A Writer's Tale, Page 2

  The issues contain articles, tips and jokes for pipe smokers mostly written by me.

  December 27 I began working on my novel, Dark Road.

  I worked as a library clerk at Mount St. Mary’s College in Brentwood.

  June 17 I received a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from Loyola University of Los Angeles.

  Summer I took classes in Library Science at University of Southern California, working toward a Masters Degree in Library Science in order to become a certificated librarian.

  In October and November, I published Smoker’s Blend II, two follow-up issues of my original periodical.

  1973

  March 5 I joined Mystery Writers of America. Soon afterward, I was invited to attend a meeting of the Pink Tea writer’s group. I ended up belonging to the group for about a decade.

  September I quit my job at Mount St. Mary’s and took a good job as the library assistant at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica.

  While working at John Adams, I attended USC and UCLA in my spare time (night and summer sessions). Over a period of about four years, I took teacher training and worked on a Masters Degree in Librarianship. I came out of it with a lifetime California teaching credential. I am permanently licensed in this state to teach secondary school and junior college English, and to be a secondary school and junior college librarian. Nice to have something to fall back on.

  1974

  April 25 My second story, “Roadside Pickup,” was bought by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

  August I briefly worked as the editor of The Executioner Mystery Magazine and The 87th Precinct Mystery Magazine. These magazines were published by Leonard Ackerman. They appeared to be sponsored and intended as some sort of conduit for stories written by clients of a certain famous literary agency that I’d better not name in print.

  1975

  Oct. 3 I sent a manuscript of my novel, Ravished (a revised version of the 1971 novel, Dark Road), to literary agent Richard Curtis. He didn’t think much of it. More than twenty years later, a significantly revised version would be published as the novella, “Fiends.”

  (This goes to show that rejected stuff is not necessarily without merit and value.) Oct. 9 In a letter to Richard Curtis, I told him about my current work in progress, Substitutes, which I had been working on “during the past 18 months.”

  June 24 Having sent Substitutes to Richard Curtis, I received a letter from him. He wrote that he and his staff were divided down the middle about the book’s virtues and shortcomings. However, the shortcomings won the day and he didn’t wish to handle the novel. “You have a definite talent,” he wrote, “and if you can learn to plot a novel better, I think we can break you into print in the novel field.” (I later broke into the novel field, but Substitutes has never been published.)

  August Ann Marie Marshall and I took a driving trip up the coast, visited the Hearst Castle and the Winchester House, then drove on to Lake Tahoe where we got married.

  (I’d met Ann through our mutual friend, Marshall Oliphant. At the time, Ann was working in reservations at TWA.)

  1977

  Jan. 28 I was elected for a two year term as regional director of the Los Angeles Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.

  April My short story, “Keeper of the Books,” was published in the Spring, 1977 issue of California School Libraries. (I don’t list this on my short fiction bibliography because it was not a professional sale.)

  May 3 I wrote to Jay Garon: “Saturday night (at a party hosted by Garon - R.L.), on the recommendation of Clayton Matthews, you said that you would be willing to look at my work. I recently finished writing Missing Pieces, a mystery novel. The manuscript is enclosed.”

  June 28 Based upon my novel, Missing Pieces, (which is so far still unpublished) I was taken on by the literary agency of Jay Garon-Brooke Associates. I needed to sign a three-year contract with the agency.

  June - Aug. Instead of working the summer session at John Adams, I stayed home at our apartment in west L.A. and wrote my novel, Beast House, which would eventually be published as The Cellar.

  Sept.19 I sent my gun confiscation novel, Take ‘Em, to Jay Garon.

  Oct. 28 I sent the manuscript of my novel, Substitutes, to Jay Garon. In my letter to Garon, I told him that I wrote Beast House over the summer, and that I was currently halfway through a novel “about a girl’s revenge on the man who raped her.” This was Lo Down. I later finished the first draft of Lo Down, but I have never completed a final draft of it. The book was a little too nasty, and I’d been advised to back away from the really rough stuff.

  Nov. Ann and I moved into our house in west Los Angeles.

  Nov. 17 Garon wrote to me, “We love Take ‘Em as a hard cover possibility and Substitutes as a good paperback. (Neither novel has ever been published.)

