Checking in VERY late

So this whole James Frey thing. Here are my thoughts, he's stupid, he's a cheater, he's a liar. He's gonna sell a ba-gillion books.

Okay... I finally saw some highlights of him on Oprah.

Oprah, just as disingenuous. She's only tearing into this poor guy (yes poor guy) because she was made to look like a fool on Larry King. Her image took a hit, we all know that.

But seeing the highlights--surprisingly--I found myself rooting for Frey. I mean she battered him. She asks him a question, he goes to answer, and she answers for him.

"No, it's a lie, James. A lie."

At that moment I wanted Mr. Frey to get up and say "Oh gimme a fucking break, Oprah. It's a book. I'm sorry you're on the verge of tears because you read a book that turned out to be not true. But it's a book."

This whole situation is lousy. But man, at some point--Frey--stop looking like a beaten puppy and stand up for yourself. Say something, fight back.

Man. That bothers me almost as much as this guy selling thousands of millions of books.

Any Suggestions?

So after this morning's post, I received a suggestion from a Mr. Bryon Quertermous to add a monkey to the novel. A monkey with pants. To me that sounds like a good idea. I'm going to make that monkey into Jackson Donne's sidekick.

In fact, it sounds like such a good idea, I intend to take suggestions from everyone.

So, how else can I revise my novel?

IN OTHER NEWS: Agent Al's novel KISS HER GOODBYE's been nominated for an Edgar in the Best Paperback Original Category.

And this afternoon Rutgers defeated #22 Louisville today at the RAC.

Jinx!

So remember my last post on revision and how good it was going?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, it turns out I was kind of wrong. The ol' agent and I had the same concerns about the final draft, except I deferred to him. And he deferred to me. And it took an outside source to vocalize our concerns.

The stakes aren't high enough and the first fifty or so pages are too slow.

So what do we do now?

Well, since Al kindly talked me off the ledge last night, it's back to the drawing board. I'm going to try and cut some of the opening. Maybe combine some characters and see if we can make Donne connect more with them. I don't know, maybe that'll help up the stakes.

I believe in this novel, and I want to make it the best possible novel I can. So why not try?

What happens if it doesn't work?

There are many more novels to be written and I'm not in any hurry. But I belive in this one and I'd like to make it the best book possible.

So now I face the thing I feared most, major revisi on. Hopefully, the novel will make its way to the light soon.

EDIT: By the way, I got a new watch from ebay the other day. It's pretty cool.. I didn't pay as much as the listing.

Bored off my ass

AKA: The Toms River Booksigning pictures (actually the book is moving pretty well now from what I hear.)






It's a good thing I'm so photogenic, otherwise, this would get old fast.

Heh. Heh.

The Art of a College Class

My friend is a student at William Paterson University (Willy on the Hill.). She's taking writing classes. Her professor asked her three questions and she was interested in my answers. I think it had to do with a class assignment.

Here were the three questions:

What is a writer?
Who is a writer?
Are you a writer?

My answers were:

What is a writer?

A writer is someone, anyone who writes something. Usually in my mind it involves other people being able to read it as well. A shopping list does not make a writer, but an essay, a story, a poem, an article, a blog entry, whatever. To me a writer needs an audience.



Who is a writer?

Anyone who writes for an audience.

Are you a writer?

Yes, I am. I write essays, articles, blog entries, stories... whatever, but it's key for me to have a connection with an audience. I don't think writers can write without feedback. I don't think they can write without an audience, whether that audience is one person, a teacher, a friend... or a mass audience of novel readers.


What do other writers out there think? (Do not answers "Someone who writes" for all your answers. Sarah Weinman and I both considered that. I say for the purposes of my comments, it's a cop out.)

Makes No Sense

What'd he need to do, clear his head?

Theo Epstein returns to the Red Sox as the GM again.

Oooh boy, the prodigal son returns. Sort of.

Go kick his butt Brian Cashman, the loyal son.

Revision

I've been working on cleaning up When One Man Dies recently. When I started the revision process, I was terrified. I mean it's one thing revising a short story of 5,000 words, but what about something 75,000 words or more? I mean where do you start? I didn't have the whole thing memorized, so I wasn't even sure if I made any huge changes how I would I know to keep the continuity straight.

Thankfully, the first draft wasn't too bad plotwise. For the most part, it seems the story holds up and there were really only one or two plot points that had to be rectified. I was able to keep the story pretty consistent.

