John Prindle's Blog

I mean, I do - but only as an author, to connect with readers and promote my own work.

I appreciate the idea of Goodreads, but reading is personal - and I tend to skip around a lot. I may read a whole novel or work of nonfiction, or I may just skip around for months, reading a bit of this and a snippet of that. But whatever I'm reading, I don't like the idea of tracking it; of turning it into another thing that must be fretted over.

I also get the feeling that Goodreads turns many people into "competitive readers"... how many books can I read this month?? Can I read more than Jack and Jill?

I like to savor each paragraph of a good book... chew on the tastiest sentences. The thought of reading in some kind of perfect succession, like a factory line, is the very opposite of how I read. I rarely start one book, read it straight through, and then move on to the next... Goodreads kind of locks you into that style of reading. To me, it turns reading into "clocking in" for yet another social media job - and that's not what reading should be...

Now, I've talked to other people who love it - who use it like a diary. "What book was that I read last year? Let me go to Goodreads and look it up..."

How do you use Goodreads?

Being an extra sucks. Sure, it sounds glamorous at first - be on a television set... see "stars" - but after you've done it a million times it loses its charm (like masturbation).

I've been an extra on a thousand episodes of "Grimm," a few "Librarians," a Reese Witherspoon movie (Wild - which I still haven't seen), and a few shitty internet commercials for Intel.

They pay you minimum wage. Sure, it's easy work - and sometimes you get a free meal... but you start asking yourself, "is this even worth my time?"

Getting up at the crack of dawn, dressing up in nice clothes... it's like going to church. And they have the nerve to ask you to bring multiple outfits - like five or six. Yeah, right. Let me get right on that. One thing you learn after being an extra enough times is that you NEVER bring all that shit. That's for suckers. Newbies. That's because wardrobe doesn't want to do their job. Look, you're paying me $74 - more like $50 after taxes - and you think I'm going to lug six outfits with me? I don't even have six nice outfits.

And don't get me started on all of the weirdos you'll have to talk to. "Extras" are a strange bunch. Some are just there for the fun of it. Some really think they're going to be the next Anthony Hopkins. Dude, you're in the background, faux-eating cold food behind the Asian guy on Grimm... I doubt Clint Eastwood is going to notice your fine performance and track you down for an audition.

If you're thinking of being an extra for film or t.v., here's my two cents: do it once or twice for the fun of it - then never do it again. Me? I'm an idiot. I keep going back whenever they call me, thinking that *maybe*, just maybe, it will help my writing career.

But it won't. Being an extra is a fool's errand. There's nothing glamorous about it.

I've done a lot of reflecting on the final scene of Justified: a powerful moment between good guy Givens and bad guy Crowder, shared between glass in a maximum security prison.

This scene could have easily drifted into sappy, melodramatic cheez - yet it didn't, due to the excellent dialogue and subtle performances of the actors. It was an unexpected yet perfect way to end FX's popular series based on the Elmore Leonard short stories and novels... I'm sure the late Leonard would have loved the way the show wrapped up.

But what made it so powerful? The exhange is simple. Givens has come to deliver some "bad news" in person through the prison visitation glass. Boyd Crowder asks Raylan Givens why he came in person when he could have simply called. It's a long drive. Givens says, "it's the sort of news that should be delivered in person..." Boyd, in a rare moment of sincere vulnerability, says, "really? That's the only reason? After all these long years?" (paraphrased)

Givens: "Well, if I allow myself to be sentimental, despite all that has occurred, there is one thing I wander back to..."

Crowder: "We dug coal together."

Givens: "That's right."

And that's it. Fade to black.

Justified was always a show about Givens and Crowder: two old friends who went on dramatically different paths. But they are flip-sides of the same coin who share more traits than either would care to admit. And so the ending was perfect, and poignant. Despite all that has occurred, they were friends. They dug coal together, when they were nineteen, and one can imagine them in better days, as good friends in a dangerous job.

And at the risk of getting too metaphorical, the line "we dug coal together" has such potency, such resonance, because it means more than what it states on the literal level. All friendships are about digging under the layers; bringing up rare nuggets of the real person underneath of the daily facade.

Raylan and Boyd know each other. They dug coal together.

Thanks, Justified, for six great seasons, and the absolute best last few lines of any television series I've ever watched. Hats off to the whole cast and crew!

I hope to get through a chunk of "The Groundskeeper" today, and have it ready for publication on June 1st!

It's tough editing your own work, but it must be done. I think it was Hemingway who said "the first draft of anything is shit."

I couldn't agree more.

I'm currently going through the second draft of "The Groundskeeper" - the prequel to "The Art of Disposal"...

It's been challenging. The vibe and tone are different, yet the two books share some characters. Those who've read The AofD will be glad to know that Eddie Sesto and Dan the Man are main characters in the new book. Set in 1986, we get to see them as younger criminals, before the action of AofD.

I hope to have it published on May 1st.

Well, back to the red pen!

Happy New Year!

It's the Holiday Season! And seeing how "The Art of Disposal" has several Christmas references in it, what better gift could I give than a free copy of my book?

So get your name in my Goodreads drawing http://bit.ly/1vf5MhS and win a free signed copy of the hottest crime novel going... complete with 3 promo postcards!

Happy Holidays!!

Confession: I rarely use Goodreads. Since releasing The Art of Disposal, I'm trying to get more into it. But sometimes it just feels like there are TOO many social media sites, and it's hard to keep up with them all. Plus, over the years I've read a kazillion books... I can't backdate and review them all, or even remember them all... I just had this experience yesterday, where I was looking at some Karel Capek books, and I saw the title:

WAR WITH THE NEWTS

Whoah. I read that book many years ago, and I loved it! But I'd forgotten all about it. Yet, there it was, and when I thought about it, I could bring back a lot of the strange imagery and ideas in this very weird kinda sci-fi novel by a great Czech writer.

But I have neither the time nor the inclination to try to look up and enter in every book I've read over the years, before there was even such a thing as "Goodreads"...

I'm just glad I got to think of "War With The Newts" again... now, who borrowed that book from me? Why isn't it somewhere on my shelf??

I'm going back in time, to 1986, to explore a particularly exciting period in the life of Eddie Sesto.

Prequels are notoriously difficult, but, if done right, they are also very rewarding. It's fun to see a character when they are younger... to spend more time getting to know them; what makes them tick?

Though it won't be ready to publish for some months (at least), I'm excited about this new writing project.

I hope you are, too!

Still have one more signed copy of The Art of Disposal to giveaway... get your name in the Goodreads drawing by October 10th!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...