Yes, I think my novel, Difficult Lies, would make an excellent movie. And I think my short story collection, Girlfriending, has stories that could be developed into miniseries and/or feature length films. To that end, I have mailed a copy of Difficult Lies to both Matthew McConaughey (back in February 2017, so I pretty much have given up on him) and Clint Eastwood (he just got his copy two weeks ago, so my fingers are still crossed). There is no way I know of obtaining their personal mailing addresses, so I found the name of a club where Mr. McConaughey plays golf, and the name of a club Mr. Eastwood owns. Addresses of the golf clubs were easy. The books arrived, but whether or not either of them ever had them in their hands is up to question.
In the case of Girlfriending, Alan Alda was in Toledo for the Author! Author! series, and Karen and I (and a couple thousand others) paid for a copy of his new book and an entertaining evening of stories and recollections he shared from his career. We hung out afterwards (with five hundred or so others) to get our copies of his book signed, and Mr. Alda soldiered through and signed every last one. He was gracious and friendly. I shook his hand and said, “I’m certain I’ll enjoy your book, Mr Alda, and I hope you enjoy mine.” At which point he smiled, took Girlfriending and handed it to a security officer who placed it on a pile of other things he’d been given. Yeah, nothing from Mr. Alda, either, as of this writing.
But hey, if you want to catch lightening in a bottle, you stand in a storm. It’s easier to engineer a storm than to find one.
An addendum: It is Christmas Day 2018 and as of this writing, I have heard nothing from Matt McConaughey or Alan Alda, and the copy of Difficult Lies I sent to Clint Eastwood was returned unopened. That protects him from lawsuits if he ever does a golf movie in the future–understood. Anyway, no lightening. Dang.