What I did get lucky with was an agent with a great editorial eye. I mean he caught things that I wouldn't have ever noticed, and he's making me a better writer. I'm noticing things on my own now. Reading "God's Dice" aloud in Kenilworth last week, there were moments where I cringed at word repetition. I learned that saying people "smile" too much becomes a crutch. I learned when and when not to use strong verbs. I'm cleaning up my passive voice.

The book is 100 times better.

So, what's next? Well, I hope to have this draft clean and ready to go in the next week or two.

And then it's off to start the next one, tenatively titled Whispering to Their Souls. Of course I have to write an entire draft of that, but the nagging revision fear sticks with me. While my writing may be better, what happens when I do hit a major plot snag? Will I be able to fix it?

I hope so.

By the way, I am egotistical. I'll probably be posting more and more just to see my name pop up on the Crime Spot site.

All Sorts of News

While I'm still waiting for the pictures of my Toms River signing, I figured I'd give you a writing update and tell you about my time sitting in a Waldenbooks.

A signing set up by my buddy who manages the store, I was advertised all over south Jersey. That said, I sat there, made conversation and managed to sell and sign three books. Two pity sales--"You look bored, I'll buy a book. My mother will like it." and "Well we can't let you only sell one book, I'll take a copy."--and one by my friend, the store manager.

In other news, Paul Guyot the winners of the armored car contest. My story, For the Boy garnered 8 total votes, but unfortunately no first place ones. Mr. Guyot wisely ended the voting before I could rally my fan club into mass ballot stuffing.

Also, Graham Powell has created a central place where you can follow all the blogs with Crime Spot. I'm up there sometimes. Maybe this post'll make it.

And finally, the most tragic news of the day, Bon Jovi's plane skidded off the runway in Canada. Fortunately no one was hurt and the tour will continue without delay. He will still be able to rock a million faces.

The Stones

Saw the Stones at Madison Square Garden last night and it had to be one of the best concerts I've ever seen. I really thought I was gonna jinx them when I got the tickets last week. I ordered them and that moment I said, "Now just as long as neither Mick nor Keith die the day before, we're in good shape." Anyway, there weren't any deaths, and they played with about as much energy as a band in its prime has. Here was the setlist:

JJ Flash
It's Only Rock and Roll
Let's Spend The Night Together
On No Not You Again
Sway
As Tears Go By
Rain Fall Down
Ain't Too Proud To Beg
Gimme Shelter
Tumblin' Dice
This Place Is Empty
Happy
Miss You
Start Me Up
Get Off My Cloud
Honky Tonk Woman
Sympathy
Paint It Black
Brown Sugar
Can't Always Get What You Want
Satisfaction

Ruminations of a laptop

Well my super cool Dell Inspiron laptop came in today and I wanted to post something on this blog from it... so here I go:

Butter Flavored Pretzels are the best.

I submitted a story called "Duck Hunt" to Alfred Hictchcock Mystery Magazine.

My laptop screen is bigger than my desktop.

The Parents

Sometime a few weeks ago I went to an author hang out in New York City. There were a bunch of the usual crew there and some people I'd never met before. And when I met one of them (Judy, Judy, Judy--if she reads this), she shook my hand and said, "Oh you're the one who still lives with his parents." I smiled and died a bit inside.

Yeah, I still live with my folks. Though, with luck, that'll be changing over the next few months.

When the anthology came out, what got me was the way they reacted to the release of the anthology.

My dad, notorious for his misunderstanding music on this blog, reacted in the way that he should cover up his pride and be completely neutral. My favorite moment was after he read the entire book cover to cover:

"So, does my story hold up?"

"Yeah. You're in the top six."

"Top six? I'm your son. I should be better than that."

"Well Jeffery Deaver's story was really good. And Laura, that's just like hanging out with old friends."

"Oh. Top six? Really?"

"Top six is good."

"But--"

"Top six. Read Deaver's story. You'll agree."

My mom however, has taken the complete opposite route. The first time I met them for dinner after buying the book myself, she sat in the restaurant and made me pose for pictures. "Okay, one with the cover. Now open the book to the page."

Plus, now EVERYONE has a copy of the book. My mother's friends. The principal at her school, the department head, the physical therapist, the homeless guy down the street. I have people coming up to me that I've never met, never heard of telling me my mother gave them a copy of the book and they really enjoyed it. "Man, I love knowing where the story takes place." I ordered 45 copies of the book. I think I've given away ten. There are five left. You do the math.

Parents are a riot, aren't they?

Armor Cars and the Kiddies

I will hopefully be doing a picture update of my signing (sold two copies) later, but for now entertain yourself with some armored car stories.

