborative and invited Brookline authors will be reading from their works at the Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner. Books by local authors, suitable for holiday gifts, will be available for signing. Refreshments will be served, and the event is free and open to the public.

Each writer has an 11-minute slot. Mine is from 5:54 to 6:05. (Give or take 30 seconds.) I'll be reading from one of my new novels (that are still seeking publishers). There are lots of great authors (see below), so even if you can't be there for my reading (though I hope you will), it'll still be fun.

I'll be reading from one of my new books--probably my new middle-grade novel, Buried Treasure, since First Light is a family focused evening. Plus it's a fun piece.

I hope we get a good turnout.

Here's who will be reading:

Schedule (11 minute segments):
5:00 - Susie Davidson
5:10 – Gabe Galambos
5:21 - Zvi Sesling
5:32 - Mark Lowenstein
5:43 - Hillel Levine
5:54 - Patrick Gabridge
6:05 - David Prerau
6:16 - Sarah Smith
6:27 - Chuck Goldstone
6:38 - Larry Ruttman
6:49 - Wendy Lement
7:00 - Linda Barnes
7:11 - Hon. Julian Houston
7:22 - Carey Goldberg
7:33 - Beth Jones
7:44 - Lou Urenek
7:55 – Gary K. Wolf

And some bios:

Reader bios (alphabetical):

Linda Barnes has written 12 best selling mystery novels that feature the 6'1," redheaded Boston private eye Carlotta Carlyle. Four other mysteries feature actor/detective and amateur sleuth Michael Spraggue, an amateur sleuth. Barnes has also written award-winning plays and short stories. The popular Carlotta Carlyle character first appeared in 1985’s award-winning short story “Lucky Penny”; since then, Barnes has penned “Trouble of Fools” (1987), “The Snake Tattoo” (1989), the Boston Globe bestsellers “Coyote” (1991) and “Steel Guitar” (1993), “Snapshot” (1994), “Hardware” (1995), and “Cold Case” (1997), which was also on The Boston Globe bestseller list. These were followed by “Flashpoint” (1999), “The Big Dig” (2002), “Deep Pockets” (2004), “Heart of the World” (2006), and “Lie Down with the Devil” (2008).
Barnes’ many awards have included the Anthony Award and nominations for both the Shamus Award and the American Mystery Award (for Best Short Story for "Lucky Penny" in 1985). In 1987, she received the American Mystery Award for Best Private Eye Novel, and “A Trouble of Fools” was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Shamus awards. “The Snake Tattoo” was named one of the outstanding books of 1990 by The London Times.

Susie Davidson is a journalist, author, poet and filmmaker who writes regularly for the Jewish Advocate, the Jewish Journal, the Jewish Daily Forward and other media, and has contributed to the Boston Sunday Globe and the Boston Herald. She has written “I Refused to Die: Stories of Boston-Area Holocaust Survivors and Soldiers who Liberated the Concentration Camps of World War II” (2005); “Jewish Life in Postwar Germany” (2006); “Selected Poetry of Susie D” (2006); and edited a collection of remarks made by former German Consul to New England Wolfgang K. Vorwerk at area Holocaust community events (2008) (All Ibbetson Street Press, Somerville). She is the Coordinator of the Boston chapter of The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, an active board member in the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow and the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, and coordinates the Brookline Library Authors' Collaborative. She organized and hosts “OccuPoetry,” the ongoing poetry reading series at Occupy Boston.

Patrick Gabridge, an Illinois native, studied computer science at MIT and later became a writer. His award-winning plays include Reading the Mind of God, about the astronomers Kepler and Tycho, and Blinders, a satire on science and the media. Gabridge has long explored the topic of race in his work. His novel, “Tornado Siren,” is now available as an e-book for Kindle, Nook, and other formats (via Smashwords). His play “Curse the Darkness” was performed in the Black Box Theatre One-Act Play Festival, in Cranston, R.I. His play “Escape to Wonderland” was part of EstroGenius, in New York last month. His blogs include The Writing Life x3, Choosing No Car (about our family shifting to life without a car), and 200 Foot Garden (details on a really fun commuter/community garden).
Gabe Galambos has travelled to many of the locales that appear in his espionage thriller, “Stealing Pike’s Peak” (Iuniverse, Writers Club Press), including to the Sudan. He was imprisoned there in 1983 for helping Ethiopian Jews reach Israel. He has recently completed a small town New England mystery tentatively titled, “The Nation by the River.” He works as a cardiac sonographer. He will read from his new manuscript, a small town New England mystery called “The Nation by the River.”

Carey Goldberg is a journalist/blogger for CommonHealth at WBUR and a co-editor of “Mind Matters” at Scientific American Mind. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale and attended graduate school at Harvard University. She has been the Boston bureau chief of The New York Times, a Moscow correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, and a health/science reporter for The Boston Globe. She is a co-author of the 2010 triple memoir “Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak and Astonishing Luck on our Way to Love and Motherhood.”

Chuck Goldstone has made his fellow mammals chortle for long as as anyone can remember. His humor has appeared in magazines and his commentaries and essays were a regular feature of public radio’s "Monitor" and "Marketplace" for more than a decade. He is now a monthly guest on WBZ, where he is given a soapbox to rant and carp. He will read from “This Book Is Not a Toy!: Friendly Advice on How to Avoid Death and Other Inconveniences” (St. Martin’s Press, 2005) and maybe from a yet-to-be-published piece is someone asks nicely.
When not trying to get people to snort coffee uncontrollably from their nostrils. Chuck is CEO and Founder of Ideaworks/Chuck Goldstone Communications, helping organizations across the globe communicate more persuasively and tell better stories.

Hon. Julian Houston was born and educated in Richmond, Virginia before attending the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. He is a graduate of Boston University and the Boston University School of Law, and was a community organizer in Harlem during the civil rights movement. He is an associate justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts (ret.), appointed in 1990. He had previously served for eleven years as a Justice of the Roxbury District Court. He is chair of the Executive Committee of the Long Road to Justice exhibit, a program of the Justice George L. Ruffin Society, which he formed with six other senior, minority criminal justice professionals in 1984. He spearheaded Roxbury Youthworks, Inc., which provides services to young people, and the Roxbury District Court Child-Care Center. He is the author of “New Boy” (Houghton-Mifflin), a coming-of-age novel set in the Civil Rights era.

Beth Jones has been a Prison Educator at Framingham Women’s Prison and an Instructor in The Prison Education Program at Boston University, as well as a Program Director at The Education Initiative at the Mind/Body Medical Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. She has written for The New York Times and the Boston Globe, contributed to the collection “Make Mine a Double: Why Women Like Us Like to Drink (Or Not),” UPNE, 2011, and is a co-author of the book “Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood,” Little, Brown & Co, 2010.

Wendy Lement, who holds a Ph.D. in Educational Theatre from New York University, is Associate Professor and Director of the Theatre Program at Regis College. A playwright and director, she co-founded Theatre Espresso in 1992, a company that brings historical plays to schools, museums and courthouses. Her first children’s fiction book, Keri Tarr: Cat Detective, was published by Breakaway Books in 2004.She is co-author of And Justice for Some: Exploring American Justice through Drama and Theatre, published by Heinemann Press (2005). She has directed thirty productions at Regis, which include “Dancing at Lughnasa,” “Importance of Being Earnest,” “The Good Woman of Setzuan,” “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet),” and “Steel Magnolias” (which won a Moss Hart Award). Her production of The House of Bernarda Alba won the 2000 New England Region's American College Theatre Festival, which was sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Her plays include: “Woman with the Red Kerchief,” “Salem's Daughters, King George III vs. Ruth Blay,” “Voicings: The Story of the Rosenberg Case,” “Dolphins: The Myth of Persephone,” “The Legend of the Christmas Rose,” and “Keri Tarr: Cat Detective,” which is based on her children's book, and won the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's 2002 Unpublished Playreading Project.
Hillel Levine, Professor of Sociology and Religion at Boston University and President of the International Institute for Mediation and Historical Conciliation, an NGO that works to prevent and resolve violent conflicts. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and has held visiting professorships in Japan, China, Poland, the Soviet Union, Brazil and Israel. His five books and many articles focus on ethnic violence and approaches to conflict resolution. His research was the basis of an Oscar-winning documentary film, and two of his books are currently being made into documentaries and a feature-length film. He often gives lectures, appears on radio and television, and writes guest columns in newspapers.
His books include "In Search of Sugihara: The Elusive Japanese Diplomat Who Risked his Life to Rescue 10,000 Jews from the Holocaust," "Economic Origins of Antisemitism: Poland and its Jews in the Early Modern Period," and "The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions," about the redlining of mortgages enacted by the banking consortium Boston Banks Urban Renewal Group in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan in the 1960s.

Mark Lowenstein is Managing Director of consulting firm Mobile Ecosystem. The author of three local running books (www.greatruns.net), including "Great Runs in Brookline and Vicinity," he is an avid recreational runner and outdoor enthusiast. He has run thousands of miles across dozens of communities in Massachusetts and other cities over the past 25 years. These books are terrific holiday gift items, though admittedly, December is not peak running season!

David Prerau is an internationally-recognized expert on national time policies who has been called "the world's foremost authority on Daylight Saving Time (DST)." As a computer scientist specializing in artificial intelligence, he pioneered in the application of knowledge-based systems. As an author, he has four published books and many magazine and newspaper articles. And as a DST expert, he has been a consultant for the U.S. Congress and the British Parliament. He has appeared on about two hundred TV and radio programs in the U.S. and around the world. His book, “Seize the Daylight” (2005), results from many years of DST research, during which he discovered a great number of remarkable DST incidents and fascinating anecdotes.

Larry Ruttman produces the show “Voices of Brookline and Beyond,” aired on Brookline Access Television. His 2005 oral history book, “Voices of Brookline,” chronicles the testimony of 70 diverse and remarkable Brookline citizens and includes over 100 images. (Tonight’s readers Linda Barnes and Sarah Smith are included in the book.) Ruttman himself has lived in Brookline since the age of two, and is devoted to the town and its people. He published a column, “Brookline Then and Now,” for the Brookline Tab. Ruttman holds a B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. His new book, “America’s Jews and America’s Game: Jewish Voices of American Baseball,” is due out in the spring of 2013 by the University of Nebraska Press.

Zvi A. Sesling, a former Brookline selectman, has published poetry in numerous magazines both in print and online, among them: Ibbetson Street, Midstream, Poetica,The Deronda Review, Voices Israel, Saranac Review, New Delta Review, Plainsong, Asphodel, Haz Mat Review, Istanbul Literary Review, The Chaffin Journal, Ship of Fools, Chiron Review and Main Street Rag. He was awarded Third Place (2004) and First Prize (2007) in the Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition, and was a finalist in the 2009 Cervena Barva Press Chapbook Contest. In 2008 he was selected to read his poetry at New England/Pen's “Discovery” event by Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish. He was a featured reader in the2010 Jewish Poetry Festival in Brookline. He is a regular reviewer for the Boston small press and poetry scene and he edits the Muddy River Poetry Review. He is author of the poetry book "King of the Jungle" (Ibbetson Street Press, 2010) and poetry chapbook, "Across Stones of Bad Dreams" (Cervana Barva, 2011). His next volume of poetry, "Fire Tongue," is scheduled for release in 2012. He has taught at several colleges in the Boston area and is on the faculty of the Jewish Community Center's Arts & Ideas.
Sarah Smith, a bestselling adult mystery author, won both the Agatha Award and the Massachusetts Book Award for best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery of the Year for her 2010 book “The Other Side of Dark.” She holds a BA. and a Ph.D. in English literature, both from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright Fellow and a Mellon Fellow. She was an Assistant Professor of English for several years, and presently works in the computer industry. She is Webmaster for the Mystery Writers of America. She is the author of a three-novel mystery series set in turn-of-the-century Boston and Paris and featuring amnesiac Alexander von Reisden: “The Vanished Child” (1992), “The Knowledge of Water” (1996), and “A Citizen of the Country” (2000). She has also authored “Chasing Shakespeares” (2003) and published a hypertext novel, “The King of Space,” with Eastgate Systems in 1991. Set in Brookline and Boston, “The Other Side of Dark” is about ghosts, interracial romance, and a secret kept since slavery times. It has also been named a Junior Library Guild selection.

Lou Urenek’s newest book, “Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream, and Five Acres in Maine,” has been called “Bracing, beautiful and profoundly heartfelt” by the Boston Globe, and “Meditative and restorative” by the New York Times. He is also the author of “Backcast,” which won the National Outdoor Book Award in 2007 for literary merit, and was called "one of the finest meditations on fathers and sons that I’ve ever read" by environmental leader Bill McKibben. Lou is a former Nieman fellow and editor-in-residence at Harvard University, and was the deputy managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He was also editor and vice president of the Portland Press Herald and the Maine Sunday Telegram. He began his journalism career as a reporter at the Providence Journal. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Boston Globe and Field & Stream, among other publications. He is a professor of journalism at Boston University and directs the Business and Economics Journalism Program.

Gary K. Wolf, the celebrated author of the novel "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?," gained fame in 1988 when his literary vision of humans cohabitating with animated characters became a reality in the $750 million blockbuster Disney/Spielberg film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." The film won four Academy Awards and launched a multiple-picture screen writing deal for Wolf with Walt Disney Pictures. In addition, his ideas inspired Toontown, the newest themed land at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. His latest science fiction novel, "Space Vulture," written in collaboration with his childhood friend Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers, was designated a Sci Fi Essentials book and was a main selection of The Science Fiction Bookclub. Wolf’s novel "The Resurrectionist" is currently in production as a feature film at 20th Century Fox.

NYC and Escape to Wonderland at EstroGenius

2011-11-01T09:50:00.000-04:00

October was a whirlwind of a month, so I'm behind in posting. I traveled to New York twice last month. Last week, I went to see fellow Rhombus writer Kirsten Greenidge's terrific new play, Milk Like Sugar, which officially opens at Playwrights Horizons tonight (and marks Kirsten's Off Broadway debut), after starting out at La Jolla Playhouse. I'm always in awe of what Kirsten can do with the rhythm of the words that come from her characters.

Earlier in the month, I went to New York to see one of my own plays, Escape to Wonderland, which was in the first week of the EstroGenius Festival, at Manhattan Theatre Source. I also had a chance to meet with folks at a couple different theatres, and a director, and a radio producer, and some friends. (I tend to pack a lot into these trips). EstroGenius did a nice job with my play, and it was a fun evening of new plays. I was delighted to meet Mary Hodges, my director, and the actresses in my show, Sheila Joon and Darnell Williams.

