Tag Archives: Robert De Niro

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The Next Big Thing

I had been racking my brain wondering what I’d blog about on the final day of 2012 — the pressure of coming up with something poignant and/or intelligent that I discovered about myself as a writer or about the publishing industry over the past year — when, as luck would have it, the lovely Ellen Meister was kind enough to tag me in this blog chain/self-interview titled, “The Next Big Thing,” which totally took the pressure off. Whew!

As part of this blogging chain, writers answer 10 questions about their recently published or soon-to-be-published works (see Ellen’s answers here). I had the pleasure of interviewing Ellen this year about her book, The Other Life, for the television show, The Writer’s Dream, and am so looking forward to reading Farewell, Dorothy Parker — her fourth novel — which will be published by Putnam in February 2013.

Now, without further ado, here’s my 10-question chat:

  • What is the title of your book? Baby Grand
  • Where did the idea come from for the book? I truly wish I could remember exactly how and when I came up with the premise for Baby Grand. All I know is it happened sometime in my twenties, when I was working as a full-time editor in Manhattan. I used to commute every day by bus and/or train and would read lots of thrillers by authors such as John Grisham, Michael Crichton and James Patterson. I loved them. Devoured them. And, for some reason, I always thought I had it in me to write one.
  • What genre does your book fall under? Thriller
  • Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Although Robert De Niro was the inspiration for my villain Don Bailino when I came up with the concept in the mid-1990s, he’s kinda too old to play the character — although, as luck would have it, he’s now a perfect fit for Gino Cataldi (hint, hint). Bobby Cannavale, actually, would be an amazing choice for Bailino (I just saw him in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway — he stole the show). And I think Ginnifer Goodwin would make a great Jamie Carter.
  • What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A curly-haired toddler, a down-on-her-luck writer and the bad guys who brought them together. (Not quite a sentence, I know, but it does the trick.)
  • Was your book self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published

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Bryan Adams and ‘Baby Grand’

So I’m doing what I do every morning, checking out various social media sites for news and trends, and I come across the new song “Don’t Look Back” from Bryan Adams, one of my all-time favorite recording artists (his was my very first concert when I was a teenager):

http://twitmusic.com/embed/songs/don-t-look-back

And I think to myself, Hey, this is perfect for BABY GRAND. “Don’t look back” is a recurring theme in my debut thriller. And the song’s opening line, “Look into the eyes of a child,” made me think of little Charlotte Grand, who is at the center of the story.

So I ask Bryan Adams — via Twitter, of course — if I may declare “Don’t Look Back” the unofficial theme song of Baby Grand and he says yes.

How cool is that?

So there you go. New theme song. Next on the list is to get Robert De Niro to agree to play Gino Cataldi. Hmmm…