Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish anyone reading this a Happy Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful for lots of things, but among them is that there's still some people finding it worth it to check back in here every few days and read what I'm writing.  This has been a pretty eventful year for me.  Last Thanksgiving I think I was about two-thirds through my book draft.  And I guess I had just gotten my bar exam results.  That seems like a long time ago. 

This post is probably as good of an excuse as any to quickly update what's going on with non-blog stuff in my life.  A lot of my energy lately has been on the Anonymous Lawyer television pilot script.  A second draft of the script is done and in other people's hands as of Tuesday afternoon.  Best case scenario would be that the people who make these kinds of decisions decide that they want to film the pilot, which would put it in contention for a spot on the television schedule in the fall (I think most networks film about 12 comedy pilots for 2-4 spots).  Other scenarios are that they decide they don't want to film it, and I think that would most likely be the end of the road for the project, or they decide they want some more changes to the script before they make that decision.  Hopefully I'll hear soon.  The whole thing has been a pretty cool process.

My mom is doing well.  She's undergoing chemotherapy treatments, one day every 3 weeks, and she'll be up to #4 out of 8 in another week.  She's been able to go to work and side effects have been pretty minimal, aside from hair loss, which apparently doesn't happen to most patients with this kind of chemotherapy but she's been an outlier.  Blood work is all coming back good and doctors seem pleased and unconcerned, so that's all good.

I'm playing around with another novel, not about the law, but I'm not ready to say anything about it until I write more than 20 pages and until someone besides me decides it's worth continuing.  We'll see what happens.  I'm not convinced I've got enough to say for another book until I do some more interesting things in real life, but I'm playing around with some ideas and I'll see what happens.

I'm on a panel next Wednesday, the 29th, at 7:30 PM at Stone Creek Bar and Lounge (27th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenue).  The panel is about lawyers-turned-writers and there's more information here.  It's free.  I met with the moderator last week to do some preliminary talking about myself, so she has some idea what kind of stuff to ask me about.  I think the other panelists have done this a lot more than I have, so you should come to see the difference between someone who's good at these things and someone who finds them scary.  When I met with the moderator, she started talking about how I could probably make some money speaking at law schools or corporate conferences and places like that about how to blog, going from law school to being a writer, whatever, stuff like that.  Which mostly made me think the barriers to entry for this kind of stuff must be pretty low if I've done enough to make money talking about myself.  It almost makes me want to write a book about that industry, if it's as silly as it seems like it might be.  Part of me feels like if I was really thinking about this in a smart way, I would absolutely be hustling to find speaking gigs wherever I could -- law schools, law firms, business conferences, whatever -- to push the book, to push my name out there, to get free trips to mid-sized cities I would not otherwise visit, so that I could eat alone in chain restaurants attached to budget hotels -- whatever it is people do these things for.  And the other part of me, besides not feeling like I really have all that much to say in that kind of forum, as opposed to on paper somewhere, can't imagine wanting to actually spend my days doing this.  Yet I feel like so many people would absolutely pursue those kinds of things and be thrilled about it.  I think, in part, I've been spoiled by my very bizarre path to book deal, and don't fully appreciate the self-promoting lengths that most people have to go to in order to be able to make a living doing this stuff, and that's it's not that they want to go speak places for fun but because they have to in order to support the writing, and to build the audience they need.  Then again, I've written more on the Internet than they have, and maybe, for me, this is a better way to do it that although it seems to me that it's easier and much less work and energy, to a lot of people doing it this way would be harder.

Where was I... oh, the event.  Yeah, come if you want, and if I don't know you, come up to me and say hello.  I'll be signing books, and convinced my publisher to give me a carton of 24 books to sell there, $20 each ($5 off the cover price).

Anyway....  Happy Thanksgiving.  I'm excited for the smoked turkey my cousin is bringing, from a real turkey smokehouse (that's not the right word... farm?  ranch?  I dunno) near her house in Pennsylvania.

Comments

[Sean M.]

It's great to hear the pilot script rolls along and that your Mom is doing well.

I'm, among other things, thankful for a blog that hits the right mix of thoughtful and funny.

Happy Thanksgiving.

[RES]

I'm really glad to hear that your mother is doing well - and that you're at the beginning of a new book project.

Happy thanksgiving!

RES

[HJones]

Hey J, Congrats, that sounds really cool that you're working on a script for TV. There has been a show in Canada for the last few years called Billable Hours its a kind of comedy about firm life. It could definitely be improved upon, in case you wanted another source to look at in terms of what works and what doesn't.

[SymplyAmused]

Congrats on the pilot and best wishes for your Mom's speedy recovery...happy thanksgiving!

[marci alboher]

jeremey, really sorry to hear that your mom isnt' well. but i'm glad to hear that her treatment is going well. my mom, who is now one of your biggest fans, kicked cancer years ago. i'm looking forward to hearing you say the same about your mom.
ciao,
marci