  May 26 My novel about gun confiscation, Take ‘Em, was rejected by Warner Books.

  June 12 -Jay Garon wrote to me, “I had made a presentation of what I considered two of your best to Warner, but to the top man (Larry Kirshbaum, I believe R.L.)… In another 10 days or so, I may have an interesting deal with Warner in a major way.”

  Sept. 19 Jay Garon wrote to me, “We have read The Keepers and like it. You did a splendid job on this one. We immediately sent it out on multi-submissions.” (It has never sold.)

  1979

  Jan. 26 Beast House (to be retitled The Cellar) was bought by Warner Books for $3,500.

  April 18 Your Secret Admirer was bought by Scholastic for $3,000.

  April 25 Ann and I had lunch in New York City with John Kinney, my editor at Warner Books.

  May 7 Jay Garon wrote to me that he had sent The Keepers to John Kinney.

  June 21 Got news that Warner Books was giving me a three book contract for $45,000.

  July 25 Our daughter, Kelly Ann Laymon was born at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood.

  July 31 I mailed out the manuscript of my mummy novel, Dead Corse, to Jay Garon.

  (This book never sold.)

  Sept. 7 I mailed the manuscript of my novel, Secret Nights, to Jay Garon. (This book never sold.)

  Sept. 12 My short story, “Stiff Intruders,” was bought by Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine.

  Sept. 13 A full, two-page ad for The Cellar appeared in Publishers Weekly.

  Sept. 22 Jay Garon informed me of “strong movie interest” in The Cellar. (Nothing came of this.)

  Oct. 6-7 I attended a Bouchercon in Culver City, and recall playing a lot of poker with Bill Pronzini.

  Oct. 22 The Cellar was bought by New English Library for $24,000.

  Oct. 23 I resigned my position as librarian at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica. The resignation would become effective January 31, 1980.

  Dec. 4 I mailed the manuscript of my novel, The Woods Are Dark, to Jay Garon.

  1980

  January The Cellar was published by Warner Books!

  Feb. 7 At the old, dark house of our close friends, Chris and Dick Boyanski in Clayton, New York, we fooled around with a Ouija board and it seemed to give us coherent messages. This incident eventually led to my Ouija board novel, Darkness, Tell Us.

  Feb. 13 In New York City, Ann and I had lunch with my Warner Books editor, John Kinney. Then we went to dinner at York, and Jay Garon’s party.

  Feb. 14 We had lunch with Jay Garon at Sardi’s. That evening, we had dinner with our friends Bill and Marie Chambers.

  April 1 I sent a revised version of The Woods Are Dark to Jay Garon.

  June 1 We went to a poolside party thrown by Harold Moskovitz, my new film agent and Garon’s protege. (He never sold anything for me.)

  July 7 My novel, The Woods Are Dark, was accepted by Warner Books.

  July 29 I mailed my finished novel, Out Are the Lights, to Jay Garon.

  Aug. 12 I mailed the manuscript of my second young adult novel, Nightmare Lake, to Jay Garon.

  Aug. 16 Back in upstate New York, we drove up to Gananoque, Canada. There, we went
into a memorable House of Horrors that inspired quite a lot of my material, but especially some of the ideas I used in the final sequence of Funland.

  Nov. 14 I went to my first and last P.E.N. meeting. The folks at P.E.N. seemed largely stuffy, self-important and pretentious.

  Nov. 21 The Pink Tea meeting was held at Gary Brandner’s house. He invited Dean and Gerda Koontz. I had never read any of Dean’s books, but I’d recently read Funhouse by Owen West, so I was impressed to meet him. I blurted, “You’re Owen West!!!” He admitted to a fondness for The Cellar, and we started a friendship that has continued to this day.

  Dec. 20 Though Ann had to stay home because we couldn’t find a babysitter for Kelly, this was our first invitation to Dean and Gerda Koontz’ house. I couldn’t bring myself to miss the opportunity, so I went alone.

  1981

  Jan. 13 I received an advance for Out Are the Lights from Warner Books.

  Jan. 15 I finished writing Allhallow’s Eve.

  Jan. 16 The Woods Are Dark was bought by New English Library.

