Was coming back for the Berthoud Post Office yesterday morning and, as usual, looked for the visual cue of The Three Witches to ensure I was heading in the right direction.
On most days those three mountain peaks – left to right, Maiden, Mother, Crone – look completely inviting. Strikingly beautiful.
However, yesterday the dark clouds that shrouded them sent a Sauronistic chill down my spine.
And that’s how stories begin. There is some visual trigger that starts my mind wandering into fantasy.
Now, it’s no secret that Where The Ley Lines Meet is the final installment to five book series, The Claire Saga. I promise you, I have done right by all of the characters that have carried the story to its resolution. It is an amazing finale. Action, heroics, love, family. All of the Mystical Misfits. And Claire!
However, as is my way, I leave open the door for what comes next. You see, the story never ends.
Those particular dark clouds around The Three Witches yesterday were the perfect trigger for the next series. A lot of dark magic in this next one. That seed now has been planted in my mind. I just need to leave it alone and let it germinate and grow on its own. When the pressure builds to the right level, I’ll have no choice but to sit before the computer screen and begin to channel it.
But I’m getting older, and each year the energy level drops a little. It’s gets harder to handle multiple full time jobs at an age when most people are retiring. I need to get the literary creative engines firing to the point where my creativity alone can carry Casa Claire.
That is why I have turned my energy and focus to bringing The Claire Saga to the screen. It is an incredibly visual work. And that is only going to happen if I can build enough of a buzz around The Claire Saga to cause the Hollywood types to stop and take notice.
And I must do it without the likes of Oprah, putting me on her book list.
I’m not that easy sell. Not a flavor of the month.
That is the hustle.
Hollywood is a strange place. A place of dreams. I love watching well written and acted movies and television series. When my eyes are too tired after a day before my computer screen to read for pleasure, my big screen TV with its many channels (and subtitles) is the perfect escape for me. Ninety minutes of narrative ecstasy before I finally crash for the day.
But I have found from my past interactions with the West Coast that Hollywood is not a place of readers. What I mean is that most Hollywood types don’t read books. They don’t have the time. They are too busy marshaling all the moving parts that go into making a film. They need to secure the story rights, the actors, the scripts, the money and then turn that amalgam into a hit film or series. Then it’s on to the next one.
If they don’t read, how do they find the material to make these films and series?
Well, there is an entry level stocked with eager drones trying to create their own gateway into the upper echelons of the business who read through the ton of paper submitted each day by Coastal agencies. Unfortunately most of those readers are young people right out of university who have a limited view of the world and a very narrow idea of what is interesting. Plus, being raised on internet and video games has impacted their ability for literary deep diving. No slow builds. If you don’t excite these readers within 5 to 10 pages, it’s on to the next submission.
The safety valve for the readers in this system is that those readers will never be judged on the material they reject. They will only be judged on the material they kick up to the next level. So it’s in their interest to say no most of the time. I can’t blame them. Survival of the fittest.
There are ways around this system. The “who you know” pathway is one. Most people don’t realize it, but someone in their extended family, or a childhood acquaintance, or someone a client knows, has a connection to the film world. Six degrees of separation. However, that really is a longshot. It’s when you find out who you can really count on in life, because asking a favor is part of the human bartering system.
When you follow the “who you know path” each link in the favor chain to getting your work to the right people has similar limitations. You are dependent on the weakest link in the chain. Every chain has a weak link.
Personally, I enjoy doing favors if I can. I call it paying it forward. I won’t ever commit to doing a favor if I know it’s beyond my reach because I never want to disappoint the person who has asked me for it. And I will never guaranty an outcome to the favor because I cannot control outcomes. I can only control effort – what I can do. After that, it is out of my hands. And I don’t do favors as a quid pro quo. The universe has blessed me on many levels, helping others is my way of trying to pay it back.
Many people who know I am a a lawyer in the entertainment industry believe that I should have lots of contacts that can help me get my work to Hollywood. On paper, I get that. But the lawyer-client relationship is a tricky one. The client comes to you because of your professional reputation as a lawyer. It’s business. They are in some kind of trouble. You provide the service of getting them out of it.
With litigation, especially involving individuals, hopefully those relationships are one-off transactions. It is a traumatic experience. You don’t wish anyone to be involved in more than one law suit in their life – and preferably none – if they can help it. Hopefully, you won’t see them again. That philosophy explains why I am not a rich lawyer.
