AuthorJim Flynn is a humorist, writer and novelist. He is available for speaking engagements. To contact email: [email protected] Archives
March 2025
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 There's a new kid on the block. And his name is JR Johnson.
He's pictured here, after he got beat up, but before he got his nose broken by the Russian with the crowbar. I thought about what I had written on this very blog a couple weeks ago. How I mentioned Breaking Bad, The Americans, Longmire, Occupied, Bosch, Person of Interest and some others. Guess what? None of the above are novels! When you learn at an advanced age to write a novel there's no shortage of advice. Some of it is contradictory. Self proclaimed experts don't even agree on what the definition of a novel is. The Hero's Journey. Save the Cat. The Nutshell Technique, The Anatomy of Genres, The Story Grid. I could go on, but I won't. Let's just say I have more than enough plot structure ammunition to defend myself in case I get stuck in a Boredom Competition on an airplane seated next to the librarian who wants to tell me all about the Dewey Decimal System. I could drone on about this stuff long enough to have the Dewey Decimal woman begging the flight attendant to change her seat. I was getting down to the end of my latest story and realized: It doesn't end here! It's not a novel. It's a long form tv show. So--I've decided: I'm a storyteller. And I'm going to present this story structured like a long form tv show. What does that mean to the reader? The first book is just about ready. The new title of the first book: Dead Men Don't Write Checks. The first book is going to be shorter than the previous novels; more like one season of a long form tv show. And there's going to be an audiobook version. And at least two sequels. Know anybody at Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount Plus? I've got a pitch for them. Comments or questions: [email protected]
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 You've got to pursue your passion.
Different people have different passions. This week I went to New York with my daughter. Fashion is her passion. Pictured are her Doc Martens custom glitter boots that she wore along with her handmade jacket. The jacket wasn't as flashy as the boots, but quite stylish, and way different than the run-of-the-mill black North Face parkas that so many commuters of both sexes wear these days. Combine that image with my daughter's 6'3" height and we had many people look at us. Correction: People looked at her. I was invisible. When we got home I thought I had missed out on the opportunity to bring her to a bank. Could have parked her in the middle of the bank floor and robbed all the cash. Nobody would have seen me. Oh well, maybe next time. Speaking of cash: A friend of mine told me about a recent plane flight on which a pleasant middle aged woman sat beside him. Turns out she was a librarian with a burning passion for: The Dewey Decimal System. Told him about it for a couple hours! "Really?" I asked. Really. She was so enthusiastic he didn't have the heart to stop her. I asked him how many decimal places did she get into, but it turns out he wasn't paying close enough attention. What a missed opportunity! That conversation started me on an online quest for more knowledge on the Dewey Decimal System. You know how starting a project like that can spiral you down an endless rabbit hole? I had to stop myself after a while, but I will share this: The Dewey Decimal System is owned by a non-profit corporation called the Online Computer Library Center, or OCLC, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. I'm not making this up. The OCLC charges over 30,000 libraries around the world to be members. I looked up the salary of the CEO of the OCLC. He makes over $2.2 million a year! Not bad for a librarian; someone who doesn't play second base or hit a golf ball at the professional level. That's about $42,300 per week. Who knew? Well, it's possible the guy has a lot of expenses---overdue library books and such. Maybe he uses thousand dollar bills as book marks. And let's not forget the decision making pressure cooker of stress the fellow is faced with: whether a book about World War II should be classified as general, 940.53, or if it contains info on espionage, maybe 940.5481. Where, oh where, to draw the line? I'm not an expert on non-profit accounting, but those organizations have to pay out enough in salaries so they don't show a profit. Sounds like a pretty good gig. Anyhow, it sometimes pays to pursue your passion. I'll be publishing my new book pretty soon, and if successful I hope to avoid being a non-profit corporation this year. The Dewey System should catalogue it at 813.54, Modern American Fiction, published after 1945. questions or comments to: [email protected]
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In The Cone of Silence3/1/2025  Remember Get Smart?
Agent Maxwell Smart used to get into The Cone of Silence with his boss at the spy agency so their conversations were kept secret. Pictured is the smaller version of The Cone, used when the bigger version was deemed not secure enough. How did the actors do this without laughing? I know it must have been many takes before they got it right, but still...that's what I call acting! It's time for me to go into the Cone of Silence about my new book, The Final Password. It's in the finishing stretch. I won't mention it again after this until it's coming out. Some of you may remember that I finished an early version about a year and a half ago. I didn't think it was good enough, so I did Page One rewrite, which is just what it sounds like. I used a different process to do this one. Example: I use Beta Readers, people who look at early drafts to make comments. But this time I used different people, who hadn't read the previous JR Johnson books. This is a darker JR. He's still funny, but he's not the same. Toni Anne is in the book, so is Barbara Jean. As I wrote I imagined this was a long form TV show, like Dexter, The Americans, Longmire, Bosch, or Breaking Bad. Would I watch a show based on this book? That was my goal. Notice I didn't mention Yellowstone. JR makes fun of Yellowstone in The Final Password. I guarantee you'll laugh. Unless you're a big fan of the Dutton family, in which case I may get some hate mail. Coming soon: The Final Password. Comments or questions: [email protected] |
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