  Feb. 24 I mailed the manuscript of my novel, Allhallow’s Eve, to Jay Garon. It was supposed to be book three of my three-book contract with Warner Books. But it was rejected.

  March I worked on screenplays for The Cellar and The Woods Are Dark. (Nothing has come of them, so far.)

  March 13 I began writing my invisible man novel, Beware!

  April 2 I mailed the finished two screenplays, plus the manuscript of my novel, The Hag to Jay Garon. (The Hag was a revision of Dead Corset)

  In my letter, I told Garon about a new idea. “This is a horror story that is not occult or supernatural. It also, I think, has great series potential. The protagonist is an agent of a small, secret government department that investigates and “deals with” SPECIAL OCCURRENCES reports of such matters as alien sightings, ghosts, satanist activities, or other strange circumstances that would not fall within the bailiwick of normal law enforcement activities.” (Golly, sounds a bit like The X-Files.) April 28 - May 5 Ann and I traveled to New York City for the production of the play, Ah, Men. Its producer, my agent Jay Garon, had talked me into investing in it. Nobody told us that the opening date had been changed, so Ann and I showed up a week early and missed it. We got to see a rehearsal, though.

  June 9 I received the contract from New English Library for Out Are the Lights.

  June 19 Finished the first draft of Beware!

  June 25 Mailed Beware! to Jay Garon. This was supposed to be the third book of my three book contract with Warner Books. But it was rejected.

  June 27 I began making notes for a sequel to The Cellar.

  July 14 I received the contract for The Lawmen, to be written under the pseudonym Lee Davis Willoughby. I started working on The Lawmen, postponing work on my sequel to The Cellar.

  July 30 In a letter to Jay Garon, Warner Books editor-in-chief Bernard Shir-Cliff rejected Allhallow’s Eve, Secret Nights, and Beware! In regard to Secret Nights, a reader report stated, “The incestuous twist in Roger’s parentage as well as his secret attic con-finement is too blatantly a rip-off of Flowers in the Attic.” This really annoyed me. I hadn’t “ripped off” that book or even read it. The report on Beware? stated, “Laymon only succeeds in creating an uneven mish-mosh with occasional moments of sex and sadism to try to hold the reader’s interest.” She also wrote, “Why invisibility? Why not back from the dead or something along the Shadow’s line where the subject has the “ability to cloud other people’s minds.” Why not, indeed?

  Aug. 3-5 I wrote my short story, “The Grab.”

  Aug. 14 I started working on my secret project about people being marooned on a tropical island between California and Hawaii. (There isn’t an island out there!) The project was instigated by a couple of film guys. They had an elaborate plan to make the book into a huge bestseller and blockbuster film. I was to ghostwrite the book and keep mum about my participation in it. Unfortunately, their detailed plot outline was pretty much ludicrous and they refused to let me fix it very much. I ended up wasting a lot of time on the project, but I did get paid at various stages. For the purposes of this chronology, I will refer to said project as Hollywood Goons.

  Aug. 15 I dabbled with the outline of a wishes book.” I wish I could remember what that was about.

  Aug. 17 I worked on the outline of a novel called Servant.

  Sept. 1 Having given up on trying to revise Beware! for Warner Books, I mailed the outline of a completely new novel to Jay Garon Dark Sacrifice.

  Sept. 2 My short story, “The Grab,” was bought by Gallery magazine.

  Sept. 29 My short story, “The Champion,” (which had appeared in the 1980 anthology, Modern Masters of Horror) was optioned by Universal for the television series, Dark Room. The show, with James Coburn as the M.C., would be cancelled before it could film my story.

  Oct. 24 Dean and Gerda Koontz came over to the house for dinner for the first time.

  Nov. 2 I had dinner at the restaurant, Joe Allen’s, with one of the primary guys behind Hollywood Goons. A fictional version of the restaurant would show up in Night Show, when Tony rushes at people dining at a patio table. So something good came out of a lousy situation.

  Nov. 13 I spoke to a writers’ group at Orange Coast College.

  Nov. 16 I wrote a desperate letter to Jay Garon about the possibility of abandoning the disastrous Hollywood Goons project. He advised me to stick with it.

  Dec. 18 I started making notes for a novel called, Chill Master, later to be known as Night Show.