(some photos from the trip:)

The front of the Manhattan Theatre Source space on MacDougall Street. How many theatres are located above dog washes?

My friends Arthur and Nadisa came out to the show and have always been tremendous supporters of my work. Arthur was instrumental in helping me produce my very first full-length play, In A Glass Cage, at Synchronicity Space on Mercer Street in NYC--exactly 21 years ago today. (Thanks, Arthur!)

The two lovely actresses from my show, Sheila and Darnell.

And last, but not least, the audience. This is part of my continuing series of photos of the audiences for my plays. We see lots of photos of actors and sets around theatre, but not much of the audience. Without them, there's no point in doing all of this.

Playwright Submission Binge #19 Survey Results (2,270 submissions out)

2011-10-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

In September, the Playwright Submission Binge conducted its 19th "Binge." The Binge group is an online community focusing on marketing for playwrights. Twice a year, in March and September, we take up the challenge of submitting a play every day for 30 days. After each submission, members are encouraged to post to the group with where they sent (including contact info, if appropriate), what they sent, and why.

Since I started the Binge in 2001, the group has grown from a dozen writers exchanging e-mails to more than 600 writers around the world. The generosity and positive spirit of the group continues to amaze me.In any given Binge month, dozens of people actively post to the list, but certainly not all 640 members. I was curious to get a sense of who actually does participate, so I set up a SurveyMonkey survey, asking people who had taken part in Binge #19, to tell us about themselves and what they'd submitted. I've posted the results below.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear back from 74 playwrights who had actively taken part in Binge #19. Together, in the month of September, they submitted 2,270 scripts and query letters. Most of the writers participating (94%) have had their work produced, and 67% percent have received productions as a direct result of their participation in the Binge.The group is making a serious impact, on its members and on theaters. And it's a fairly experienced group of writers, who have gathered together to share info and offer support.

There's lots of interesting data here. I'd love to hear your comments. One thing that interested me is that we have more women than men actively participating. There's been a lot of conversation about how male playwrights are over-represented on American stages, and I've wondered if that's because women make fewer submissions than men. In our group, that's certainly not the case.

Here's a snapshot of Binge #19 and a cross-section of our membership:

Response Summary
Total Completed Survey: 74 (100%)
Total number of scripts and queries submitted during Binge #19 (by these 74 writers): 2,270

How many years have you Binged?
This is my first time. 15.1%
1-2 years    26.0%
3-4 years 24.7%
5-6 years    19.2%
7-8 years 4.1%
9-10 years 6.8%
Who can remember that far back? 4.1%

Has your work ever been produced?
Yes 94.4%
No    5.6%

Has your work ever been published?
Yes    69.9%
No    30.1%

Has your work ever received a reading?
Yes 97.3%
No 2.7%

Have you ever been paid for any of the readings/productions/publications of your work?
Yes 87.8%
No    12.2%

Have you ever received a reading, production, or publication as a result of a Binge submission?
Reading    54.1%
Production    67.6%
Publication   21.6%
Not yet 27.0%

How often do you post to the Binge list?
Often 23.0%
A couple times each Binge    27.0%
A couple times a year    14.9%
Rarely 23.0%
Never 12.2%

Are you male or female?

Male 39.2%
Female 60.8%

Elements of a Useful Reading

2011-10-24T22:24:00.003-04:00

Back on September 17, as part of the Rhombus Readings, I put together a reading of my play, Flight, at Boston Playwrights Theatre. It ended up being a very useful experience for me, as a way to see how much progress I'd made on changes and to get ideas for what to do with it next. I got to thinking about what make up the essential elements of a useful reading. Here are some of what I needed on that day:

A good chariot. Here's my bike and bike cart loaded full of all the stuff I needed for the event--a big pile of scripts and binders, snacks, donation jar, and more. (Really, I just wanted to put up a photo of my bike and cart.)

A space. We are incredibly fortunate here in Boston to have the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. They put on all new work (by writers with links to Boston University) in their two theatres, and they also provide cheap and free space to other organizations putting on readings or productions of new plays. Rhombus has its regular meetings at BPT, and this was our second reading series held in the space. I don't know what we'd do without the folks at BPT.

Actors. I was extremely fortunate to have a cast of Luis Negron, Elise Manning, Brenny Rabine, and Michael Buckley. They spent a whole afternoon with me, reading and discussing the script. Even though our time was limited, they gave me important insights into the characters and the play as a whole. Working with actors of such high caliber is critical for a new play. Though it's possible for a strong performance to cover over weaknesses in a play, I really want the script tested by people of the highest skill level. (And these four were also terrifically nice people.)

A hardworking director, and a friend to read stage directions. Here is my director, M. Bevin O'Gara, going over notes with Alexa Mavromatis, who is a fellow Rhombus playwrights and who read stage directions. I've had the good fortune of working with Bevin before, on a reading of Constant State of Panic. She's super smart and was able to make the most of the time we had, and also helped me find our cast. Someday, we'll get to work on a full production together.

Yummy snacks. Good snacks make for better readings. Everyone is in a better mood after a home-baked brownie. I like my actors and audience in a good mood.

An audience. For our reading, we had about 20 people in the house. They were good listeners and very responsive. In some ways, for a public reading, a good audience is the most important part. For a comedy, I always say there's no point even having a reading for fewer than 20 people. You won't be able to judge laughs. I worked pretty hard to get people in the seats, but it was still a struggle. Saturday evening readings in September are a tough sell. There's just too many full productions going on in September, as the season hits full swing. I probably would have had a better crowd with a Saturday afternoon reading. Or a different time of year. I'm not a big fan of formal talkbacks after readings, but instead prefer mill-abouts, where we all eat snacks and talk about the play informally after the reading. I got lots of useful feedback from the folks who attended.

That's about it. I mean, you also have to have a script ready for a reading, copies of that script, a good way to take notes (I used my LiveScribe pen). Having a little cash to pay the actors is helpful, if you can swing it. (I can't afford to pay them what they're worth, but at least can give some gas money.) I love that the tools to developing new plays are so basic and accessible. It's not rocket surgery. It's just a matter of bringing people together who are willing to spend some time on an interesting project.

Thanks to everyone who gave their time to help my make Flight a better play. (I'll have another reading in NYC in February, from the id theatre.)

Last Stop on Tornado Siren mini blog tour: Donna Hoke's My Life as a Wordsmith

2011-09-30T08:58:00.000-04:00

Today, I make the final stop on my mini blog tour for Tornado Siren, at Donn'a Hoke's blog, My Life as a Wordsmith. We spend some time talking about the differences between writing plays and writing novels, and how to navigate going back and forth from one form to the other.

Donna is a fellow playwright and member of the Playwright Submission Binge, where today we're all finishing the final day of a 30-day-long binge of script submissions.

Thanks to Donna for having me as her guest today (and to Lori and Diana for the previous stops on the tour). I hope you'll come check out the final stop.

Stop #2 on Tornado Siren Blog tour: On writing, living and loving

2011-09-29T08:03:00.000-04:00

This is the second day of my mini blog tour for Tornado Siren. Today, I'm over on Lori Foster's blog, "On Writing, Living, and Loving," talking about my decision to publish Tornado Siren as an ebook, and the in and outs of putting out an ebook.

Lori's an old high school friend from our Saranac Lake days. I don't think either of us would have guessed way back then that we'd end being writers. Certainly I was headed straight for a career as a computer scientist. Be sure to check out some of the other posts on her blog, about writing and motherhood and life, she's a lovely writer.

And thanks again for coming along for the tour. I hope you'll check it out.

The Tornado Siren Mini Blog Tour Begins

2011-09-28T08:50:00.000-04:00

Today's the start of my mini (three stop) blog tour for Tornado Siren. Diana Renn has me as a guest over on her blog today, where we talk about multi-tasking around a zillion different projects. She's a good friend and a terrific writer. Her YA mystery, Tokyo Heist, will be coming out from Penguin in June.

So come on over, and check out the start of the tour. (Please.)

Mini Blog Tour for Tornado Siren

2011-09-23T14:04:00.000-04:00

Many authors, especially those of ebooks, now engage in blog tours to promote their books. My inspiration/role model is my friend, Gene Doucette, who did a 30-day blog tour for his book, Immortal, earlier this year.

I had great plans for nice long blog tour this fall, but a string of readings, productions, and even a film shoot, that have caused me to trim my ambitions a bit. (I know, I know, poor me.)

So I'm going to have a pleasant mini blog tour next week, where I'll be a guest blogger on three sites run by some of my friends, who all happen to be lovely writers. I'll be talking about a little bit about Tornado Siren, and a lot about balancing a zillion different writing projects, switching back and forth between prose and plays, and the pluses and minuses of self-publishing an ebook.

Here's the schedule:

Wednesday, September 28: Diana Renn's blog (which features a great post on group blogging today) (check out her spiffy new web site)

Thursday, September 29: Lori Foster's On writing, living and loving. She writes so beautifully about motherhood, but she writes about the author's life, too.

Friday, September 30: Donna Hoke's My life as a wordsmith. I love that she writes plays, books, and crossword puzzles.

Thanks to Diana, Lori, and Donna for hosting me. To everyone else, I hope you'll check out the posts!

The Rhombus Readings are this weekend!

2011-09-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

Don't miss The Rhombus Readings this weekend. We've got an exciting line up of new plays that we've been working on for the past year or two. I'm delighted to get to hear my new play, Flight, read on Saturday night. I've got a terrific director (M. Bevin O'Gara) and cast. I've been making big changes since I brought the play to the Seven Devils Conference in Idaho. (Even though my stay was cut short, due to family tragedy, I've stayed in touch with my director and dramaturg and the id theatre folks.) And I've been working on the script in my Huntington Playwriting Fellows group, as well as in Rhombus.

Now I need to hear it in front of an audience again. That's where you come in. (And by audience, let's be honest, 5 people isn't much of an audience. Now, 20 people, in a small theatre, that's an audience. So bring a friend or two.)

It's free. It's fun. And there will be good snacks. (I'll bake brownies.)

All the readings will take place at Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave., Boston

The Fakus by Joe Byers
Friday, Sept. 16
8 pm
A sinuous tale of three canny people and one large sum of money on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. All of them are deadly earnest. Trust is for sale to the highest bidder. Every heart has its price tag. Featuring Nancy E. Carroll, Paul Melendy, and Craig Mathers.

Flight by Patrick Gabridge
Saturday, Sept. 17
8 pm
Sarah spends her days in the airport, finding comfort in its organized chaos, forced anonymity, and careful security. Little does she know that beneath its clean and shining façade, the airport - like the world outside it - is littered with lives torn apart by loss. Caught in the crossfire of the airport's lost souls, Sarah discovers there is no such thing as an innocent escape. Directed by M. Bevin O'Gara, featuring Elise Manning, Luis Negron, and Brenny Rabine.

The Embryos by Ginger Lazarus
Sunday, Sept. 18
4 pm
Mommy and Daddy love their embryos. Love them so much that when in vitro fails, they decide to take their precious blastocysts home and care for them like children. All might be well, except that "Leggo and Eggo" have voracious appetites and uncanny abilities beyond their developmental stage. When they run amok, the poor would-be parents are faced with a choice: save their embryos from the world, or save the world from their embryos. Directed by Barlow Adamson, featuring Robert Murphy and Lisa Tucker.
(There's a fun interview with the embryos from The Embros on the Playwrights Perspective blog.)

Playwright Submissiong Binge (#19) Starts Tomorrow!

2011-08-31T18:11:00.000-04:00

Twice a year, a bunch of playwrights take up a simple challenge: submit a play day, every day, for 30 days. Once a writer submits, he or she reports back to the group what was submitted, where, and why. Over the years, a supportive online community of playwrights has grown up around the event. Tomorrow we start Binge #19. It's a great way to make your marketing chores a lot more fun and, because people are so generous, a great way to find out about possible submission opportunities for your plays. It's free and low pressure. (There are more than 600 people on the Yahoo group now.)

Come join us at The Binge.

report from Cranston

2011-08-23T08:10:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I got to see my show Curse the Darkness at the Black Box Theatre's 6th annual one-act play festival, in Cranston, Rhode Island. The space is a tiny little black box in a store front--it seats about 30 people. The evening was completely sold out, which is always lovely and gives an evening the right kind of energy, whether the house holds 30 or 300.

Here's what the audience looked like:

I like this idea of taking photos of audiences. They're sometimes the forgotten key element in the theatre. I plan on taking more audience pictures whenever I can.

And here's my cast:

Ethan, Mia, Amelia, and John all did a terrific job with the show. They clearly had a lot of fun with it. They also served as stagehands throughout the evening, which worked perfectly for my show. (You can read the entire script here to see why.) It's exactly what I wanted. The audience caught on after a few minutes, and laughed hard. Rich Morra did a great job with directing my piece and the whole evening. I was glad to share the bill with plays by friends Mark Harvey Levine (Scripted) and Nina Mansfield (Clown Therapy).

Curse the Darkness is just as fun as I'd hoped it would be (this was my first time seeing it), and I hope it will work it's way into a lot of festivals.

Seth Godin comments on Consumers and Creators

2011-08-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

My wife pointed out this post from Seth Godin's blog:

Consumers and creators

Fifty years ago, the ratio was a million to one.

For every person on the news or on primetime, there were a million viewers.

The explosion of magazines brought the ratio to 100,000:1. If you wrote for a major magazine, you were going to impact a lot of people. Most of us were consumers, not creators.

Cable TV and zines made it 10,000 to one. You could have a show about underwater spearfishing or you could teach people to make hamburgers on donuts. The little star is born.

And now of course, when it's easy to have a blog, or an Youtube account or to push your ideas to the world through social media, the ratio might be 100:1. For every person who sells on Etsy, there are a hundred buyers. For every person who actively tweets, there are a hundred people who mostly consume those tweets. For every hundred visitors to Squidoo, there is one new person building pages.

What does the world look like when we get to the next zero?

I've very much felt the impact of this explosion in my attempt to sell my novels. People are creating short bursts of text/images/ideas like never before, but I think this increased ability to feel what it's like to have an audience for their work has also greatly inspired people to write more books. Just ask agents--they're getting more submissions from writers than ever before. They're completely swamped in queries, editors are completely swamped in submissions from agents, and the number of self-published novels (especially e-books) is like a hundred year flood. But maybe one that will never recede.

In a lot of ways, this is a good thing. People are able to express themselves. Writing and creating is a good thing for your soul, for your life, for your community.

