Writers and Readers, a Joint Adventure

All writers write with the intent of being read, especially by people who understand and like what they have written. However, most of us know that not every reader will like a particular work. The major part of an author's marketing is to find her audience, that is those readers who will want to read a book and who not only will understand what the author is trying to say, but will like it as well.

 

But this doesn't always happen, even among readers who have been long time fans of a particular author. Is this then a failure on the part of the writer? Has she simply failed to do her job? Or has the reader not approached the work with an open mind and the necessary objectivity.

Years ago, when Woody Allen released his film, "Interiors" many critics complained that it was "too serious", it lacked the usual Woody Allen humor and wry perspective that they had gotten used to in his films. Yet that is precisely what Mr. Allen intended -  he wanted to explore deep and universal issues in the tradition of idol, Igmar Bergman, without using the self deprecating humor he had become known for. Not only did critics not understand this, but they chided him heavily for it.

So it is with writers and readers (who often play the part of critic). Whenever I approach a book, I try to understand what the author's intent was and judge it accordingly. I may not like the book, even if the author fulfilled the intent perfectly, for "liking" something is so subjective. But I try not to read into it anything the author didn't intend.

In the Beginning...

This is my first effort at blogging. I'm sure it will improve as I get the hang of it. For now, I want to blog about my books (The Tale of Lucia Grandi and The City of Light) and talk about the experience of writing, publishing and marketing my works.

My most recent book is The Tale of Lucia Grandi

In future blogs I will be providing links to reviews and events.

This book is available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and through selected bookstores and the publisher, Brook House Press

Enrique Iglesias and the Matter of Luck

A friend of mine, a young Spanish teacher named Jule is in love with Enrique Iglesias. She has turned her classroom into a shrine for this singer, much to her students’ amusement. She even named her son’s turtle after her idol.

Needless to say, she makes a great effort to be at all his concerts that are held within a 5 hour driving radius to where she lives. So it was last year she found out he was scheduled to be in Boston and immediately got tickets to attend. But she didn’t want to go alone, so she asked everyone she knew. Of course, few people in her life are as enamored of Enrique as she is and it was a busy time of year. Finally, her sister-n-law, Letty, consented. She likes his music well enough and thought it would be a nice night out for the two of them talking, going to dinner, then seeing the concert.

Jule made sure she wore the appropriate black outfit, because as she explained, the highlight of the concert is when Enrique selects a woman from the crowd, pulls her up on stage with him and sings to her. He always seems to select women who are dressed in shades of black, thus her informal research has indicated. Most of the women in the audience would love to be that woman. When he scans the crowd looking for “his” woman, you can hear shouts that say “Pick me! Pick me!” Jule admits she would love it if he picked her. So she does everything in her power to maximize the odds – she dresses like all the women he seems to pick, she spends large sums of money getting seats up front.

So it was during this particular concert, as the singer scanned the audience for his choice, he bent down, extended his hand a few inches from Jule’s face – and took the hand of her sister-in-law who was right next to her. For the next 20 minutes, Letty sat stunned on stage with the famous singer, his arm around her, his head close to hers as he sang love songs to her and pausing only to ask her questions about her and her life.

While Jule was happy for her sister-in-law, she realized that a once in a lifetime chance eluded her – all because of luck. Maybe Enrique liked the way Letty looked that night, or was dressed – or maybe she was simply more visible than she was. No one will ever know why Letty was selected and Jule was not. Or maybe there was no reason at all – maybe it was all just a matter of luck.

In many ways this is what happens to writers. They spend years writing a book they need to write and are convinced there are readers out there who will like the book well enough to propel it onto the world stage in front of a larger audience. But ultimately it’s a matter of luck whether a writer is “chosen” or not. But like my friend, you have to be at the show in order to be chosen. So if a writer never gets around to writing that masterpiece, there is no hope at all that her work will be “chosen”. But ultimately, it’s a matter of luck. Just like an Enrique concert…

Love and Death