REMINDER

APPEARING IN PERSON
DAVID WHITE

WALDENBOOKS

OCEAN COUNTY MALL

TOMS RIVER, NJ
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14
11:00 – 2:00

New Kids on the Block

After the untimely demise of Plots With Guns, there was a void in the crime fiction ezine world. That void has been filled by Bryon Quertermous' new crime 'zine Demolition. The first issue has four stories by four great authors: Anthony Neill Smith, Victor Gischler, Pat Lambe, and Mike Maclean.

Not to mention I'm the assistant editor (emphasis on "ass").

Meanwhile, the Rutgers freshmen are the "new kids" as well. as the Asbury Park Press points out:

Rutgers proves something in loss
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/12/06
PISCATAWAY
The last time Villanova was in the building, the game was so one-sided it drove the Rutgers athletic director to distraction, prompting him to express his displeasure to the players in the locker room.

Bob Mulcahy, a Villanova alumnus, reportedly told the players he was embarrassed. Since then he would say only that "I get upset when I don't think we give the effort," and leave it at that.

Now, after the Scarlet Knights lose to a very good Villanova team in overtime, Mulcahy stands in the locker room and listens as Gary Waters addresses the team, tells the players they proved something to him on this night.

The 84-78 overtime loss to a team ranked No. 3 in the country was something to build on, Waters told them. "They can play with anybody in the Big East," he would say, "and I thought they needed to know that."

Mulcahy stood and listened and agreed with every word.

"We played with everything we had," he said on his way out. "I believe this is a demonstration that the team is on an upswing and that they belong.

"They're coming into a form that all of us thought was possible when this group came together. Tonight they demonstrated that."

Of course they still lost the game, and people will likely point out that they have a habit of coming close against ranked teams at the RAC. Syracuse last year, Connecticut the year before, and so on.

People are also likely to say that Villanova didn't bring it's "A' game to the RAC Wednesday night. They will wonder when Ray Allan last went 4-for-14 from the floor, when Will Sheridan, the only big man in their starting lineup, last shot 2-for-9 and grabbed but six rebounds.

They will also note that the Wildcats just lost their first game, to West Virginia, and that they are about to play No. 9 Texas Saturday.

Some will see Rutgers as a soft spot in the schedule.

Some will say the Knights' 11-3 record coming into the game was an aberration, the result of playing Maryland-Eastern Shore and St. Thomas Aquinas and the like early in the season. People will come up with 101 reasons why this means nothing, Rutgers losing in overtime to Villanova.

And they would be wrong to think this.

Based on what 8,043 people witnessed Wednesday night, Rutgers has a far more exciting team than anyone could have imagined a couple of months ago.

Last March, when Syracuse took them out on the second day of the Big East Tournament, there was no feisty yelping, no wait-until-next-year bravado. The Knights finished with a 10-19 record on merit, and unlike the year before, when they went to the NIT finals, there was no silver lining.

Now they have found some kids who can play.

Anthony Farmer, the freshman point guard, may have had a lousy game against Villanova, and he may have fouled out in the end, but he represents a major upgrade for this program.

What can this kid do? Well, he can flat out fly for one thing. Like early in the game, when he missed a shot at one end of the floor, then raced down to the other end to try to stop Mike Nardi on a breakaway. Farmer caught Nardi from behind on the play. The fact that he fouled him is beside the point.

How did he get there that fast?

The other freshman who starts, forward JR Inman, is a smooth reed of a player, a kid who will step up and take a big shot, as he did when he hit a 3 late in the second half to cut Villanova's lead to 63-60.

Waters has such confidence in this kid that he actually designed a play to go to him at the very end of regulation, when Rutgers needed a 3 to tie the game. Jimmie Inglis, who had never attempted a 3-point shot in his life, wound up taking the shot and making it to send the game into overtime.

"Jimmie was in his spot," Waters explained later.

The third freshman is Jaron Griffin of Manchester.

Now you put those three kids in alongside Quincy Douby, one of the most dangerous offensive players in the Big East; Marquis Webb, the best defensive player on the team; and two decent big men, Byron Joynes and Adrian Hill, and you have yourself a team that may make the Big East Tournament after all.

Who was thinking along those lines 10 months ago?

How about two months ago?

"We let one get away tonight," Waters was saying. "You only get those opportunities every so often . . . But I didn't get down on them."

How could he?

The last time Villanova was here the final score was 94-61.


Bill Handleman is an Asbury Park Press columnist. E-mail: handle@app.com

Kenilworth Continued, plus an announcement!

That's right... more pictures of me, me, me.

Notice me, speaking thoughtfully!

Me, reading with gusto!