It also makes it a lot harder to find an audience. Twenty years ago, my novels would have had a decent shot (I think) of being mid-list books, and I could be making some money and finding readers. Today, the mid-list seems to have mostly vanished, and publishers making most of their bets on sure things, and on authors who have already broken out of the internet pack and found a platform of readers.

In some ways, the world when we get to the next zero is really interesting. People have a better appreciation of what it takes to create, and maybe they have an interest in consuming a broader range of input. One thing Godin doesn't address is that people who create more (thoughts, text, blogs, tweets), also end up consuming a lot more input (of ideas, text, images).

We're running into the same challenges in the realm of playwriting, too. With e-mail and software programs, it's technically easier to write and submit plays that ever before. For quite a while, large theatres have been completely overwhelmed by the volume of submissions of scripts received. In some ways, the old submission system (queries with samples, some scripts being read, some being produced, even without direct personal contact to the theatre) has become completely broken (see this interesting discussion by David Dower on the Arena Stage New Play Blog--I plan to write more about it soon). There are just too many plays and playwrights out there for it to work for anyone. Maybe that system never quite worked (though it depends on whom you ask). My sense is that, oddly, more people are writing and trying to find submissions for plays than ever before, though the number of available opportunities (especially for professional productions) for those (full-length) plays is getting smaller.

Like Seth, I'm curious to see what happens as the ratio of consumers to creators continues to shrink. I don't think there's any changing it. I think it'll be a lot harder to make a living as a creator, but a lot more people's personal lives will be enriched by their own experience of creation.

last chance to see Curse the Darkness in Cranston, RI

2011-08-09T15:30:00.000-04:00

This is the last weekend to see my short play, Curse the Darkness in Cranston, Rhode Island, at the Black Box Theatre in their ten-minute play festival . Tracy and I will be heading down to check out the show on Friday. I'll be sharing the bill, yet again, with a play by the fabulous Mark Harvey Levine, and a few other writers whom I know from the Playwright Submission Binge (Nina Mansfield and Alex Dremann).

Here's a photo from the Lakeshore Players production of Curse the Darkness in White Bear Lake, MN.

Curse the Darkness a winner in the Chameleon Theatre Circle Contest

2011-08-08T09:06:00.000-04:00

My short play, Curse the Darkness, is one of the winners in the 12th annual Chameleon Theatre Circle Contest. The winning plays will receive staged readings on Saturday, September 10th, at their theatre at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center (it's near Minneapolis/St. Paul). I'll post the exact time once they have it, in case any of you are in the area. The readings are free and should be a lot of fun.

You can read the entire script by clicking here.

reaching the finish line (sort of)

2011-08-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

I just finished the first draft of my new Civil War novel about Robert Smalls (pictured above). I started this project as a screenplay eight or nine years ago, but ended up putting it aside for a long time. I did a ton of research, but couldn't find a producer who'd take a chance on a Civil War costume war drama at that time.

But I never stopped thinking about Robert Smalls or the project and decided that someday I wanted to write his story as a novel. Early in 2010, I started renewing my research, and Tracy and I even took a quick trip to Charleston and Beaufort, South Carolina, where most of the novel takes place.

People often ask me how long it takes to write a book. The answer is that it depends on what you mean. It took me fourteen months to write this current draft, which currently runs about 126,000 words or about 400 pages. I think it'll take another year to revise it sufficiently so I can show it to people in the publishing industry. This draft took a while to write, because I was doing research every step of the way, even though I'd done a lot of my initial reading back in 2003, and had been able to lay out a pretty decent outline for the story at that time. (I was able to use quite a bit of my old outline, thought it shifted a lot.)

For me, novels are such big projects that there are many different finish lines. The one I crossed today is an important one. Now I have a structure and story in place. The bones of the book are all there. I've done most of the important research, though there's still lots more to fill in (but now I'll have a better sense of what I'm missing). But my first drafts are rough--practically unreadable, I'm sure, to anyone but me. Now it's all about clarifying the characters and working on the language. I write a book like a painter might make a painting, first with thin pencil lines, and then gradually adding more and more layers of color, until the whole image finally comes together. I've still got a long way to go.

But it sure feels good to have reached this milestone. Now I'll have to give myself a little space before I even look at the manuscript again. I won't even look at it for about a month, until the kids are back at school, and I've had a chance to get a little distance. I'm sure I'll be surprised (and sometimes horrified) by what I read. I tend not to reread the manuscript as it progresses, so there are parts of this book that I haven't looked at for more than a year. In September, it'll be my job to load the whole thing back into my mind and start figuring out how to make it good.

But for now, I plan to enjoy the warm glow that comes from having finished a solid first draft.

what I'm writing: early morning report from the trenches

2011-08-03T08:28:00.000-04:00

Summer vacation is fun, of course, but it's also the hardest season to find time time to write. In July, Noah had summer school and camp, so I actually had more time to write than during the year. But now we've entered into the long hot stretch of August and early September. I've been hard at work on a new novel for about a year now, about the Civil War hero, Robert Smalls. It's been great fun and I'm getting close to finishing a very rough (practically unreadable to anyone but me, but that doesn't really matter, it's just getting the story and structure down that counts for me at this stage). It's a bit longer than I usually write--I'm at about 120,000 words, or somewhere around 400 pages. Just two more chapters to go.

This means that as of this week, my writing time has shifted to 5am. If I set my alarm for 5, I can be at work at my desk by 5:08am, and get in about 2 hours. (I used to get up early all the time to write when the kids were little, but I'm spoiled now that they're in school.) Luckily, I have an outline and most of the research is done, though thanks to the internet, there is no hour of the day when my attention might not be drawn by a little bit of last minute research (like the range of a 20 pound Parrot Rifle (1,900 yards) or a 9-inch Dahlgren). My goal is about 1,000 words a day, though closer to 1,500 would make me ecstatic. (Yesterday I wrote 600 words and was grateful. Today it was 1,400.)

With any luck, I'll finish this draft by the end of August, and then can get back to revisions of my new play, Flight, while this project settles for a month or two. (I figure it'll take me as much as a year to revise the novel to a point where it might be ready to be submitted.)

report from Carrboro: Best of 10x10 (is great) (thanks, audience)

2011-07-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

I got to see performances of the Best of 10x10 on both Saturday and Sunday and am grateful that I could come here. (Thanks to ArtsCenter for travel and lodging!) They've put together what may be one of the best evenings of ten-minute plays I've seen. If you follow which writers get their work done in short play festivals, you wouldn't be surprised, because the writers included: Mike Folie, Mark Harvey Levine, Babs Linsday, Matt Casarino, Chris Lockheardt, and Doug Reed--all of whom have work that appears regularly across the country. (It's almost impossible to find a short play festival without a play by Mark Harvey in it.)

The plays tended to be comedies (Matt's play, Green Eggs and Mamet, made me weep with laughter), which made me a little nervous about my play, Ship of Fools, which is an odd drama drama/puzzle about two women stuck in a lifeboat, who entertain each other by pretending to be other people (spoiler: the boat sinks in the end). Sometimes an audience gets up so much momentum for laughing and having a good time, that they don't have patience for a short play which requires a bit of untangling during the short time it's on stage.

Both nights I saw the play, the audience was large--the venue holds 350, and it was sold out Saturday and close to sold out Sunday at 3pm. I repeat--they sold probably close to 300 tickets for a 3pm Sunday show of ten-minute plays.) They were definitely having a good time, thanks to good scripts and very strong performances. I was worried my play might get swept away.

But it didn't. (huge relief) For a couple reasons: First--strong performances. The two actresses Jillian Holmquist and Jenny Wales, completely committed to the play and the game they were playing, and gave us a sense of what they were doing, despite only having a bare stage with two chairs.

Also, the sound/music design and performance helped channel the audience momentum and shifted the mood. Nathan Logan, who designed the music/sound, also performed live on stage during the scene shifts throughout the entire performance--singing and playing electric guitar and keyboard. I love having live music on stage, and he really knew how to be an unobtrusive presence during the plays (he was onstage the whole time), and then could really play during the shifts to get the audience where it needed to go. For the lead in to Ship of Fools, he sang a haunting a cappella version of "Sailing" which was initially written and performed by the Sutherland Brothers in 1972--you can listen to it here--and made famous by Rod Stewart. It worked perfectly. (Nathan's version of it is still stuck in my head.)

The last factor was the audience itself. The ArtsCenter 10x10 audience was incredibly engaged. They were lively and there to have fun, but it was also clear that they loved being there (this wasn't attended out of obligation), they had a relationship with the theatre and the performers, and they wanted to pay attention. As a playwright, I go to productions for lots of reasons (for fun, to see scripts in production, see good performances, to be moved, tickled, etc.), and one of those reasons is to be with audiences. They vary as much, night-to-night, as performances. Maybe more. I think about audiences a lot--what makes them tick, how they will respond. As a playwright, maybe I'm a bit of a conniseur of audiences. I'm always looking for the right match between text, performance, and audience. That's where the magic of theatre really comes together.

Here at 10x10, they have a kick-ass audience, and it was a treat to be part of it for two nights.

After the show, I talked to several people who said they loved Ship of Fools, and especially that it was a play that made them work, and that it moved them emotionally. That's pretty much exactly what I wanted. Very nice.

Thanks to Jeri Lynn Schulke, artistic director, for putting the evening together, to Lyden Harris for starting the festival and keeping it going for so long, to both Lynden and Emily Ranii, for producing my plays at 10x10 in the past. They've really got a good thing going here. And thanks to my director, Jerry Davis, and the entire production team for putting together a great show.

Here's a (somewhat blurry, sorry) photo of the audience waiting for the Best of Ten by Ten to start (and there's Nathan getting ready to play guitar).

Freeman rocks

2011-07-21T21:43:00.000-04:00

I've been very much enjoying Matthew Freeman's blog lately, including this post on How to Quit Being a Playwright. The first point is my favorite, and the hardest part about doing it. It's actually easy to quit (in theory)--you just stop. And you don't need to tell anyone. You don't need to write a furious blog post, there's no paperwork to fill out, no HR person to notify. You don't get a farewell party. There's no one who recruited you into playwriting who is likely to be hurt that you're leaving. You'll be missed by some of your theatre friends, for a while, but not as much as you'd like.

I also very much like his recent post on Day Jobs and Staying an NYC playwright, too. (Which also connects to a nice essay on the same topic by Barbara Hammond.)

Heading to North Carolina

2011-07-21T21:34:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I'll be heading to the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina, to see my play Ship of Fools in the Best of Ten by Ten Festival at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro . These folks have produced a handful of my plays over the years, and I'm excited to finally have a chance to meet them and see their talents in action.

Any suggestions for good places to eat in Raleigh-Durham (or Carrboro) and/or good farmer's markets (or farms to visit)?

Thoughts Not to Think. (Don't read this list.)

2011-07-07T13:52:00.000-04:00

There are lots of rational reasons to be discouraged and depressed as a writer of plays and novels. There are 75-100 new MFA playwrights graduating every year, and nowhere near that many new slots for full-length plays on professional stages. It's harder than ever to find an agent for playwrights, because the money keeps shrinking. So many books are published every year that it's getting harder and harder for a new book to stand out. Because it's harder to make money in publishing, publishers are tending to bid on books with clear blockbuster appeal, and the midlist book (and author) is dying a not-so-gradual death.

Keeping your spirits up in the face of the business climate in our art forms is pretty tough. I'm a pretty up-beat guy, most of the time, but once I start looking at the climate outlined above, it's easy for other, completely unhelpful thoughts to creep in.

Here are some thoughts that will not help you. Don’t think them. Seriously, don’t even read this list.

I’m XX years old. I had my chance, it’s all downhill from here. I peaked in 19XX. Writing is a young person’s game
My friend K. just got a book deal/production/residency. For $XXX,000. But that’s never going to happen to me. One deal was worth more than I’ve made in my entire career.
When I come up with the ideas, they seem great. But when I finally get them on paper, they always seem to come up short. Maybe I just don’t have what it takes.
I have some talent, but just not quite enough. I’ve given it my best shot.
I’ve been at this for DD years. If it was going to happen, it would have already happened.

I'm sure you can think of a few more.

One of the aspects that I don't hear much about, in our conversations as writers, is how we manage to keep all this crap at bay and not be drowned by it. And it gets harder as we get older, as the new sheen of optimism towards attempting a writing career has worn away.

Sometimes I give in and indulge these lines of thought for a while. It's only human, I guess. It can help to get together with friends, with fellow writers, especially if there's good news to share. Mutual whining doesn't help. The main tactic that succeeds for me is actually sitting my ass in the chair writing. For a good solid chunk of time, more than one day at a time. String a few mornings together, and I can start to lose track of the other bullshit and remember that I like writing. A lot. The rest doesn't have to matter so much.

Good news: Ship of Fools in Best of 10x10

2011-06-29T16:39:00.000-04:00

I recently found out that my short play, Ship of Fools, will be part of the Best of 10 by 10 Festival in the Triangle, at the ArtsCenter Stage in Carrboro, North Carolina, from July 22-31. This "Best of" festival is a special production of audience and staff favorites to help celebrate the ten year anniversary of 10 by 10. I've had four plays produced in 10 by 10 over the years, and I'm delighted to be included in this "Best of" series, especially since the other writers include Mike Folie, Doug Reed, Babs Lindsay, Matt Casarino, Chris Lockheartd, and Mark Harvey Levine, folks with whom I've shared many a bill and respect very much.

This time, I'll actually be able to attend the festival and will be at the Playwrights Gala performance on July 23rd. It'll be my first time to see 10 by 10, and I'm excited to finally have a chance to meet the people responsible for putting this event together, year after year. Ship of Fools is a challenging piece, and I'm excited to see what they do with it. Though it's been produced in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Colorado, as well as by students across the country, I've never actually seen a production of it live.

You can read a sample of the script here.

Tornado Siren e-book: progress report (4 months)

2011-06-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

I wish I could say that I was writing these reports to brag (but if you look at the numbers, you'll certainly see that's not possible), but it's more to give me a chance to add things up, and to inject a little dose of reality among the tidal swell of hype that gets put out about e-books. (A story in last Sunday's NYTimes Magainze reported that self-publishing phenom Amanda Hocking sells 9,000 ebooks a day. Wow. I could go for a day like that.)

Tornado Siren has been an e-book for a little more than four months now. It's been selling some copies, at a slow but steady rate. Hard to know what the average amount of sales is for an e-book (mine is self-published, but the print version was not). Most people are busy talking about the exceptions, but that's true of print books, as well.