  1982

  Jan. 3 I finished Beware! revisions that I’d started in November, 1981.

  Jan. 11 My outline for Hollywood Goons was accepted.

  Jan. & Feb. Most of both months were spent working alternately on Hollywood Goons and Chill Master (Night Show).

  March Ann and I left Kelly with my parents in Modesto, and we spent a week in Hawaii with our friends, Frank and Loretta Beard. After returning, we stayed a few days in Modesto. Then we got home and I devoted all my writing time to Hollywood Goons.

  March 26 My three book contract with Warner Books, which included The Woods Are Dark and Out Are the Lights, was terminated with extreme prejudice.

  April 22 I mailed a revised version of Beware! to Jay Garon. April 30 The first draft of Chill Master was finished.

  May 10 I changed the title of Chill Master to Night Show and mailed the manuscript to Jay Garon.

  May 19 I delivered outlines of Out Are the Lights and Night Show to film producer/director Andrew Fenady for possible film development. (Nothing ever happened.)

  June 3-12 I worked briefly on a possible novel about Edgar Allan Poe, but never got very far.

  June 15 I started a novel with the working title, Curse, which I later called Tread Softly. The book was also eventually called Dark Mountain in the Headline edition. After working on it for a week, I went back to work on Hollywood Goons.

  June 6 A momentous date! I finished the first draft of Hollywood Goons! But alas, it was not to be accepted or ever published.

  July 16 I returned to work on Curse.

  July 30 I mailed the manuscript for a short-short story, “Tiny,” to Gallery magazine. It was rejected.

  Aug. 2 I mailed the short story, “Bedtime Stories” (the “Hairy Hand” story) to Twilight Zone magazine. It was rejected.

  Aug. 4 I mailed the short story, “Opening Night,” to Playboy magazine. Also mailed the short story, “Pick Up” to Woman’s World. Both stories were rejected.

  Aug. 5 I started work on a novel with the working title, The Dump, which I ‘was trying to write in collaboration ‘with the mystery writer, Robert Colby.

  Aug. 10 My young adult horror manuscript, Nightmare Lake, was bought by Dell. It would be published as part of the Twilight series under the pseudonym, Carl Laymon.

  Oct. 12 I wrote a letter to Jay Garon informing him that I’d happened upon a paperback version of Modern Masters of Horror. Though it contained my story, “The Champion,” I’d
never received payment for any paperback version. Was this a foreshadowing of things to come?

  Sept. & October Throughout these months, I divided most of my time between The Dump and Curse. Toward the end of October, however, I got dragged back into Hollywood Goons for some major revisions.

  Nov. Mostly, I worked on The Dump and Curse,

  Dec. 4 After doing my final work on The Dump, I quit the project.

  Dec. I worked the rest of the month on Curse.

  Jan. 27 I finished writing the first draft of Curse.

  Jan. 29 New English Library bought Beware! and Night Show.

  Jan. 31 I started work (again) on my sequel to The Cellar, which I was calling Cellar E.

  Feb. 1 I changed the title of Curse to Tread Softly with Care. Feb. 4 I mailed Tread Softly with Care to Jay Garon.

  Feb. 9 I had a meeting with Lynn Rudman about William Morris interest in film version of Out Are the Lights. (Nothing ever came of it.)

  March 10 I mailed a revision of Tread Softly to Garon.

  March 18 Mailed a Hollywood Goons revision to Garon.

  March 22 My short story, “A Place Called Joe’s,” was accepted by Mel Cebulash, publisher of the “Fastbacks” at Pitman Learning.

  March 29 My short story, “Cardiac Arrest,” was accepted by Mel Cebulash.

  April 14 My short story, “Dawson’s City,” was bought by Mel Cebulash.

  May Mostly spent working on Cellar II.

  May 6 My major revision of Hollywood Goons ‘was rejected by the Hollywood goons.

  May 16 My short story, “Intruder,” was bought by Mel Cebulash. June Nearly all month was spent working on Cellar II.

  June 28 I mailed short story, “Chopper,” to Mel. It was later rejected.

  July 8 My short story, “Night Ride,” was bought by Mel. July 27 My short story, “Live Bait,” was bought by Mel.