Win Some, Lose Some

So this year isn’t next year. Again. The Cubs wound up the regular season with the best record in the National League and then blew the playoffs in three straight losses to the Dodgers. What the hell? It just goes to show you that nothing in life is a lock until the final curtain falls and the money’s in the bank. But the Cubs will be back next year and I’ll be at Wrigley on Opening Day, just like always. Sooner or later they’ve got to break this thing open.

The Tribune Company’s got more problems in their portfolio than the Loveable Losers postseason play. Staggering under the incredible debt load that Sam Zell’s imposed on the company, the newspaper debuted a new format last week. It is, to put it succinctly, a disaster. The stories have been dumbed down, the layout is disjointed and confusing and the content is more ad than article. It’s sad to see what was once a respectable major city daily turned into a comic book version of USA Today. Chicago is a significant national force in art and business and it’s disappointing that our hometown paper makes us look more like a Second City skit than the true Second City.

Turning to writing that is decidedly not bush league, you may have noticed the link on the right side of this page, announcing the publication of the new Chicago crime anthology Sin. If not, scroll back up and notice it. Click on the link and read about the book, or, better yet, buy it. I was introduced to the group of writers that comprise the Sin collection at Columbia College, Chicago. Patricia Rosemoor, the author of dozens of novels, teaches at Columbia and she’s assembled a group that she felt would benefit by sharing their stories and resources through monthly meetings. Sin is a product of that group’s collaboration; one of Patricia’s stories is included. We get together, read new work and provide feedback to each other. It’s a great association of writers and the interaction really helps. So I have a story in this collection, which is good, but my novel remains unsold. One step at a time.

While I’m still negotiating with publishers over Opening Day, another project that I had put on the back burner is moving up to the front of the pack. The story of Diamond Joe Esposito, a Chicago crime boss as told by his daughter, Jeanette, is going to get full attention. I’ve retained the services of New York Time’s bestselling author and literary agent, Wendy Rohm to help me sort out the hours of interviews and video that I’ve collected. Not having much experience in non-fiction I decided that I needed the guidance of someone like Wendy to get the project through to completion. After lunching with her late last week, I decided that I didn’t need someone like Wendy – she was exactly the mentor that I needed to get the job done. So I’ve got a lot of work to do and now I’ve found someone who will make sure the final product will be something that will get a publishers attention.

Jeanette Esposito Braun is a firecracker, 93 years old and she’s still sharp as a tack. Her story about her life with Diamond Joe, his violent death and the ensuing plot she hatched to extract revenge from his killers makes for compelling story telling. Jeanette wants to make a movie about her father and I told her that the fastest course to have that happen was to publish a book about the events and then use that to attract the attention of producers. Jeanette was not initially enthusiastic about this approach.

“No one fucking reads, anymore!” She told me, holding up a wizened finger to command my attention.

It took a while to convince her that writing spec screenplays is largely a waste of time. She agreed to try it my way but she still has her reservations. After seeing the new Tribune, I’m afraid that Jeanette isn’t far wrong in her assessment of the state of the public’s attitude toward reading. After meeting with Wendy I’m more convinced than ever that publishing a book first is the correct approach.

That’s one of the peculiar things about this business; there isn’t any right or wrong way to achieve results (although some ways are more right than others). You have to chart a course and stick to it. Like the Cubs, you just have to keep chugging along, waiting for the breaks to come your way. And hope that you don’t drop the ball once they do.

— Ric Hess, Oct 13, 08:13 AM

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