So, here are the sales numbers for Tornado Siren so far, by platform/version:

Kindle: 96 copies (10 so far in June)
Smashwords: 6 copies sold
Nook : 9 (6 through Barnes & Noble, 3 through Smashwords) (this is a little fuzzy to me)
Sony: 1
Apple: 6

Total: 120 ebooks

I broke 100! And Amazon has actually put real money in my bank account. With print publishers you have to wait forever to get paid, and even then they hold back money for returns, and even then the statements are often incomprehensible. I can check the ebook total sales on line, any time I want. Once a month, Amazon has been putting money into my checking account. Not much, but in my writing life, every bit counts.

It's hard to tell what sort of promo helps or not. Fellow writer Laura Axelrod ran a very nice, multi-part interview with me on her Gasp! blog, but sales seemed to go nowhere that week, then jumped a bit the following week. Is there a lag?

May ended up being a good month, with Tornado Siren selling about one copy a day, a mere 1/9000th of what Ms. Hocking sells. Joe Konrath sells about 700-800 copies of day. Though, do note, they each have many more titles for sale. I just have the one little novel.

Smashwords has dropped off a lot in sales for me, over the past month or two. I have no idea why, though people are still downloading the sample (also a a slower rate).

I have some plans for a bit more promo (a constant refrain, I know), and we'll see if that makes a difference. No matter what happens, I'm certainly glad to have picked up more than 100 new readers so far this year. Here's hoping that number continues to grow.

good news: Escape to Wonderland will be in Estrogenius

2011-06-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

I got some good news last week: my short play, Escape to Wonderland, will be part of Manhattan Theatre Source's EstroGenius festival in New York, October 5-8. This is a festival that celebrates work by women, but they also accept plays by men that feature strong roles for women, with interesting voices. I've been submitting scripts to this festival for years and am honored to finally be a part of it. I'll definitely be heading down to NYC to see the show.

Here's are some photos from the Boston Theater Marathon production of Escape to Wonderland, which featured some terrific performances. (Directed by Jeffrey Mosser)

(Meredith Stypinski and Allison Vanouse, finding some expired condoms)

(Some time old friends have trouble re-connecting)

early return from Idaho

2011-06-08T16:29:00.000-04:00

My wife Tracy's father, Roger, died early this morning in Boston, unexpectedly, after a brief illness. I'm in the midst of working my way back home from Idaho to be with our family.

I want to express my sincere thanks to the Seven Devils' staff and members, especially Jeni, Paula, Sheila, Martin, and Larry, for their sympathy and assistance this morning, and to our intern/actor James, who drove me all the way down to Boise this morning, without a second thought (and kept me thoroughly engaged with lively conversation the whole way). Though I'm disappointed to leave the conference early, the groundwork laid there with the play will continue to help the script evolve, and I am grateful for the relationships I formed there in the time I had. Thanks also to all the friendly folks of McCall, who hosted me and made me feel welcome in their lovely town.

Roger Blauvelt was a beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend. He was a golfer, geocacher, Air Force veteran, baseball fan, and all around good guy. He will be sorely missed.

report from Idaho--days 3 and 4

2011-06-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

Still working hard in Idaho. Yesterday was a busy day--I had a three-hour meeting with Larry Leobell (a man with uncommon energy and storytelling skills, and I'm not just buttering up) about Flight, out in the sun by the Fogglifter Cafe. Getting to talk in depth about the ins and outs, strengths and weaknesses, of the play is just what I needed and have been looking forward to. I left with a head full of ideas (that I'm still trying to sort out). I've got the full conference to work on them, but I'm trying to put in a major push to get some changes made before the end of Wednesday, when I need to turn in the first draft that will go to my cast.

After that meeting, I was on to a meeting with the high school student that I'm helping mentor. She has a staged reading of her play on Thursday, so the director and I were meeting with her to give her some feedback and guidance on the play. I'm sure we left her head spinning just as mine was spinning after my meeting with Larry.

Then it was off to a company meeting, which makes me continue to be so impressed by the group that runs Seven Devils. They're completely dedicated to developing plays and playwrights. They emphasize that this is a conference rather than a festival. It's really about the process of creating the work, more than trying to focus on the presentational aspects.

Especially interesting to me is how they've managed to be so fully embraced by the McCall community (it helps that the founders have strong local connections). The people of this town donate an incredible amount of space, housing, money, food, and all other sorts of support. Working with a company that so completely embraces the essential human and communal nature of theatre is completely exciting to me.

There are a lot of reasons not to write plays, but being part of Seven Devils seems like a good reason to be a playwright--the chance to work intensely with good people, in a beautiful place, on complex projects, in a nurturing community.

In the afternoon, while hiding out from a crazy hail storm in the Seven Devils office, I started making changes to the script. Drawing first blood is an important first step in the revision process.

The day ended with a three-hour rehearsal of the student play, which featured some really terrific high school student actors from McCall (as well as our imported professional.)

Today, the morning was all about writing, struggling bit by bit through small changes that might make big results. Then it was off to a field trip trying to drive to Bergdorf, but the road was closed due to snow, and the end of the Ponderosa Park (where the road was also closed). So Larry Loebell and fellow intensive playwright Bob Bartlett and I basically hung out in the mist, watched birds and the swamp, and told stories. Because what else do three playwrights do in the Idaho rocky mountains. Pretty fantastic.

Here are some photos from Lily Marsh of Bob and Larry:

Next, more rehearsals and more readings and more writing. Tomorrow will be about writing all day.

Here are Larry and me in the same spot.

Report from Idaho-- days and 2

2011-06-05T16:29:00.000-04:00

I'm enjoying my second day in McCall, Idaho--I'm sitting on patio of Bistro 45 in sun, steps from Lake Payette, listening to a piano player play movie tunes, hanging out with Larry Loebell (my dramaturg for Flight and fascinating guy and experienced writer), after he's given me the tour of the Alpine Playhouse and a look around this lovely mountain town. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Yesterday, I had a nice three-hour layover in Denver International Airport, which is the perfect place for me to read and work on making changes to my play about a woman who take refuge from life at the airport (in her case, Logan).

My lodgings for the Conference are in a rustic cabin, five miles out of town. The quiet compared to my normal home life in Brookline is startling. It's going to be the perfect spot for rewrites to the play over the next few weeks.

Here's the view on my way into town:

So far, it's been a fairly steady of stream of good food and interesting conversations with theatre people. And we haven't really even started yet. The past participants clearly thoroughly love this conference and make a point of trying to be here year after year. There's a strong sense of community and friendship apparent from the minute you walk in the door.

Tonight we have a company meeting/bbq. Tomorrow, Larry and I will meet to go over my play and talk about ideas and concerns and possible rewrite plans for the Conference. I'll also meet a high school student who's working on a ten-minute play that will be read on Thursday, and whom I'll be helping mentor.

Boston Theater Marathon XIII report

2011-05-23T17:04:00.000-04:00

I'm still tired after yesterday's Boston Theater Marathon. You'd think I'd run an actual marathon, rather sit in a dark theatre for 10 hours watching 50 ten-minute plays. This year, I had my 16-year-old daughter, Kira, in tow, and we were also joined by Alexa Mavromatis (a fellow Rhombus playwright), for the entire event. We carefully packed pb&j, nuts, chips, water, and a pound of dark chocolate to help us remain in our seats for an entire day (bathroom breaks excepted).

The time passes a lot faster that you might expect. Every hour, there are five new plays, each in a different author's voice, produced by a different theatre company with a unique cast (though there is some overlap--my friend Bob Murphy was in three Marathon plays).

There is, as you would expect, usually a pretty big mix of plays, some that I like and some that I don't, a couple favorites and a couple dogs. I would say that this year seemed to be the strongest set of plays I can remember. There were no plays or productions that I thought were absolutely terrible (and let's face it, in 50 plays, you expect something that just won't sit right), and there was a stretch from 2pm - 5pm, that I thought was the best stretch of ten-minute plays I'd seen strung together for a long time, just winner after winner.

Some of my favorite plays of the day included:

Slugger by Terrence Kidd about an oddly upbeat, slightly crazed woman, with desire for a little payback. It featured a fantastic performance by Jessica Webb.
Rick Parks' Birdbaths, "Twilight" and Other Sundry Items, which I'd seen before at the T Plays, was just as delightful in this subsequent production.
Trust Fall by Steve Lewis, was zany and bright and a provided great spark of energy to start the third hour. Brain surgery with a plastic knife has never been so funny. Director Vincent Ularich got stellar performances by two of my favorite Boston actors, Becca Lewis and Bob Murphy.
Speaking of Boston actors, Michael Ennis' play, Park N' Ride, got a scene stealing performance from Marie Polizzano, who you might remember from the Huntington's Cirlce, Mirror, Transformation (as well as strong performances from Barlow Adamson and Maureen Keiller).
My daughter and I both had great fondness for the only one-woman show of the evening, Camberwell House by Amelia Roper.
In A Tall Order, Sheri Wilner's very sharp play, about dating and the possible consequences of ordering from the menu on a date, got another terrific performance from Jessica Webb.
I was pleased to see strong physical humor in Christopher Lockheardt's play, Stuck, produced by New Exhibition Room, both Alejandro Simoes and Hannah Husband were great fun to watch. They're a company that really interests me now that I've seen a couple of their shows.
I'm a sucker for math plays or plays about mathematicians, so Erin Striff's Ms. Connections made me happy.

And there were plenty of other good scripts and performances.

Oh, yeah, I had a play in there, too. Escape to Wonderland was in the 6-7pm hour, and we got vibrant performances from Meredith Stypinski and Allison Vanouse. I saw them on Friday night, in Hotel Cassiopeia, and could definitely see how their work together on that play helped boost their work in my play--just by virtue of already knowing each other so well. Director Jeff Mosser did a great job of directing the action so it was clear and energetic. I couldn't have asked for a better production of the play. (And hope to work with this bunch of folks again soon.)

This Marathon offered a few less than the usual number of Red Sox plays and references, though there were still a few, of course. We had a lot of plays this year about aging and, as might be expected, a fair number about dating and first meetings. Not very many political plays, which is too bad, because I'm a fan of political theatre, though they're not always easy to manage in a festival setting.

Though the scripts and productions are always of high quality, I always long for a better use of the theatrical space. (See my web post from 2009--An Open Challenge to Playwrights Writing for the Marathon.) The super constricted tech time and set change set creates high barriers to interesting design for Marathon shows, but I'm always dying to see more shows making use of movement, dance, color, sound, music. We only had one musical this year, plus two other plays in which music played a role in the narrative. I'd love to see more productions finding ways to fully inhabit the space available and giving audiences something bright and interesting to watch.

Thanks, as always, to Kate, Marc, Jake, Michael, and everyone at BPT and the BCA for keeping this important theatrical event not just going, but thriving. I was grateful to be part of it this year and hope to be involved again. Can't wait to see BTM XIV next year!

guest blogging at BPT

2011-05-12T16:03:00.000-04:00

I'm the guest blogger over at the Playwrights' Perspective blog for the Boston Playwrights Theatre today, talking about how much I love the Boston Theater Marathon. Check it out.

Interview on Gasp!

2011-05-10T12:45:00.000-04:00

Laura Axelrod, a writer whom I've known for years, has just put up part 1 of an interview with yours truly on her blog, Gasp!. We met online, probably through the Submission Binge, when we were both writing for theatre, trying to figure out the business, and also blogging about all sorts of things. I've always been interested in her take on theatre, art, and the world (especially because she does it with writing that is sharp, crisp, and to the point), not necessarily in that order..

How Writing is like Painting My Bathroom

2011-05-10T08:31:00.000-04:00

For the past week or so, I've been doing ceiling patching and repair in my bathroom and have just finished painting the whole thing. It struck me that this project is lot like any of my writing projects:

I tend to procrastinate before each step. I might put off starting the whole project for months. Once I've started, it's not so bad.
Anything structural has to get taken care of first. Fixing those big holes in the wall, spackling, fixing or sanding trim, all has to be done early.
There's a lot of prep. Picking the color, buying the paint, getting out the drop cloth, taping, removing hardware and light switch covers.
The first coat, the primer, is thin, and doesn't at all resemble the final result. With the walls and trim primed, the whole project doesn't look particularly promising But without it, the whole thing will end up coming out like crap.
Even the main paint takes more than one coat. Despite the claims on the can, there's no genius paint out there that can get job done in one coat/draft.
It takes time. There are tools you can use to make the job go faster, but there really aren't any shortcuts. You have to cut in the corners, roll the big spaces, touch up the edges and missed spots. The whole thing always takes longer than I planned.
There's no point trying to judge the result while the paint is still drying. I have to take a break and come back later. Only then can I assess where I've missed spots and whether I still need to put on another coat.
This is the kind of job that inconveniences everyone in the family a little bit, and it also tends to make the whole house a mess.
I will make mistakes. There will be spots or divots in the drywall, brush marks. No one else will notice them (unless I point them out). I'll always know they're there.
The final stages take as long as painting the walls. There is trim to paint, brushes to wash, and all sorts of final bits of clean up. But without attention to these details, the project won't ever look right.
The result is always a transformation, and usually one of which I'm proud. (Every once in a while, it turns out that we picked the wrong color or used a bad roller, and the whole thing has to be started over again. But that's pretty rare.)

Now I need to go put some light switch covers back on.

fun audio play (Another Brick in the Wall) and a Twitter experiment

2011-05-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

The Huntington Theatre asked a bunch of us Huntington Playwriting Fellows to write short audio plays for this year's Emerging American Festival (which runs next weekend, May 13-15). Each writer is supposed to write a play for one of three specific places--either Harvard Square, Boston Center for the Arts, or the Institute for Contemporary Art. I chose the BCA again (I know it best).

Last year we had to record them using our own voices and very low tech recording. This year, I got to use three actors, the very talented Ed Hoopman, Bob Murphy, and Paul Melendy. (If you know them, you can imagine how much fun we had working on a comedy in a very small sound studio.)

The result is a short, very fun audio play, Another Brick in the Walk, about three bricks in the BCA plaza. You can listen to it here. There are a whole bunch of short audio plays by very talented writers and pals o' mine here.

As a way to extend the fun, I'm going to try a little experiment with these three characters from the play. We're going to have each of the characters have his own Twitter feed. Over the next week, leading up to Emerging America, they'll be chatting with each other (starting Friday) from time to time.

In order to make this experiment more fun, I need your help--these three bricks need followers. So if you are on Twitter, please consider following @BrickBillyEA, @BrickFrancisEA, and @BrickRodEA. (You can follow me, too: @PatrickGabridge.) And let other people know about it, too. They'll start tweeting tomorrow.