Me.... FROM A DISTANCE!



Me, deeply concentrating.



Me... ANSWERING A QUESTION! (oooh.)




Me, reading... WITH HAND MOTIONS!

(Thanks to Dale Spindel for taking the pictures.)

Local Author to hold book signing in Toms River

Derringer Award winning New Jersey mystery writer David White will be participating in a book signing on Saturday, January 14 at 11:00 AM hosted by Waldenbooks at the Ocean County Mall in Toms River. A story by Mr. White, "God’s Dice," is to be included in the recently released anthology The Adventure of the Missing Detective: And 25 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories! “God’s Dice” features New Jersey based PI Jackson Donne as he investigates, on behalf of a local priest, a woman’s disappearance. Donne travels from confessional booths to casinos and seedy hotel rooms and ultimately must deal with issues that go beyond a mere missing persons case. Other authors with stories in the upcoming anthology includes such notables as Joyce Carol Oates, Laura Lippman, Jeffery Deaver, and Robert Barnard.

White, 26, has already written 15 other short stories, most of which feature PI Jackson Donne. His stories have appeared in such magazines and ezines as Crime Spree, Thrilling Detective, SHOTS UK, HandheldCrime, Shred of Evidence and Hardluck Stories. His story “Closure” won the Derringer Award in 2003. Mr. White graduated from Rutgers University and currently resides in Clifton. He has signed on with the Scotland based literary agent Allan Guthrie and Jenny Brown Associates and is in the process of writing his novel, When One Man Dies.

Copies of the book The Adventure of the Missing Detective: And 25 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories! will be available for sale at Waldenbooks during the book signing.

Vokda and Cookies Part II: Kenilworth

Well, the tour continued tonight in front of a packed house of family, friends, and some senior citizens. It went well and quickly.

The evening started off with me introducing myself and reading Negative Lottery. After casually editing a few of the f'bombs from the story, I took a few Q&As. After that tailed off, Dale Spindel (director at the library), asked me to read another story. Well the only other story I had with me was God's Dice, which I was hesitant to read, because it was long and also because I wanted people to buy the book. I did however read it and it went over very well. A little more than an hour later I was a successful reading author... complete with two pictures. (No one was hit with a chair this time, and I did not attempt all that much stand up comedy.)

Thanks to Dale Spindel and Jen Huegel for making this happen.



Here I am preparing to read.





And here I am reading.

Reminder!

Okay, enough of the fashion talk. Tonight I speak at the Kenilworth Public Library. The reading starts at 7:30. If you have not already registered, the number is 908-276-2451.

The library is located at 548 Kenilworth Boulevard.

Hope to see you there!

Update: Tonight's event is apparently SOLD OUT!

Dave White's Shopping Trip

Or what we'll call "Hackett Eye for the Dave White Guy."

Tonight began the New Year's Resolution.... My buddy Hackett, a Gap employee and just all around kind soul decided he'd help me out. Being that I'm fashionably challenged and color blind, I needed all the help I could get.

The first stop was Sears to look for jeans. They didn't have any with the "boot cut." (Did anyone else know there was such a thing as boot cut?)

So we moved on to the Gap. Here's where I hit it big. I got two pairs of boot cut jeans (one dark dark blue, another middling blue--I think that pair was actually straight leg), a stress free dobby shirt, a classic striaight collar poplin shirt, two t-shirts to go underneath, and a polo shirt.

Next it was on to J Crew where I hit the clearance rack. Got a white half-zip sweater, a green sweater, and two t-shirts to match. Now when Hackett was helping me pick out the T-shirts, the man did such a good job color co-ordinating, the J Crew saleswoman complimented him.

I wanted one more pair of jeans and we hit the American Eagle where they were on sale. I found the pair and it looks like this. Hackett insisted I look at Argile sweaters which he insisted I could pull off. I found this exact one which I liked. Picked it up.

Next came the most challenging shopping choice. The sneakers. But not like athletic sneakers, casual sneakers. After three stores, we finally settled on a pair, the "Racer Low" (link unavailable) in blue and white.

Then it was back to Sears for a brown belt. That is actually where we waited longest on line. The most amusing part was the Hackett commentary. "You can wear this sweater for this occasion, and this shirt on a date." His girlfriend would be proud of him.

New Year's Resolution one complete.

The Newest Year

Happy New Year.

I wish I had something of substance to say. I mean, do you really want my new year's resolutions? (dress nicer, join a gym and go, get novel published.)

Check Mr. Banks for a more comprehensive 2005/2006 post. Me... I just wish y'all a happy happy.