n
Conner Carter is banished from New York for cheating on his socialite
wife, he flies across country to Sonoma, California to stay with his
brother Cody, Cody’s ridiculously wealthy husband, Rhett, and their two
adopted Cambodian children. Since childhood, Conner has been jealous of
the gilded life Cody has led, but Conner learns that what glitters often
tarnishes and shatters in shocking and dangerous ways. Having always
taken life’s easiest route, Conner now finds that path closed when he is
forced to step up for his brother when Cody’s personal life crumbles
after Rhett goes missing in Colombia on a documentary film shoot.
Conner’s world unravels when the woman he’s fallen in love with, their
black Puerto Rican nanny, Zinzi, finds her violent past catching up with
her. From the tattered and surprising pieces of these characters’
intense and complicated lives, these people will discover the strength
in WHAT REMAINS. - See more at:
http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2013/09/07/virtual-book-tour-pump-up-your-book-presents-what-remains-virtual-book-publicity-tour/#sthash.bCaxKNVd.dpuf
When
Conner Carter is banished from New York for cheating on his socialite
wife, he flies across country to Sonoma, California to stay with his
brother Cody, Cody’s ridiculously wealthy husband, Rhett, and their two
adopted Cambodian children. Since childhood, Conner has been jealous of
the gilded life Cody has led, but Conner learns that what glitters often
tarnishes and shatters in shocking and dangerous ways. Having always
taken life’s easiest route, Conner now finds that path closed when he is
forced to step up for his brother when Cody’s personal life crumbles
after Rhett goes missing in Colombia on a documentary film shoot.
Conner’s world unravels when the woman he’s fallen in love with, their
black Puerto Rican nanny, Zinzi, finds her violent past catching up with
her. From the tattered and surprising pieces of these characters’
intense and complicated lives, these people will discover the strength
in WHAT REMAINS. - See more at:
http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2013/09/07/virtual-book-tour-pump-up-your-book-presents-what-remains-virtual-book-publicity-tour/#sthash.bCaxKNVd.dpuf
When
Conner Carter is banished from New York for cheating on his socialite
wife, he flies across country to Sonoma, California to stay with his
brother Cody, Cody’s ridiculously wealthy husband, Rhett, and their two
adopted Cambodian children. Since childhood, Conner has been jealous of
the gilded life Cody has led, but Conner learns that what glitters often
tarnishes and shatters in shocking and dangerous ways. Having always
taken life’s easiest route, Conner now finds that path closed when he is
forced to step up for his brother when Cody’s personal life crumbles
after Rhett goes missing in Colombia on a documentary film shoot.
Conner’s world unravels when the woman he’s fallen in love with, their
black Puerto Rican nanny, Zinzi, finds her violent past catching up with
her. From the tattered and surprising pieces of these characters’
intense and complicated lives, these people will discover the strength
in WHAT REMAINS. - See more at:
http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2013/09/07/virtual-book-tour-pump-up-your-book-presents-what-remains-virtual-book-publicity-tour/#sthash.bCaxKNVd.dpuf
When
Conner Carter is banished from New York for cheating on his socialite wife, he
flies across country to Sonoma, California to stay with his brother Cody,
Cody’s ridiculously wealthy husband, Rhett, and their two adopted Cambodian
children. Since childhood, Conner has
been jealous of the gilded life Cody has led, but Conner learns that what
glitters often tarnishes and shatters in shocking and dangerous ways. Having always taken life’s easiest route,
Conner now finds that path closed when he is forced to step up for his brother
when Cody’s personal life crumbles after Rhett goes missing in Colombia on a
documentary film shoot. Conner’s world
unravels when the woman he’s fallen in love with, their black Puerto Rican
nanny, Zinzi, finds her violent past catching up with her. From the tattered and surprising pieces of
these characters’ intense and complicated lives, these people will discover the
strength in WHAT REMAINS.
When
Conner Carter is banished from New York for cheating on his socialite
wife, he flies across country to Sonoma, California to stay with his
brother Cody, Cody’s ridiculously wealthy husband, Rhett, and their two
adopted Cambodian children. Since childhood, Conner has been jealous of
the gilded life Cody has led, but Conner learns that what glitters often
tarnishes and shatters in shocking and dangerous ways. Having always
taken life’s easiest route, Conner now finds that path closed when he is
forced to step up for his brother when Cody’s personal life crumbles
after Rhett goes missing in Colombia on a documentary film shoot.
Conner’s world unravels when the woman he’s fallen in love with, their
black Puerto Rican nanny, Zinzi, finds her violent past catching up with
her. From the tattered and surprising pieces of these characters’
intense and complicated lives, these people will discover the strength
in WHAT REMAINS. - See more at:
http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2013/09/07/virtual-book-tour-pump-up-your-book-presents-what-remains-virtual-book-publicity-tour/#sthash.bCaxKNVd.dpuf
LEFT BRAIN, WRITE BRAIN
Writers of any ilk are an odd
lot. And I mean that with love and
affection, most especially since I fit into that herd. I have made my living for the past 30 years
as a playwright, screenwriter, novelist and writing instructor at the college level. I’ve had my successes and I’ve had my
failures. But I’ve managed to keep a
roof over my head, food on the table and raise my two sons. I love writers. Hell, I love artists of all varieties. They are the most interesting people I know.