It's just for a laugh, but I think it'll be fun. (Note: their dialogue won't make as much sense or be as funny if you don't listen to the audio play first.)

Good news: I'm going to Seven Devils

2011-05-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, that is. We were away in Costa Rica for a week on a family trip, and upon our return I was looking through the 200 messages that had accumulated in my inbox and came across one from Jeni Mahoney, co-artistic director of the id theater, who puts on the conference. They'd picked my script Flight as one of the finalists and had been trying to reach me all week.

So, now I'll be heading to McCall, Idaho, for two weeks in June, where I'll get a week to work with a director and dramaturg, and then another week to work with a cast of actors who are flying in from around the country.

I'm very excited for this trip. The script is at the point where this sort of workshop environment (which culminates in a sit-down reading) is exactly what's needed for me to take it to the next level.

I've been applying to residencies and workshops like this for a long time (I first applied to the O'Neill in 1992), but this will be my first time getting to go.

Tornado Siren e-book: progress report (2 months)

2011-04-27T17:45:00.000-04:00

Tornado Siren has now been an e-book for a little more than two months . It's been selling some copies, but certainly I'm not putting up anything close to Joe Konrath or Amanda Hocking numbers (not even in the same universe). No publishers are beating down my door to reprint the novel. On the other hand, there are people actually reading the book again, and I'm making enough money to buy the family a pizza or two.

So, here are the sales numbers so far, by platform/version:

Kindle: 58 copies so far (22 so far in April)
Smashwords: 6 copies sold
Nook (Barnes & Noble): 2
Sony: 1
Apple: 1

Total: 68 ebooks (plus I sold two paper copies in this time period, too)

What little promo I did mostly was done in February and early March, so it's encouraging, and a little surprising, to see that the ebook is continuing to sell, even though I didn't have time to do any marketing in April.

I'm still surprised by the absolute dominance of Kindle/Amazon over all other outlets. I figured there'd be an imbalance, but 30-to-1 over Nook is pretty impressive.

Smashwords gives me numbers on how many people download the free sample (the first 60%) of the book. So far, 62 people have read sample page. I'm curious to see if the conversion rate of samples to sales will stay at 10-to-1, or change over time. I'd love to know how other people do with their books.

John August recently posted sales numbers for his short story, The Variant, on his blog. He's selling a short story for $0.99, and has sold 4,608 copies through Amazon since March 2009, with most sales coming in the first six months. He's got a good platform to let people know about the story (he's a very talented screenwriter (author of Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and writes a very useful blog about screenwriting). He also got his story out there two years ago, when the number of titles available for the Kindle was much smaller, so it was easier to crack the top 100 (which makes the title much easier for a casual user to find). Nowadays, he's selling 10-45 copies a month, and The Variant seems to have a sales ranking similar to Tornado Siren, in the 30,000 range.

I'm hoping to do some more promo in May, to see if I can boost sales a bit. But getting to Amanda Hocking numbers (she self-published nine e-books and sold more than a million copies in less than two years. She just landed a print contract with St. Martin's for $2 million. Here's the NYT story.) takes some serious time and commitment. In the article, she says she jumped at the offer, not just because of the money, but because: “I want to be a writer,” she said. “I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling e-mails, formatting covers, finding editors, etc. Right now, being me is a full-time corporation.”

When making the decision to publish an ebook, if you want to avoid huge disappointment, I think you need to go into it with the right expectations. Most people aren't going to sell more than a few copies of their ebooks. Joe Konrath already had plenty of books in print before he starting selling thousands of ebooks and became one of the big promoters of self-publishing ebooks. Amanda Hocking has nine titles for sale, and markets like crazy.

However, it seems to me that if you have an out-of-print novel, you don't have much to lose from trying to sell some copies as an ebook. Before Tornado Siren went out of print, no one was buying it anymore--the only people reading it were in libraries (and not many of those). After it went out of print, no one was reading it. But in the past two months, I've picked up 70 new readers. I write in order to have my stuff read, so at the most basic level, putting Tornado Siren out as an ebook has been worth it.

I might be able to increase sale a little bit with more marketing, but I'm not sure how much. Probably a bigger boost would come from having more titles, but I don't have anything ready at the moment (I'm still hoping for traditional print contracts on the two novels my agent is shopping). A little luck would help--if someone reads it and gets enthusiastic and start telling their friends and everyone they know, and they do the same, and then it clicks into the top 100 for a while, that might give a good bump.

I'll let you know what the next few months bring.

Good guidelines for starting a writers' group (at Script)

2011-04-25T21:56:00.000-04:00

Chad Gervich over at Script has a good post today with some guidelines for starting a writer's group. He's talking about a group for screenwriters, but I think his ideas apply whether your making a group for screenwriters, playwrights, or novelists. (I've been in groups for plays and novels, but have never found the right one for screenwriting.) I completely agree with his basic guidelines--for a group to work you need: writers of a similar creative/skill level, who share basic professional goals, and who are strongly committed to the group. And most of, you need personal chemistry--if you don't like each other, the group won't last.

Playwriting Biz: Lag Times

2011-04-07T19:07:00.000-04:00

In the past year, I applied to a whole bunch of new play development programs: Sundance, the O'Neill, Ashland, New Harmony, Lark, PlayPenn, and maybe even a couple others (no luck so far). I'm fortunate to have two unproduced full-length scripts that could benefit from some serious workshop time.

However, one thing I noticed was that for some of the programs, the lag time between the submission deadline and actual workshop of the play can be very long. Here is the timing:

Sundance Theatre Lab--deadline Oct. 1, announcement Feb 1, workshop March 27. Lag: 6 months (the shortest!)
O'Neill-- deadline--October 22, announcement ??, workshop July. Lag: ~9 months.
Ashland New Plays Festival--deadline January 15, announcement June 15, workshop October 19. Lag: 10 months
New Harmony--deadline Oct. 1 , announcement March, workshop May 22, Lag: ~8 months
Lark Playwrights Week--deadline Nov. 15, announcement ??, workshop October. Lag: 11 months.
PlayPenn Conference--deadline Sept. 30, announcement ?? , conference: July 5-25. Lag: 9 months.

Now I understand that it takes a while to get scripts read and to organize a conference and get people lined up, and all of that. I don't think anyone expects overnight turnaround.

But there can be a big difference between six months in the life of a script in progress and 11 months. If I understand correctly, programs like these ideally want a script brimming with possibility, that's in solid shape and ready to have a professional reading and maybe a week of rehearsal. With long lead times, though, do we end up with scripts that get sort of a developmental whiplash, with odd starts and stops in the process? How much value is there in momentum, when it comes to breathing life into a new play?

In six months, without additional development, one of my scripts might not change that much. But in 9-12 months, if I'm smart, I might take a break, but I should also have gotten at least a reading or two in that time period. If a writer is taking these steps and gets into a high profile developmental program like one of these, he or she wants to participate, of course. (If Lark calls and asks me to participate, I'm there.) And might be willing to actually backpedal a step or two in the development process, in order to have the script function in this environment.

For some of these applications, the writer is supposed to write an essay on what he wants to work on in the script at the workshop. But that essay always seems a bit forced because, to be honest, in 9 months, if I've been diligent on my play, I won't be working on the same things that I am when I apply. Is the essay merely a test, to make sure the writer can talk coherently about the play and the development process? A hurdle to cut down the number of applications? Or does the program really expect that the script (and the writer) won't change much between the time of application and the time of the workshop?

These are all great opportunities for writers and for their material, but I wonder if very long lag times end up being not only less than ideal for a script, but possibly even harmful. One of the great potential advantages of theatre as an artform, over film and books, is its immediacy, not just in terms of its relationship to the audience, but also in the length of time development can occur, if the right tools are in place. Right now, the development pathway for most plays that hit professional stages is very long. Some of that is necessary, but are there ways to speed things along that might be especially useful. I'm not sure.

Writer Tools: for playwrights in development--LiveScribe Pen

2011-04-05T17:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not an ultra gadget guy--I don't have a smart phone or an iPad, but I have come across a handy high-tech tool that will be especially useful for when I'm developing a new play. I just bought a LiveScribe Pen, in part because I'm organizing a big assistive technology fair in Brookline for kids with special needs next week (see also: reasons why I'm not getting other stuff done), but also because it will help me take better notes when I'm in meetings with my writers' groups or in talkbacks after readings.

Basically, the LiveScribe pen has both a built in camera and a microphone. Using special paper, I'm able to write notes on a pad while also recording audio of what's being said. By tying together the special grid printed on the paper, the camera recording what I write, and the microphone, I can then play back later exactly what was being said while I was writing.

In fact, in playback mode, I can just tap the tip of my pen to any spot on the page, and it'll give me the audio that was recorded when I was writing that word. In addition, using a USB cable and small docking port, I can upload what I've written on the notebook, along with the audio.

I used this at my Rhombus writers' group last night, and it was pretty cool. First the actors read about ten pages of my new play. I took minimal notes, but made sure to write something whenever a new scene started. Afterwards, I was able to go back and tap my pen on the page where I'd written the scene heading, and the pen would play back the scene.

I also recorded the comments from the discussion as I took notes. This will be especially helpful for me, because I often work on multiple projects at once. I won't go back to do more rewrites of the pieces I brought to Rhombus for another few weeks, at least, since I'm wrapped up in the first draft of a new novel. With my LiveScribe notes, when I'm ready to go back and make changes, I'll be able to hear the reading, and look at my notes and get as much of the discussion as I need to provide full context for revisions.

Here's a sample of my notes (I know my handwriting is embarrassingly bad, but it was written while listening, on my lap, etc.) that I was able to download right from my pen to the computer. You can't hear the audio, but it's all on my computer. And on the pen, which can hold up to 200 hours of audio.

If I tap the pen on the page where it says "Sarah/Marlene @ gate" it plays back the audio for that scene. (For the file on the computer, I just click there with the mouse.)

The version of the pen that I bought (the 2 gig Pulse) cost $100 at Staples (and with a $20 coupon, it only cost me $80). Not cheap, but for someone like me, who juggles multiple projects that are simultaneously in development, or for which revisions are often delayed, I think it can become an invaluable tool.

submission opp: The Tolo de Abril Theatre Company

2011-04-01T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Tolo de Abril Theatre Company

announces an open call for submissions

please read the submission requirements carefully:

1) Plays must be submitted on April 31, 2011. No plays will be accepted before or after that date.

2) Plays must be unproduced, unpublished, and actually unwritten. Any play that has even been thought about is ineligible for this festival.

3) Plays must be exactly 121.237 minutes long in performance. For the purposes of this festival, one page is equal to 1.7143 minutes.

4) No email submissions will be accepted. No regular mail submissions will be accepted. Please print 27 copies of your play on vellum and deliver by horseback to the theater.

5) There is a $15 submission fee per page. Add $10 if you would like feedback. Add $20 if you would not like feedback.

6) All plays must be in the One True Holy Play Format. But we're not going to tell you what we think that is.

7) Plays must be on the theme of "Data Mining In The 21st Century", and must include mention of: a banana, Sweden, Don Knotts and a pair of worn flipflops. Other than that you have complete creative license.

8) The winners of the festival must pay an additional $500 for programs, lights, costumes, and beer for all of us.

9) Any play appearing in this festival can not be performed again in this solar system for the next 3.5 billion years.

10) Please include with your submission a synopsis, character breakdown, nervous breakdown, the reason you think we should do your play, a paragraph on why you think you're so great, an artistic statement, a photocopy of your artistic license, a brief bio, a brief bio of James K. Polk, and a small woodland creature, all in the same envelope.

11) We do not accept ten minute plays, collections of ten minute plays, musicals, plays for children, plays for adults, or plays for old people.

12) See our website for complete details.

This was shared with me (and the Binge list) by the fabulous playwright Mark Harvey Levine. He's a prolific and talented writer of short plays, who seems to end up with a play included in just about every short play festival out there.

What We're Thinking: Writers Need Dates

2011-04-01T08:59:00.000-04:00

Yep, writers need dates.

Not those kinds of dates. I mean that we need to have some specific notion of when a reader is going to read our material and reply. This applies to agents, editors, literary managers, artistic directors (and even friends/colleagues). If a reader gets a script submission from a writer, that person can contribute to the increase in the world's net sanity by taking the time to send a simple e-mail that says, "Thanks for sending your play/novel/screenplay. I'll get back to you in about ___ months."

Sure it's a pain, but please, please, please do it.

Because here's what we're thinking:

(timeline after submission--hours, minutes, seconds)

0:00.00 I did it. Finally got that script out. This could be my big break.

0:00.01    Did that really go through?

0:00.02   Did I spellcheck it before I sent it? I didn't. There's going to be a typo. If there's a typo, that's an automatic rejection. I'm such an idiot.

0:00.05 I wonder if she got it? She's probably in a meeting.

0:00.10   I should eat some ice cream to celebrate.

0:02.00   I wonder if she got it. I'll check my email. Maybe she'll call instead. Is my phone on?

0:10.00    Maybe she didn't get it. I could resend it. But I'll seem like a pain in the ass. Should I e-mail to see if she got it? It's only been ten minutes, maybe she's not a compulsive e-mail checker (unlike some people).

0:13.00    I can't believe I just ate a whole pint of ice cream. There's a maximum number of calories your body can digest in a single sitting , right?

1:00.00   Thank god for You Tube.

1:05.00    And Facebook.

1:17.00    And Twitter

1:35.00 #$%^& Angry Birds! (I should be writing a new piece, but I can't stop wondering--did she get it.)

4:03.00 She got it. Just hasn't had a chance to open it yet.

4:03.10   She read the first page and hated it. She'll never read another word. She's just trying to figure out how to let me down easy.

4:03.25   She just hasn't checked her e-mail. Bullshit, it's been four hours, three minutes, twenty-five seconds. She checked her e-mail. No one goes more than four hours without checking e-mail. If it went through, she got it. She's just busy. Too busy for a hack like me. Jeez, negativity. My career is over before it even started. Patience.

1 day   She must have gotten it. She's just busy. She'll get to it.

2 days   She spends half her life in meetings. She just needs to find the time.

1 week    Just forget it. Busy. They're busy. She hasn't had time to dig into the pile.

2 weeks   She didn't get it.

2 weeks, 1 day    She hated it. I'm a terrible, no-talent loser. She's just trying to find a nice way to tell me.

2 weeks, 1 day, 2 minutes    She's a demon from hell, determined to crush my spirit. I won't be crushed. I won't give in to despair. But a drink wouldn't hurt.

