Everyday I Write The Book

So my life these days is a lot like an Elvis Costello song. No, not "Accidents Will Happen" (although there's a grain of truth in that song as well). Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of "Everyday I Write The Book." Because, that is exactly what I'm spending most of my time doing -- writing a book. Not about Elvis Costello though. Actually it's a book about Neil Young.

The way this came about was I was contacted last winter out of a clear blue sky, by a guy named Robert Rodriguez, who also happens to be the author of a pair of great books about the Beatles called Fab Four FAQ and its sequel Fab Four FAQ 2.0. As it turns out, Rodriguez was already familiar with my work for Blogcritics (proving it's really true that you never know who is actually reading you on the Internet). He also happened to be spearheading a similar series of "FAQ books" for Hal Leonard Publishing.

Robert wanted to know if perhaps I was interested. I dunno...I mean , gee, ya' think?

When Rodriguez approached me about writing one of these, I was actually as surprised as I was thrilled. Actually, I just about fell out my chair. I mean, me? Write a damn book? You' gotta' be kidding, right?

I've always wanted to write a book, but could never really figure out what the topic would be or how to get started with it...something about all that discipline crap. Rodriguez solved both of these problems for me -- by giving me the motivation for the task at hand (not so much because of the whole money, fame and fortune thing, but more because of the whole idea of becoming an actual published author), and by handing me a topic.

Actually, Robert handed me a whole bunch of topics in the form of a list of artists I could choose from to write about. My first choice -- Bruce Springsteen (big surprise there, right?) -- was already claimed. So, after eliminating people like Bob Dylan (too damn hard) and Sir Mix-A-Lot (sure I know the guy, but "Baby Got Back" and "Posse On Broadway" aren't exactly gonna' be good for 150,000 words),  I settled on the next best thing. I went with Neil Young.

After months of back and forth negotiations between Robert, the folks at Hal Leonard, and myself, the final contract arrived this week, and I signed on the dotted line. So it's official. I'm honest to God really doing this.

Now, while I am absolutely thrilled that I'm very soon going to be an actual published author (the book comes out next year), don't let my elation fool you. I'm still flat broke, and I still need a damn job. Nothing has changed there. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who writes books gets rich, or even makes a living at it. In fact, most authors are as broke as I am. For every Stephen King or J.K. Rowling out there, you'll find at least a hundred or so starving authors. I'm very happy with the terms I agreed to in the contract with HL Publishing, but believe me, I won't be getting rich doing this anytime soon.

Even so, for me this represents the fulfillment of a dream, so let me just say this again for emphasis:  I'm writing a damn book! Whoo-Hoo!!

The work has so far been very hard (150,000 words isn't gonna' be a walk in the park, even for a verbose sumbitch' like me), but also very fulfilling. In researching and reacquainting myself with Neil's amazing story, I'm learning a lot of things about him I never knew before, and rediscovering my love for his music by listening to all his albums again, only this time with a much more critical ear.

There have been a lot of nights writing until the sun comes up too. But every minute of it has been worth it. The narrative is also coming to me fairly easily -- at the rate I'm going I should be able to come in well ahead of my deadline.

So be on the lookout for Neil Young FAQ, coming soon to a Barnes And Noble near you sometime next year.

Did I mention I'm writing a damn book? Repeat after me, Glen Boyd: Published Author. Damn, I like the sound of that already!