Not sure what that stems from,
maybe it’s the “art” thing. You know,
artists shouldn’t have to worry about money.
Artists should focus on their art, money should be secondary. Or thirdary.
Or fourthdary. We should live in
small stone hovels with our imaginary friends to keep us company, eat lighting,
wrap ourselves in tattered blankets to keep warm from the winter chill, all to
maintain that status as an artist.
After all, isn’t a good artist one who starves?
I’ll save the suspense. No. A
good artists isn’t one who starves. A
good artists shouldn’t have to have two or three jobs to support their
“art.” Quite honestly, I’ve always
believed that a good artist/writer/musician/actor should have good commerce to
support their habit of actually having an adult life. Of raising kids if they wish, supporting a
spouse, going on vacations, and enjoying the best life has to offer.
But our business endeavors often
fall short of us actually making a living doing what we love. And isn’t that the key to life, finding what
you love and discovering a way to make a living at it?
For me it was writing. I just love it. It’s one of my passions in life and I’ve been
blessed to make a living at it. Maybe I
should consider myself one of the lucky ones.
But I actually believe all artists should make a living from their work. It may take some time to climb that unsteady
ladder but it is doable. I grew up very
working class. We always had food on the
table but we didn’t have a lot of the luxuries that my own sons now enjoy. I’m not complaining, I didn’t know better nor
did I care much about what I didn’t have.
I had enough. And I enjoyed what
I had. Mostly because one of the
greatest gifts my God gave me was a fertile imagination where I could make
anything far better than it actually was.
I’ve taught screenwriting at the
University level over the last few years.
I don’t think I’m particularly a great teacher but I know of which I
speak since I actually have made my living doing what I teach and I’m a great
motivator. I’ve been doing it long
enough that I can help younger writers find their voice, learn the craft and
take their first steps towards making their passion a career. And I start every semester by saying the
same thing to each class. I tell them
if they take nothing else away from my class, I hope they remember these
words. “When you make money you put it
in the bank.”
Having worked in the film industry
as a writer, where the money is probably better than any other form of writing
perhaps not counting being a New York Times bestselling author multiple times,
you actually can make a living as a writer.
You can support your loved ones and lead a relatively normal existence,
even being what is considered a B-level writer. But most writers, like most other artists,
since they have never learned the art of money that people who deal more closely
with money and how to handle it do, blow through it when they get it like a
bomb going off in a mud dam.
We either think it will keep coming
at the level it does or perhaps go up, up, up.
Not realizing that while that may be true, the up, up, up part. It’s only for a while. And then, for most of us, it goes down, down,
down. And we’re still spending like it’s
up, up, up.
This is where the very simple
concept of putting the money away, of living not only at your means but
actually below your means helps. Because
those down, down, down times can last longer than you would like. And if you haven’t socked that money into
investments with a broker that you trust enough not to follow him to work, know
where his kids go to school and what retirement village his parents live in…you
know, just in case…converted it into gold or simply stockpiled it in the bank,
the winters of your writing career can be cold.
And often lead you to places you do not wish to go to. Like getting a part time job to make ends
meet.
My mother was the cheapest soul to ever grace planet Earth. I used to hate it. Second-hand clothes. No vacations.
Leftovers three nights a week.
Now I know she was looking out for me.
Because while I’m still not very good with money. I knew how to save it. She made me smart enough to know that gravy
trains end. That physics applied to
money: if it goes up, it will come down.
So, I never lived above my means.
I lived modestly, never wanting but never extravagantly either. I saved when I made, and when I wasn’t
making, I tightened my belt that much more and stretched a dollar as if that
was an art unto itself.
But it allowed me to keep
writing. To keep creating. And this guy of modest means has been able to
live a life of passion for almost all of his adult life. And it’s a gift I am trying to pass along to
my two sons. To find what they love and
find a way to make a money doing what you love.
There’s such freedom in that. And
it can be done. But you have to know
what to do with money when you make it.
And the key to that is never live past it. To take your joy not from the money you earn,
and yes, in the arts you earn your money, it’s not a gift, but to take it from
the passion of creation. It’s rare that
anyone gets to do that. And it is the
greatest gift you could be given…or have earned.
Money is hard to understand for
most of us who work in the arts. But if
we don’t fear it, don’t believe it’s never ending, and simply live at a
comfortable level below what we earn from our art, we will always have to the
time to create which allows us to make more.
That’s the circle of life I am comfortable with.
About The Author
With two
feature films, eleven movies for television, four television series credits, as
well as eight theatrical plays produced around the world, WHAT REMAINS is
Bart’s second novel. Bart’s first novel, HONEYMOON WITH HARRY, was a critical
and commercial success and the movie rights were bought by Warner Bros./New
Line Cinema for a feature film. He’s
recently sold a film project in conjunction with the hit song by Miranda Lambert,
OVER YOU, to the Lifetime Network. Bart
lives in Ellisville, Missouri with his family. For more information about the
author and his work, please visit www.bartbaker.com.
Excellent post, Bart!
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