Transactional lawyers have long term relationships. They see their clients during happy events. Contracts are signed. Money starts to flow. Everyone feels good.
Litigators only appear at the divorces and funerals. No one is happy. Everyone is traumatized or angry. Even when the litigation is over, no one is ever really satisfied with the outcome.
Sometimes a lawyer-client relationship can evolve into something more. I try to be friendly with all of the clients, but I have never felt comfortable crossing that favor Rubicon.
So, what are my options? What can I control?
The best route I can find is creating a buzz about the work.
If there is enough buzz in a room, people start to notice.
We’ve all gone to those large parties where we suddenly notice a collection of people forming around someone in the far corner of the room. There is a buzz. The rest of the room all start glancing in that direction. They start asking others in their immediate vicinity what’s going on over there. Why is everyone laughing? Sooner or later we all make our way over to the source of the buzz.
A strong buzz in literature starts with the work itself. If you haven’t produced the goods on paper, you don’t have a chance at creating a buzz.
But once you have created something that is buzzworthy, you need to get people to start buzzing.
With books, that buzz starts with the reviews. For me, Amazon has been my bellwether.
Luckily, I have gotten a decent share of positive reviews for all four books. I’m working every day to get the buzz started on WTLLM so it lands running.
Every single review is important.
I repeatedly ask everyone I know to post a review. Even a short one. “Loved it!” As long as it is positive. And I am shameless, I will ask readers to do it for each of the books. But I want them to be honest. I don’t want their review if they don’t like my book.
Those reviews register on AI algorithms which impact the books appearances on best selling lists and creates on-line visibility on other books’ web pages. Suggested reads on a famous author’s page is gold.
And if you want to create buzz, you never say no to an interview. No venue is too small.
I have a recorded Podcast on the Carnegie Hall segment of Read650.org, of me reading my short essay Real Writers Weep:
https://www.read650.org/blog-4/more-of-the-great-outdoors
There is an article in which I am included in The Fordham Lawyer magazine in early 2022: https://digital.law.fordham.edu/
Hopefully one of my legal brethren is in the entertainment business.
There is also an author interview regarding An Alien Appeal in the November/December Uncaged Books on-line magazine: click here to have a look.
I was also blessed by having this really cool article in an on-line magazine – VoyageLA.
https://voyagela.com/interview/conversations-with-tom-mccaffrey
And another similar magazine – ShoutoutLA – did another:
https://shoutoutla.com/meet-tom-mccaffrey-an-entertainment-attorney-and-best-selling-author/
And then another cool on-line magazine – Canvas Rebel – reached out and did another article on me. It seems they need to balance all of the pretty young things that usually appear with an ugly old dog like me:
Sometimes, when appearing among all of the young beautiful people, being old and ugly can work to your advantage. You stand out.
And finally, I blog most mornings. I tell silly stories about whatever happens to pop into my head. I share snapshots of my childhood, and of my present life. I share stories about my family and fur family, especially Claire, and I write about Casa Claire, where a lot of the fictional stories take place. I do that so you can get a sense of knowing me. I don’t have the time to wait around for someone else to do that for me.
I hope when you read these blogs that you maybe chuckle or shake your head. Hopefully, the next time you are having coffee with a family or friend, you mention one of the blogs. Even better, hopefully you enjoy the writing enough to check out my books, because a lot of what you see here, shows up in fictional form in those novels. And maybe you’ll tell a family of friend about one or more of those books.
And that is how the buzz begins. I didn’t invent the idea.
Of course, if any one of my fine, five readers knows someone in Hollywood that they want to share The Claire Saga buzz with, have at it. Become part of the ever expanding backstory as to why a chance meeting between a tired old lawyer and a magical mule led to . . . .
Dawn is approaching so I must now put aside the Hollywood hustle and turn back toward making a living with my day job.
First a couple of kitties to cuddle and rounds to make.
Monday is behind us, and Tuesday is a welcome sight.
And whatever we do, let us go forth and make today a great one.
2 Responses
I wish I knew someone who knew someone…
It will happen for you!!
But meanwhile maybe you should hike up the Three Witches for more inspiration and then start the next book!!!!😁
Yes! Though I know even you only have 24 hours too your day you manage to accomplish so much more than I can imagine and now I’m so excited to hear the seeds are planted for the next series! I can’t imagine anything capturing my mind like the Claire Saga but I thought that about each of the 5 books. So I know it’s time consuming, and your routine is already full I’m thrilled to know your creativity juices are kicking in on the next series!