2 weeks, 1 day, 45 minutes   Who knew there were so many shots in one bottle? I could probably calculate how many. Or could have before I drank quite this much.

2 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours Orrrr thissh mushh. Yer fnny looking.

1 month, 3 days    I wonder that it's really like to be a plumber. It can't be all that bad, can it?

1 month, 5 day Maybe I should follow up. With an e-mail. Or a phone call. They say to never call. I'll email. "Did you get it?" "Will you ever read it?" "Do you hate me?" "Was it really that bad?"

2 months   She detests my work. I should submit to a bunch of other places. Who will never respond. The writing was so bad, she puked.

2 months, 2 minutes   She's a blind pig.

2 months, 2 minutes, 10 seconds    I'm a horrible person. She's lovely. Overworked. Heading in a different direction. Not interested in my work. Who would be? Why am I even wasting anyone's time? My parents were right. Even the cat doesn't want to sit on this manuscript, that's how bad it is. Maybe I'll e-mail her. Or call her. Or e-mail her every five minutes, until I get an answer.

3 months The phone will ring today, and she'll say she wants to represent it/buy it/produce it.

3 months, 1 day    She never got it. She got it, but she'd rather work with some hack from NYU/Harvard/Julliard.

And, so on, indefinitely. Until you answer, or the writer is hit by a bus, or dies of old age.

I don't mind rejections, but I can't stand silence and inaction. Over the past few years, the response rate back on script submissions to theatres has risen over 40%. The response rate to queries to literary agents for books has been about the same. (As far as I can tell, literary agents for plays never respond.)

If a theatre/agent/editor doesn't have the time or resources to respond to submissions, then maybe he or she should stop taking submissions for a while. Otherwise, the whole business, whether it's fiction or theatre, starts grinding people down in a way that isn't helpful or healthy for anyone.

Often, writers feel lonely, ignored, and worthless. Some of that is unavoidable, and maybe even inspirational. But there's no point in feeding desperation and despair and creating a poisonous cloud that enshrouds all of us.

Writers need dates, from readers. We'll be as patient as you need us to be, but we just need a little help.

Curse the Darkness in Lakeshore

2011-03-31T12:16:00.000-04:00

More good news for my short plays: my newest short comedy, Curse the Darkness, is a winner in the Lakeshore Players 10-Minute Play Contest and Festival. This is a scene change comedy (a stealth comedy, meant specifically for festivals) that I've been meaning to write for years. (You can read the whole script here.) Now it'll get a chance to hit the stage, June 9-12, in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Lakeshore is a fun group, and it seems like they run a good festival. (They pay royalties, which is an excellent quality in any theatre.) Last year they produced my short comedy, Schedule-Meisters, and I heard plenty of good reports. (Schedule-Meisters is now published by Brooklyn Publishers.)

I hope to get a chance to see this play on stage here in Boston someday, and especially hope we can use the actors for whom the characters are named (the Rhombus actors from last season, who had a very fun time reading the play at our meetings).

Huntington to produce two new plays by local writers

2011-03-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's right, next season, the Huntington will produce new plays by two Boston writers--Kirsten Greenidge (The Luck of the Irish) and Rosanna Alfaro (Before I Leave You). Kirsten is in Rhombus with me, and Rosanna and I are both currently Huntington Playwriting Fellows, so it's especially cool to have the Huntington producing works by friends of mine, and scripts that are just so darn good.

So, yes, I've been reporting/observing/whining a lot lately that there aren't many local writers getting professional productions of the plays by Boston area theatres, but the Huntington certainly is doing its part next season (kudos to Lisa Timmel, Director of New Plays for the Huntington).

Let's see if any other theatres can follow suit.

Escape to Wonderland in Boston Theater Marathon

2011-03-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

I got some good news last week: my play, Escape to Wonderland, will be in the next Boston Theater Marathon. (May 22, at the Calderwood Pavilion Theatre.)

The Boston Theater Marathon is one of favorite theatrical events every year (whether I'm in it or not, though I've been pretty lucky so far--this will be my eighth time in it): 50 new ten-minute plays, by 50 New England writers, produced by 50 different area theatre companies. All in one day. It's a tremendous smorgasbord of Boston theatre.

I won't find out which company will be producing the script for another month yet, but I'm dying to find out. I've made some great relationships with theatres and artists from being paired up at the Marathon.

This play was written as part of Mill 6's T Plays series last year, and had some tremendously good performances (our local NPR station did a fun story on the creation of it). I got to see it again this winter in DC, in the Madcap Players' Winter Carnival. One of the great things about being a playwright is getting to see multiple productions of the same play.

Here's a photo by Isaac Liu of Keva Colbert as Cassie and Niaya L. Little as Jackie in the Madcap version. (Directed by Gary Raymond Fry, Jr.)

And here's one from the T Plays version, with Jen O'Connor and Ally Tully (directed by John O'Brien and Barlow Adamson).

Tornado Siren part of Read an E-Book Week (and half off)

2011-03-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

There's a time for everything, and apparently the week of March 6-12 is the time to read e-books--it's officially "Read an E-Book Week." It even has its own web site, with the history of e-books (they've been around a lot longer than you'd think) and other information and special offers.

My little part of "Read an E-Book Week" is a special promotion through Smashwords for Tornado Siren. For this week, you can buy the e-book version of Tornado Siren for half off ($1.50 vs. the regular $2.99) at Smashwords.

It's a fun story and now it's even on sale, and Smashwords lets you read a pretty sizable free sample, in a variety of different formats. I hope you'll check it out.

Tornado Siren ebook--week one report

2011-02-24T19:36:00.000-05:00

So my novel, Tornado Siren, has been live as an ebook for a week on Amazon for the Kindle, and a little less than a week on Barnes & Noble for the Nook, as well as on Smashwords.

I've done a little bit of the basic kinds of promo--I put out the word via Twitter and Facebook. I updated my Goodreads settings. I updated my web site and blog. Sent out an e-mail to my list (about 700 people), telling them that it's out and asking folks who have read it to consider posting a review on one of the online sites.

So, how's the experiment going so far?

The nice thing with ebook publishing is that I can actually look up numbers to find that out. Though that might also be a downside for a compulsive numbers guy like me. (Don't ask how many times a day I check.)

In the first week, Tornado Siren has sold 14 copies for the Kindle (13 in the US, 1 in the UK), 2 on Smashwords (and the sample has been downloaded 14 times), and none for the Nook. I didn't expect sales to be so heavily weighted towards the Kindle--does anyone actually use Nooks?

Also, my friends have come through nicely, and added a bunch of reviews to all of the sites, which I think might help. Most of the people I know already own paper copies of the book and have read it, so they're not likely to buy the ebook.

So, for the first week, with no big promo and no publisher behind it, this seems like a reasonable amount of sales. I guess. (I'd love to have it become a fabulous bestseller overnight, of course. Though I have to say that each book sold was a thrill. )

What happens next? Certainly the buzz to family and friends will die off in the next week or two, as people clear out their email inboxes. After that, I'm not quite sure how random readers are going to find this thing. Earlier this week, I searched for Paranormal Romances on the Amazon Kindle site (its default search is by "relevance"). Tornado Siren was on the list, but it was at number 707. I imagine I'm about the only one obsessed enough to page through to number 707. Since the book is self-published, it's not eligible for most reviews, plus the print version was reviewed (though those reviews aren't yet showing up on the Kindle site).

I might pick up a few random readers from my web site and blog (I get a few dozen a day, but probably a lot of the same people). I'm looking at other possible promo ideas--there are some book review web sites out there, with a focus on ebooks. I don't have a lot of cash to pay for online ads, and generally people seem to think they don't work. (I need to do more research on this.)

It seems like if your sales are high, and you can leap into the top 100 in your category on Amazon, you've got a good chance of continuing those sales. But without that start, I'm curious to see how I can get people to buy and read the ebook. Still, at least now it's possible. For more than a year, no one could read except if they checked it out from one of the few libraries that carries it.

I'll keep working on it, and I'll report back on my progress in a couple weeks. And also, a big thanks to those of you who have posted reviews or bought the ebook already! I very much appreciate the support.

Playwriting in 3D: Writing the Fight workshop, March 14

2011-02-23T13:26:00.000-05:00

The third installment of the Playwriting in 3D series that I've been leading for StageSource is coming up soon. On March 14, 7-9pm, at the Boston Playwrights Theatre, Boston playwright/PhD candidate/fight choreographer/martial artist Meron Langnser, will lead a workshop he's calling: Writing the Fight.

It'll be a fun and informative look at the implementation and implications of physical violence on stage. If you're a Boston-area playwright or director or producer, I hope you'll check it out.

Here's the write up:

This workshop will examine violence as a manifestation of character conflict and plot device, as practical aspects of putting violence on the stage in production and rehearsal. The focus will be on what the playwright needs to know in order to have specific choices made by their characters in relation to physical violence, and to write fight scenes that would allow competent fight directors to design safe and exciting combat.

Violence will be examined as a choice that characters make or are forced to make. The craft of setting up dramatic conflict in which words fail and physical confrontation becomes necessary for a scene will be examined. Power dynamics between characters will be discussed as they relate to violence, potential violence, past violence, and consequences of violence.
Well known texts that have well crafted fight scenes in them will be examined, both the scenes in which the physical confrontations take place and scenes that contain exposition concerning how characters may interact during a physical confrontation; for example, Mercutio’s speech to Benvolio about Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet or Larry teasing Burton about being an Aikido instructor in Burn This.

The dramatic effectiveness of stage combat will be explored. The idea of knowing when and if to write in a fight will be explored. Certain words punctuated with slaps become more powerful. Other times writing in a fight will weaken a play.

On a pragmatic level, weapons, props, and common training will be explored. The difference between writing in a knife as opposed to a broken bottle may shave hundreds of dollars off of a production budget, as will making a gunshot happen offstage rather than on. Additionally, knowing what to expect from standardized actor combatant training might allow for a playwright to develop characters with skill sets they may not have even known were possible.
Finally, the workshop will cover violence as it exists and is perceived in modern society, including Asian martial arts, firearms, and gender issues.

StageSource Conference coming up

2011-02-21T10:48:00.000-05:00

If you're involved in theatre in Boston, in any way (actor, designer, playwright, director, stage manager, producer, etc.), you should plan to attend next weekend's StageSource 2011 Boston Theatre Conference, which runs March 27 and 28, at the Paramount Theatre (and other venues). It's cheap ($40 for members, $50 for non-members, for both days), and provides a great way to interact with other members of the Boston theatre community. This year's theme, Home Grown, uses the local/slow food movement to look at what we're up to, theatre-wise, in Boston, and how that relates to the community as a whole.

I've been to the conference in past years and it's a fantastic way to take some time to meet other Boston theatre folks and think and talk about the issues confronting our artistic community (and learn something in the process). If you're a playwright, you'd be a fool to skip this conference. There's no better networking opportunity in town.

Seriously. I'll repeat this: if you're a playwright, get your ass over the Paramount on the 27th and 28th. The topic of the conference is Home Grown--this is our topic. If you want more theatres to produce your work, you need to be engaged in this conversation. The more playwrights who attend this conference the better.

Sign up here.
Here's the basic write up:

The Boston Theatre community is made up of artists, organizations, and enthusiasts united by the desire to provide and experience exceptional performances, inspired programming and unforgettable events. As a community we have grown and been strengthened through our ongoing engagement with each other, our diverse perspectives and our interest in dialogue.

On February 27 and 28 we will convene the New England theatre conference, Home Grown and come together to talk about: How the Boston theatre scene has taken root, grown and flourished. And what steps do we take to keep it alive and growing

With inspiration provided by our keynote speaker, Barbara Lynch (Founder of The Barbara Lynch Gruppo http://barbaralynch.com), our panel of theatre innovators will comment on parallels with the Slow Food movement (local, fresh, sustainable http://www.slowfoodusa.org). Over the last twenty years, the slow food movement has organized, educated and nurtured our appreciation of local food. We think we can learn from the movement how to nurture our community.
Who is the Boston Theatre community? Huntington Theatre Company, Managing Director Michael Maso reflects on the changes he has seen in New England theatre during his tenure. As we define ourselves, how do we engage with the community at large? What role does the theatre community play in both mirroring and shaping our multi faceted society? The Boston Theatre Conference aims to engage all theatre practioners, including actors, directors, designers, technicians, dramaturgs, administrators, board members, educators and audience members in tackling these themes.

We invite everyone who has an interest in theatre to join in this year’s conversation. Taking a lesson from the slow food movement we want to grow our local theatre community by bringing everyone around the table. During workshops, performances, and panels we want to encourage relationships between the creators of the art and those who enjoy it, cultivate an appreciation for theatre by changing societal values towards the art and by examining alternative ways for people to engage and participate. Virtually we will work through the bostontheatreconference.wordpress.com blog to define Slow Theatre for Boston in preparation for the conference.

Tornado Siren is now an ebook! (part 2: the how to make an ebook)

2011-02-17T12:48:00.000-05:00

So this week, I finally got my act together, after procrastinating for almost a year, and published Tornado Siren as an ebook. Every time I read Joe Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, I felt more and more stupid for delaying. But I was short on time, I needed a new cover, blah, blah, blah, excuses, excuses, excuses.

This week I finally just gave it and stopped doing all my other work and just decided to jump into the creation of a Tornado Siren ebook.

The first problem was that I needed a cover. The text of the book was mine, but the old cover belonged to my publisher, Behler Publications. And plus, the old cover was okay, but not great (and the print version wasn't a big seller, so maybe the cover wasn't helping much). Plus, I needed a cover that would work as a much smaller image. The original book cover was designed for a 8.5 x 5.5 inch book. Ebooks are sold on the basis of thumbnail images (though, if you think about it, so are all print books sold on Amazon).

I talked to a neighbor who is a designer, hoping to get her to design it for cheap (I'd given myself a hundred dollar budget), but she was too busy. Still, just talking about it helped generate some ideas. So I spent a couple hours on photoshop, found some public domain tornado images, downloaded some new fonts, and put together a cover. I'm still thinking/planning to find someone to help me do a better cover, but the one I came up with will do for now. (That's it at the top of this post.)

Once the cover was done, I needed to format the manuscript for the various platforms. Most important was the Kindle sold by Amazon, but I also wanted to have a version for the Nook sold by Barnes & Noble, as well as versions for any other reader. For the other readers, I could use Smashwords, which creates ebooks in multiple platforms.

