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There has been much talk and conversation and disagreement on these pages about how to sell one's work--about how to plug, publicize, sell, advertise, promote a novel, story collection, or poems.  We've written also a great deal about the actual process of writing, of motivating ourselves into the space where we can tell the tale, and you'd hope and wish and think that was all we'd have to do.

Alas, not.  Yeah, the big time Duh!

I want to talk a little bit today about my friend, colleague, and former student Christopher Meeks.  I first met Chris when he signed up for a gratis class at UCLA Extension.  One of the perks of working for UCLA, is that we can take a free class per semester, and there he was in my Novel 1 class, full of a wonderful story and amazing critique for his fellow students.  He finished that novel, and since that time, we've consulted each other about agents and publicists and such, and he has been the most optimistic and dogged pursuer of his dreams than any writer I know.  Every email he sends out is full of information about getting an agent or a novel or a film or a town.  He shares what he's gone through in terms of navigating the publishing world in New York.  When I meet up with him at readings or conferences, he is always happy, dammit!  He can't be talked down into the "Woe is me, publishing sucks" discussion, even if I try to pull him.  He does not feel entitled to publication and he does not put himself above any other writer.  He just knows that his work is good and it needs an audience.  End of story--and he goes to get what he needs.

I admire him, and today is the publication date of his short story collection Months and Seasons. 

If any of you are in LA and need a fun and wonderful excursion, stop by for the performance of stories from this collection at the Beverly Hills Public Library.  Doors open at 7.30 pm.  The address is 4444 Rexford in BH, next to City Hall.  His stories will be performed by actors, and it should be quit the fête.