It’s Manic Monday at Writing Daze and time to begin another week of finding or taking the time to write. Writing Daze had a chance to ask Gary Morgenstein, author of the political thriller Take Me Out to the Ballgame about his writing day. Gary is on virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book.
Writing is 24/7. Every writer lives and breathes his craft every moment he’s awake, whether scribbling or not. The essential element of all writing is observing and processing and, well, spewing it all out in some altered form reflecting your creative DNA. Now this gets you into trouble in a number of ways. First of all, the preponderance of writers has “other” jobs. I don’t want to call them “real” jobs. So not only are we juggling writing with paying the rent, but we are also juggling writing with just how far we should go in writing about other people’s lives.
There is the question, of course, how much a writer can borrow/steal/intrude from reality. I think a writer must always remember that they are a person with responsibilities first and art shouldn’t trump that. Other writers disagree and think everything is fair game. I don’t believe in purposely hurting anyone. Sometimes you still do. Sometimes you must embrace your story and people will be upset that you fictionalized them or their story. That’ll teach them to have a relationship with a writer!
When I was writing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, I was working on a larger canvas – our political climate. Without being too prophetic – though I humbly believe I am – I wanted to capture the economic upheavals, the anxiety in the land, the political divisiveness, all within the setting of baseball. I don’t know of any other novel in recent memory similar to this.
It’s easy to succumb to your own politics, so I had to make sure I wasn’t lecturing. I wanted to be balanced and not have this come out as some thundering polemic. This is literature, not a campaign speech. But within those parameters, I wanted to make the point that whether in baseball or society, the fan, the citizen, must be preeminent.
It is about the people who buy the tickets or pay the taxes. Without them, there is no baseball, there is no government, there is no America as we know it.
About the Author
Gary Morgenstein is co-host of the popular MediaBlvd Magazine “Purple Haze” radio show, airing every Thursday at 9PM/ET at blogtalkradio/mediablvd.com. In addition to his dating and relationship book How to Find a Woman…Or Not, Morgenstein’s novels include Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, about a divorced man who falls in love with a beautiful woman rabbi; Jesse’s Girl, a powerful story about a father’s search for his adopted teenage son, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame, a political baseball thriller, as well as the baseball Rocky The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees. His prophetic play Ponzi Man played to sell-out crowds at the New York Fringe Festival. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, surrounded by lots of books and rock and roll CDs. He is Director, Communications, for the Syfy Channel.
New York native Gary Morgenstein is the author of four novels. Jesse’s Girl is a thriller about a widowed Brooklyn father who searches for his adopted teenage son who has run away from a Montana wilderness drug treatment program to find his biological sister in Kentucky. In the romantic triangle Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman, a divorced middle-aged man falls in love with a beautiful, enigmatic woman rabbi, while still in love with his ex-wife. Take Me Out to the Ballgame, a political baseball novel — baseball and bailouts, as American as appple pie –follows a Cinderella baseball team led by a ruthless owner with political ambitions. “The Man Who Wanted to Play Center Field for the New York Yankees” is a baseball Rocky.
He’s also the co-host of Purple Haze, the Media Blvd Pop Culture Hour Show which airs on Blog Talk Radio every Thursday at 9 p.m. (eastern time).
You can visit his website at www.gary.garymorgenstein.com.
About Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Baseball and bailouts, as American as apple pie. Weaving today’s economic malaise with the powerful magic of a Cinderella baseball team, Take Me Out to the Ballgame is a political baseball novel for our times. The Buffalo Matadors haven’t won a world championship in 37 years, a dying franchise. Until flamboyant Harry Witowsky, a 21st Century George Steinbrenner, buys them, vowing to do whatever is necessary to change the fortunes of the “Door Mats.” Victories and attendance climb as Witowsky creates an Us versus Them mentality at the Stadium. The rally cry of “Where’s My Bailout” replaces “Let’s Go Mats.” Buffalo’s surprising surge resonates with a nation afraid of losing jobs and homes, shaken by terrorist threats, frightened for the future. The Matadors become America’s Team.
Here’s what critics have to say about Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
For those of you that don’t know, I absolutely love Gary Morgenstein. He is in my top ten favorite authors of all time. I fell in love with Jesse’s Girl and Loving Rabbi Thalia Kleinman. Not only is Gary an extremely talented writer and storyteller, he is also one of the most down-to-earth person. I’m so glad that he has written these three books and I’m hoping there are several more to come.
–Bridget’s Review
…with a healthy dose of allegory and some not-so-allegory, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is a fun read sure to entertain and make readers think.
–Midwest Book Review
Gary Morgenstein’s TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on May 3 and end on May 28 2010. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing his book during his virtual book tour or click here to use the form. Thank you!
Great author, his books are so concise and insightful
ReplyDelete