The good news is that each of these platforms makes it pretty easy to upload your file and prepare it for publication. This is especially true of books that are primarily text-based, like novels, without much in the way of tables or images. The bad news was that my most recent version of Tornado Siren was in pdf format. This meant I needed to buy a pdf unlocker. I got DeskUNpdf from DocuDesk, since I already use their DeskPDF writer (all the time). This gave me access to the file, but also meant I had a lot more formatting to do.

In addition, I also wanted to proof the book one more time (the printed version had one or two typos that had been bugging me for years), so that took a bunch of hours. I resisted the urge to get into a full scale rewrite of it (since I have my hands full with two other big writing projects), but I did do some minor edits.

Once I got rid of text errors and ugly formatting problems, I was ready to format it for the publishing platforms. Each one required something a little different.

Kindle
I started with the Kindle version. I found some online help, from blogger/screenwriter, John August, in his blog post "Kindle formatting for web geeks" and also from Joshua Tallent's Kindle Formatting site. The key takeaways from these sites were 1) Keep it simple. Try to strip away any formatting possible from the document (including fancy fonts, headers, footers, page numbers, etc.). 2) For the Kindle conversion, I needed to have Word save my doc as a "Web site, filtered". This second point proved very helpful.   I also discovered from Kindle forums that to get page breaks before Chapters, I needed to take out Section Breaks and replace them with plain Page Breaks.

The Kindle site allowed me to preview my file, to make sure I didn't have any big errors showing up. The preview is rough, but close enough. It took me a couple tries, to make sure I had nothing strange showing up. I had a printed version of the book already, which reminded me to make sure I had a copyright page and the other various info I'd need in the text. I shifted the acknowledgments to the back, because I wasn't sure how much front matter Kindle users would be willing to page through.

Once I had the document together, I entered my summary, bio, cover, tag words, genre (I chose Fiction, general, and Romance, paranormal), the price, and all the info I'd need to get paid. Seems like I'll get paid monthly, about 60 days after the sale goes through, if I earn more than $10. I chose to price my book at $2.99, of which I'll earn 70%. Then I pushed the Publish button and I had to wait about 36 hours before the book was live and for sale. Now that it's up, I can check on the my sales whenever I want, which is another big difference from print publication--with Behler, I'd get paid once a year and there was no easy way to check the progress of sales to date, and even though my book was on Amazon, there was no way for me to track Amazon sales, other than through its sales ranking (which is a strange mysterious number that new authors follow obsessively).

So now it's online, at http://amzn.com/B004NSV4M8
I had one sale pretty quickly, and Tracy and I bought a copy to view on her Droid phone, just for kicks. I was not able to enter editorial reviews from the printed version, and it doesn't seem to want to link any of the reader feedback from the printed version to the Kindle version, which is kind of annoying.

It's hard to tell exactly how to make this book easier to find on the Amazon site. It probably needs to sell a bunch of copies and receive a bunch of positive ratings, in order to start moving up in any search results. Right now you'd have to know exactly what you were looking for to find it. We'll see if I can find a way to make it easier.

The Nook
This was my second priority, though I'm not sure how many people actually use Nooks versus Kindles. I'm guessing it's a lot less.

The Barnes & Noble Nook publishing site is called Pubit, and it was pretty similar to the Kindle site and very easy to use. The formatting for the Nook needed to also be very clean, but in this case, I saved the document as a Word 97-2003 doc. And rather than Page Breaks before chapters, I needed to insert Section Breaks.

One plus of the Nook interface is that I was able to enter some of the editorial reviews that Tornado Siren received, but unfortunately, I couldn't enter the Publisher's Weekly review, because I don't have a name of the reviewer (which stinks, because a PW review would lend some credibility). The cover size was also a little different from that of the Kindle, so I needed to work up a slightly larger cover. I also had more room for the description of the book and the author bio, which was good.

I posted it to their site yesterday, and in less than 24 hours, it was live, here.

Like the Kindle, the Nook offers a dashboard for authors/publishers, to make changes to the cover, descriptions, price, even the book text. For some reason, even though I have a live link and can get to the page myself where someone can buy the book, it doesn't show up on the B&N site when I just do a search for "Tornado Siren" in NookBooks.   I'm assuming this is because my title hasn't been populated into the database yet, but I hope it happens soon.

I never had a sense that the print version of Tornado Siren sold many, if any, copies on BN.com, versus many hundreds of copies on Amazon. I'm very curious to see if the NookBook version is able to sell anything.

Smashwords
This site has been around for a while, and they publish e-books in a wide variety of formats. Smashwords offers a healthy royalty on books sold through them (85%), plus they sell through other resellters, like Apple, Sony, Apple, and more.   Their "meatgrinder" conversion engine allows you to upload one file, and then they translate it into the different formats required. In order for this to work, your document has to be very minimally formatted.

To help you get it right, they put together a 72-page guide (that you can read on line) to guide you step-by-step through the process of formatting and publishing. I followed each step, exactly as they set it out. For Smashwords, I had to take out all page breaks and section breaks, giving up the notion of a clean page break between chapters. Otherwise, the formatting was fairly similar to that needed for the Nook (the file was a Word 97-2003 doc). They are very specific about what you need on your copyright page, and had some great suggestions for other material you can include at the back of the book (author bio, contact info, etc.).

Again, like the other platforms, I uploaded my various info, cover, and hit the button. My file converted with no problem, in a couple hours, and is now for sale on the Smashwords site, here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42708

It is now awaiting being given "premium" status, which means they'll distribute it to other sites (Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Apple, and Diesel). It'll take about a week to get approved, and after that it could take another 2 weeks or more to appear on these sites.

They also sold me an ISBN number for $9.95, on credit versus my future Smashwords royalties, which was required in order to be carried by the Apple and Sony ebook stores. (I couldn't use the print ISBN number for the ebook).

What next?

It was pretty easy to get all of this done. If I'd started with a clean Word file, it would have all gone a lot faster. I also spent some time tweaking my description and bio.

The really cool thing is that I can go back and upload a new cover, or summary, or bio, whenever I want. And I can easily track sales. If I get any.

That's the big question, of course. Will anyone buy these ebooks? Smashwords is pretty upfront about this on their site FAQ--they don't suggest you're going to sell many books. It all depends on marketing and luck. I have a limited amount of time/energy/money available for marketing at the moment, but I'll definitely work hard at spreading the word to friends, family, and other contacts. Smashwords actually offers its authors a very sensible marketing guide (available for free, online), which I found helpful.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Tornado Siren is now an ebook! (part 1: the why)

2011-02-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

So, first, my big news: my novel, Tornado Siren, is now available as an ebook for Kindle, Nook, and other formats (via Smashwords).

Tornado Siren was originally published by Behler Publications in January 2006. Behler is a small publisher just in its second year when they picked up Tornado Siren. I did what I could to promote the book (detailed in a previous blog post here), and we sold a small amount of copies (not nearly as many as we'd hoped). Last year the book went out of print. It had stopped selling, wasn't in bookstores, and Behler had not yet put out an ebook version.

I've been interested the idea of ebooks for a while, even though I don't own a Kindle or Nook, and don't know if I will. The ability to distribute a novel or nonfiction book so easily and cheaply seems like a pretty amazing idea. And obviously a lot of other people think so, too, because more and more ebooks are purchased all time time, with ebook sales rising fast. What's especially cool is that you can tweak the marketing of an ebook easily--swapping out covers, descriptions, changing prices--to find the balance the works best.

For unknown writers (like me), ebooks offer a great chance at broader potential distribution and the ability to compete on price. The complexities of printed book distribution, especially for small (and new) publishers, meant that my book was in almost NO bookstores, even after it was released. The exceptions were stores that I contacted myself and where I had readings. It was hard to sell books if they weren't in stores. Having the book listed on Amazon made sales somewhat easier--hundreds of my friends, family, and contacts (and even people I don't know), bought copies through Amazon. But even with discounts, the book cost more than $10, and readers had to wait, and they had to know about the book. And wait. And pay shipping. And the price could only go so low, because so many people (publisher, distributor, Amazon, and me) needed to get paid. On the sale of a printed book on Amazon, even at full price ($14.95), I tended to make about 67 cents per book.

I've been reading a lot about ebook publication, and Joe Konrath's blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, was certainly the most enthusiastic. He's has some amazing success with his genre fiction by publishing his own ebooks. He's always been a good self-promoter of his work and is extremely prolific. He was also very willing to share the numbers about how many books he was selling and how much he was earning. (And I like numbers.) His blog also features many guest posts from writers who are also having significant success selling their books at ebooks.

So why not publish Tornado Siren as an ebook myself? I could have have waited for Behler to do it, but they didn't seem in any hurry to make that happen. Plus, if I published it as an ebook myself, I'd earn a lot more on every sale. For example, Kindle books sold on Amazon, can earn an author as much as 70% of the sales price (if they're priced between $2.99 and $9.99). So even if I sold the book for $2.99, I'd be earning almost $2/book.

Most importantly, I'd have a chance for readers to start to find me again. The book could remain continuously accessible (you don't even have to down an ebook device--you can read ebooks on your PC), for a very long time. Plus, my book could now compete on the basis if price with books from established publishers. Ebooks from the big houses tend to run around $10 and up. I could price my book at $2.99 (or less), and cost would not longer such a barrier to a reader trying an author who's not a bestselling writer.

And it wouldn't cost me anything. That's right, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords will all publish your ebook for free.

Still, I put it off for almost a year. Which was probably a mistake, because getting in early means you get in when there is much less competition. Thousands of new titles are being added every week. The need for a new cover and the general lack of free time in my life kept it from happening.

But in the end, the decision was easy. What did I have to lose? It would take some time, but not much money (maybe some money for a cover). I could direct viewers of my web site and blogs to buy copies. I'd continue to have a chance to read more readers. And I could try new marketing strategies, new summaries, and even pitch the paranormal love story aspect of the book more actively.

I'm not giving up on print publishing. I have an agent who is pitching two of my newest novels, and I desperately hope she'll find publishers for them and that they end up in bookstores across the country. But for Tornado Siren, this seemed like the way to go.

I'm trying to temper my fantasies. My book isn't going to sell like Joe Konrath's stuff. But even if I find dozens or hundreds of new readers, I'll come out ahead. (Maybe I can make enough to buy the kids some pizza.) And maybe those new readers will come back and read some of new novels, when they're available.

(next: the how)

Icebox Radio Theater does my play: The Wind & The Cold

2011-02-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

Icebox Radio Theater in northern Minnesota just posted their production of my radio play, The Wind & The Cold. They've done a very nice job, and it comes at a time when we're dealing with lots of snow and wind here in Boston. Luckily, we don't have to face anything like the characters in the play.

Here's the summary (it runs about 30 minutes, but it's in segments, so you don't have to listen all at once):

Two lovers head for a winter retreat with a blizzard on its way. Jacques (a Northern boy) is excited. Katrina (a Florida girl) is terrified. When their differences boil over into a fight, they find themselves in the middle of an identical fight between two elemental forces of nature in this wonderful fantasy by playwright Patrick Gabridge.

Check it out.

(You can read all about my radio plays, and listen to some, here.)

Update: DC, Kindle, and QueryTracker Interview

2011-01-28T15:28:00.000-05:00

So I've been on the run all week since getting back from DC on Sunday night, just keeping busy with a zillion different things (broken clothes dryer, teaching a worm composting class, lots of snow shoveling, and some writing). Here's a few quick things:

The DC trip was great. As usual, the folks at Madcap, led by Managing Director Shawn Helm, took good care of me and my work. (And so did my friends, Dawn and Chip, who let me crash at their house, and Frank, who drove me home after the Friday show). On Saturday, we gathered with the cast (Annie Hunt, Kate Hundley, Mike Rodriguez, Jack Powers, and Carl Brandt Long) and director (Paul McLane) around 11am and worked through my new full-length play, Flight, scene by scene, in rehearsal. It was just the right kind of process for where I am with the script right now--lots of discussion and questions. Real focused time, to think about the script both in the detailed moments and overall. At 3pm, we had the reading for a small crowd, followed by a brief discussion. After going through the script one step at a time, it was useful to finally,read it straight through, and get a sense of flow. I was left with lots to think about, and took pages and pages of notes, that afternoon, that night, the next day, in the airport. This week, I've been making more and more changes to the script.
I had a great time at the Madcap Winter Carnival performances. There's still one weekend left, if you're in town. I was pleased with how Escape to Wonderland turned out, and all the plays were fun. The Saturday show was particularly sharp, with a warm, sold-out house. I was particularly fond of Paul Bunyan vs the Tree Conservation Coalition, a short musical by Shawn Northrip, who wrote Cautionary Tales for Adults and the Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles, which I saw at a Winter Carnival a few years ago and still think is one of the funnier plays I've ever seen.
My play Blinders is now available for the Kindle, here. The publisher for Blinders, Original Works Publishers, is trying something new. I'm very curious to see if people have an interest in buying and reading plays as e-books.
There's an interview with me about how I found my new agent for my novels, up on the querytracker.net site. Querytracker is an immensely useful tool for fiction writers, as they try to find agents and publishers. They sometimes publish "success stories" about writers who use their site, so there I am.

That's about all the excitement for me. I should probably start stretching, so I can get ready for more snow shoveling. I like to shovel snow (don't tell anyone), and since we live in Boston, we've been getting plenty of chances this winter.

Heading to DC for Madcap and Flight

2011-01-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

This weekend, I'll be visiting Washington, DC, where the Madcap Players are producing my play Escape to Wonderland as part of their Winter Carnival Festival. They're also putting together a reading of my play, Flight, this Saturday, at 3pm, at the H Street Playhouse (1365 H Street, NE). I'm still working feverishly on rewrite to the play, trying to make the most of the reading opportunity. We've got a great cast and director--I expect to have fun and learn a lot about the play. (It's about a young woman who lives in the airport, to escape the trials of life and loss. Her problems follow her there, in some very dramatic ways.)

If you're around, I hope you'll come join us.

My List of Outrageous Demands (and it can be yours, too)

2011-01-14T16:53:00.000-05:00

When I was starting out my fellowship with the Huntington Theatre last year, Todd London's Outrageous Fortune had just come out, and we were all giving it some thought. I was curious about to the obvious disconnect mentioned between artistic staff and playwrights, and also the perceived (by artistic staff) gap between playwrights and audience. At one of our meetings, I showed up with my list of "outrageous demands" of things that I thought the theatre could do for us playwrights, as part of our program.

It's actually a list that could be used by any theater thinking more about how to work with playwrights and get them more intimately involved with their company, without breaking the bank.

Here's a slightly modified version of my list (which was actually handwritten on the back of my invoice for my copy of Outragegous Fortune):

I want our meetings to be in the theatre spaces. Artistic directors often complain that writers don't write for their spaces, especially companies with really big spaces. Being in an empty theatre inspires me, whether it's standing on someone else's set or (even better) on the blank stage. It is hard to write for the big stage in an 800-seat house, if I've never had the chance to stroll around on it.
Quick feedback. One of the most frustrating parts about being a playwright is waiting forever to hear back from theatres about scripts. If a theatre has an in-house group of writers, trying to respond to new drafts/submissions within a few weeks is a big boon that the artistic staff can provide.
Ability to see shows for free. More than once. The Huntington already gives free opening night tickets to all the HPF fellows, which I think is amazing. Most theatres paper the house for press openings anyway, so giving tickets to their core writers doesn't change that balance. And it's a huge bonus for the writers--I can't afford to see nearly as much theatre as I'd like. Getting to attend multiple times (I'm happy to stand in the back), is an important addition. The first time I watch a show, I'm busy taking it all in, focusing on my own experience. The second or third time, I'm able to be more critical, and I get to watch the audience. In Outrageous Fortune, some artistic directors complained that playwrights don't know the theatre's audience. I am very interested in audiences, and I want to watch them watching plays. (To be honest, my schedule this year has been overly full, so I haven't gotten to do this yet, but the Huntington has been more than willing to let me come back to see shows for multiple viewings.)
Meet the artistic director and managing director, for more than just a handshake and a ten-second chat at a show. One thing theatres can provide for playwrights is real, honest access to the people who run the place. I'm not talking about weekly pow-wows, but even just an hour, once a year, of a one-on-one meeting, or even a meeting with the writers' group as a whole. For large institutions, this is tougher than it sounds, but it's an important meeting to make happen.
Let me sit in on some rehearsals. Ideally some very early in the process, and some late in the process. I don't want to get in the way, and I don't want to interrupt the most intimate discussions between directors and actors/designers/playwrights. But, to be honest, I mostly operate at the very tiny theatre scale. I know how those meetings and rehearsals work, but I don't have experience at the big budget venues. Large and mid-size theatres have an opportunity to educate playwrights (like me) about how the process works on a larger scale. I'm very good at sitting in the background and keeping my mouth shut when I need to. (Honest.) I'm extremely curious about how other artists collaborate--I want to learn from what they do to improve my own process and collaboration.
Let me meet some directors brought in to direct shows. (Sort of like #4 above.) Various directors come in from out of town to work on shows at large and medium regional theatres. Try to set aside just an hour for a quick beer between the director and the playwrights' group. The director is already in town, so it doesn't cost anything extra. I'll even buy the beer. Yeah, yeah, I know the woman is scheduled every second. Half an hour. These kinds of connections/meetings can be extremely valuable, and are a way of leveraging work that theatre has already undertaken in order to have a greater impact, beyond just the show at hand. (I promise not to come with a theatre in my backpack.)
Let me attend talkback sessions after the show, even if I'm not there to see the performance that night. (This is super easy to do at the Huntington.) Again, like seeing the show multiple times, this is a way for writers to get to know the audience. I want to hear their voices and comments.

That's about it. Notice that I didn't say: produce more work by emerging playwrights, or more work by me. I didn't even ask for more readings of my plays. (Not that I don't want those things.)

Any theatre, small, medium, or large, could put together a playwrights' unit and provide them with the things on this list for an extremely low cost, and doing so would help their local writers build important relationships and enable them to be more likely to write plays suitable for the theatre in question (theoretically).

As I said in a previous post--it never hurts to ask. Let's start issuing this list of outrageous demands to as many theatres as we dare.

Just Ask (how to get a new play reading)

2011-01-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

Next weekend, on Saturday the 22nd, I have a reading of my newest full-length play, Flight. Madcap Players in Washington, DC, is putting the reading together, actor/director Paul McClane will direct. I'm going to be down there to see Madcap's Winter Carnival festival, where they're producing my short play, Escape to Wonderland. The reason I'm getting this reading: I asked.

I'm not saying that as playwrights we always get what we ask for (if only that were true). But sometimes, we need to remember that it's all right to ask for what we need. Especially if we already have a relationship with a theatre (Madcap staged my full-length play, Constant State of Panic, last January)--we can't be shy. In this case, I asked for something that hopefully won't be too complicated--they already have a bunch of actors around, they already have a space that's rented and available. And even more importantly for getting a Yes, we can hopefully use it as a way to increase publicity for the Winter Carnival--my hope is that some people who come to the 3pm reading will stick around for dinner nearby and come back and see the show at 8pm. It certainly gives us an excuse to send out a few more e-mails.

For me, I'll get to hear my whole play read in front of a small audience, by very talented DC actors. And, of course, I'll be able to show Madcap what I'm up to with this new play (and I already know they like my work).

There are a lot of one-act festivals out there, and I'd love to see more playwrights work with theatres to do readings like this, where the cost and logistics can piggyback on existing projects, and everyone wins. It can be a bit of extra expense and organization, but it's much easier and cheaper than putting together a whole staged readings festival. And it allows the relationship between the theatre and playwrights to deepen, beyond just the production of the ten-minute play.

I'm a big fan of playwrights putting together their own staged readings--it's a way to get what you need, when you need it, instead of waiting around for someone to do it for you. But working cooperatively with a theatre is even more effective, because it builds and strengthens vital relationships.

2009-2010 ETA New Play Survey

2011-01-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

Every year, the Educational Theatre Association takes a look at which plays are playing on high school stages all across America.

For playwrights, it's an interesting list--it lets us see how much modern work is filtering its way down into the mainstream educational world. In terms of full-length plays, the answer is not much. The sole exception is Almost, Maine, by John Cariani, published by Dramatists Play Service. The play has an interesting history, which was detailed by the NY Times a few weeks ago. Though it would be nice for playwrights to take some hope, knowing that a play that flopped in NYC has a big life afterwards, the discouraging part is that it still took a commercial NY run to grab enough attention for it to play in a lot of other venues. Most of our plays won't ever get an Off Broadway run, successful or otherwise. It's not a surprise that the play is episodic and can be done with a large cast--a requirement to succeed in the high school market.

The top ten short plays performed by high schools (most are large-cast, half-hour comedies) is where you'll see work by various contemporary writers. Notice that Playscripts publishes seven of the plays on this top ten list, with Jonathan Rand having written half of them. (Christopher Durang is probably the only well-known playwright in the top ten.) Last year, some of the smaller publishers had plays on the list, but this year, we only have Playscripts, Dramatists Play Service, Dramatic Publishing, and Samuel French. I'd sure love to see YouthPlays or some of the other smaller publishers crack this list again (I'm sure they would, too).

If you're writing for this market, it's a great idea to buy and read these scripts and see what's selling these days. This is certainly a list where I'd like to see some of my one-acts someday. I wrote two new half-hour, large cast high school comedies last year (Reassembling Sasha from YouthPlays and The Next Big Thing from Brooklyn), butit'll take a while for them to get some traction. If I can find the time, I hope to write at least one more for this year.

I'll paste in the top ten short plays list here:

1. Check Please, by Jonathan Rand (Playscripts, Inc.)
2. Check Please: Take 3, by Jonathan Rand (Playscripts, Inc.)
3. (tie) The Actor's Nightmare, by Christopher Durang (Dramatists Play Service)
3. (tie) 13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview, by Ian McWethy (Playscripts, Inc.)
5. Check Please: Take 2, by Jonathan Rand (Playscripts, Inc.)
6. (tie) The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, by Don Zolidis (Playscripts, Inc.)
6. (tie) Hard Candy, by Jonathan Rand (Playscripts, Inc.)
8. (tie) Competition Piece, by John S. Wells (Samuel French)
8. (tie) How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying, by Jonathan Rand (Playscripts, Inc.)
10. This Is a Test, by Stephen Gregg (Dramatic Publishing Co.)

Pile of Tornado Sirens (help me)

2011-01-04T13:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've got a pile of copies of my novel, Tornado Siren, sitting on the shelf in my office, where they're not doing anyone any good. So if you haven't already read it (I know many of you have), now might be a good time. They're available on the Tornado Siren site for $7, which includes shipping. Your copy will even be signed by yours truly. (Such a deal!)

It's a fun read (a paranormal love story about a meteorologist and a guy with an odd connection to tornadoes). There's lots more info about the book (including many positive reader comments), at www.tornado-siren.com. I hope you'll give it a shot.

Or you can order one right now, just by clicking on this button:

How to Break into Screenwriting If You're Not in LA

2011-01-03T12:52:00.000-05:00

Chad Gervich has a great Primetime column on How to Break In If You're Not in LA, over at Script Magazine this month. I've gone back and forth my my screenwriting ambitions over the years, but I have one screenplay that I've written that keeps nagging at me. And then a few other ideas start to percolate.

Chad's column is more than just about how to get someone to read a single script, but really about how to make some attempt at a career even if you're not in L.A. (I've finally accepted that if you're serious about a career writing for film, you really do need to move out there. And I don't see that happening in my future.) He's got some great advice, and some of it is readily achievable here in Boston, and has actually been on my to-do list for some time, including volunteering at a film festival. There are several here that I'm sure would welcome volunteers (maybe next year, when I have more time).

I like that he counsels writers to be active, too. "Make something," he says. I bought a camera and some editing software a year or two ago, but haven't had the time to do anything with them. But I'll have some time this fall (really, don't scoff), and I'd like to make a few shorts. I've even been thinking about adapting one of my more episodic stage plays for a web-based video series. It's hard not to be intrigued by the low cost of access, with cheap cameras and easy posting to YouTube. Way back in college, I had a blast making short films, and I'd definitely like to try again. Back then, there wasn't any chance at finding an audience outside of friends, family, and a few parties. Now a video can go viral and be seen by a million people (I'm lucky if 7,000 people see my theatre work in a given year.)

Definitely something to think about. I have friends and family members who are makings films here in Boston and in Denver. Have any of you made any headway? Let me know what you think of Chad's column. (I'm surprised that in the comments section, people rail against the reality that it's an L.A.-centered business. Why blame Chad for the reality on the ground? And what's the point in being pissed about it, unless it leads you take concrete action.)

2010 Inputs (and favorites)

2011-01-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

I'm a numbers guy, so I keep track of how many books and plays and movies I take in each year.

Here are my totals for 2010:

Books read: 31

Last year I read 51 books. My wife, Tracy, reads about twice as many as I do. This year was super busy for me, so my reading time was greatly curtailed. I read quite a few that I liked a lot, but my favorites were:

Paper Towns by John Green

Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

Plays read: 23

Favorites included: A Live Dress by Martha Kaufman, Shelter by Miranda Craigwell, and The Private Lives of Eskimos by Ken Urban.

This is a very small number, I know, but more than I read last year. I'm a slacker. I hope to read one a week this year.

Plays and readings watched: 43

This is more than I saw last year, and about all that my schedule and budget can accommodate. (I spent more than $400 on theatre tickets this year. I was lucky to get quite a few free tickets and that I have a StageSource membership.)

My favorites were Gatz by the Elevator Repair Service at the ART, Lydia Diamond's Stick Fly at the Huntington, and The Aliens by Annie Baker from Company One, and Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck at the Gamm Theatre.

Movies watched: 56

Most these were via Netflix, but we get out to the movie theatre more now than when the kids were little. My favorites this year included: Winter's Bone, I Am Love, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (not really a movie), and The Messenger. Probably my favorite film/video of the year was Season 1 of Friday Night Lights, which totally captured my attention (we're on season 3 now). For the past few years, I've really felt that long-form dramatic television has reached new heights and offers some of the best dramatic writing appearing in any form right now.

I'm looking forward to reading and seeing a lot more new work in 2011.

2010 Output

2010-12-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

At the end of every year, I add up my inputs/outputs. I've still got a few more days for inputs (I'm hoping to see some movies this week and finish some books), but I won't get any more writing done until Christmas vacation is over. So here's how 2010 worked out, output-wise:

Did an edit/rewrite of my novel, Moving (A Life in Boxes), cutting about 6,300 words
Did a rewrite of my middle-grade novel, Buried Treasure.
did some freelance business writing (which helped pay some bills).
rewrote some of my play Constant State of Panic, after the production in DC in January
Completely rewrote my full-length play about the creation of English Bible, now titled Fire on Earth. This was a total gut rehab (even changed the title and main characters)
Wrote 8 very short audio plays for the Emerging America Festival (one of which was recorded--I Am Not Invisible.)
Wrote Escape to Wonderland, a new ten-minute drama, for the T Plays produced by Mill 6 Theatre Collaborative.
Wrote a one-act play, The Light Collectors, for the Youth Astronomer Apprenticeship program with MIT and the Central Square Theatre. This was my first commissioned play.
Started a first draft of a new historical novel (I have about 100 pages so far)
Wrote a new ten-minute comedy, Curse the Darkness.
Wrote a new full-length drama, Flight, based on two of my ten-minute plays. I'm having a reading of this from Madcap Players in DC in January.
A bunch of blog posts on my three different blogs.

This feels like a pretty good list, a nice mix of playwriting and novel writing, as well as first draft writing and rewriting. If I get this much written again next year, I'll be extremely satisfied.

Production-wise, 2010 wasn't bad. The year saw dozens of productions by schools, through the various publishers that handle my work. Productions/readings of my work included:

Constant State of Panic was produced by the Madcap Players in DC. And a reading from Boston Playwrights Theatre.
Confirmed Sighting in Boston and New York.
Recognition in Pick of the Vine Festival by Little Fish in California
Schedule-Meisters in Minnesota and Australia
Fire on Earth received a reading from the Huntington Theatre Company in August.
Measuring Matthew by Another Country in Boston
Lies, Lies, Lies by Actors Refuge Repertory in Boston.

The Next Big Thing, Confirmed Sighting, Recognition, Schedule-Meisters, and Stick Up for Mars were published by Brooklyn Publishers. Counting Rita was published in a Best Ten-Minutes Plays anthology by Smith & Kraus. My one-act, Reassembling Sasha, was published by YouthPlays.

Oh, and I finally found an agent for my novels (and other books to come), which made 2010 a pretty darn good year. (Now I need 2011 to bring a book deal.)

Overall, a minimum of 7,500 people heard, read, or saw my work performed this year, and I had more than 122 performances of my plays, which is not bad at all.

It's hard to say what 2011 will be like. I have a production of Escape to Wonderland scheduled for January, but after that the calendar looks pretty empty. Lots of room for good things to happen.