Brogan: Happy Anniversary!!!

April 29 marks the 5 year anniversary since my book, "Was That a Name I Dropped?" was published. In some ways it seems like only yesterday while in other ways it seems like a lifetime ago.

Today, about 100,000 readers later, I have not a single regret about having told my story, without mincing words or holding back. The only thing I would have done differently would be to self-publish. Why? Because that would have given me a little more latitude without the constraints imposed by a publishing company. They set a certain date for publication and I would have liked another 6-8 weeks to fine tune, further edit, and methodically check for any errors in punctuation, paragraphs or sentence that run on too long.

I think my English teachers at Brady would probably give me a B for the finished work, noting the necessity for me to make some changes and improvements. Of course looking at the work today, I could easily spend a month restructuring portions of the storyline and adding a few stories that would have provided some much-needed humor during the more difficult portions of my journey.

I’ll never forget sitting in Doris Day’s luxury trailer on the Burbank Studios lot in June of 1974, talking with the celebrated writer A.E. Hotchner, about my desire to pursue a writing career. Hotchner was already an award-winning writer and would later form a business partnership with Paul Newman to create Newman’s Own.

“Write what you know”, Hotchner advised me. He continued, “…and if you write about yourself do not use that as an opportunity to rewrite your life or change it into something you’d have wished it could have been. Your readers will pick-up and that and they’ll know it’s phony and false……”

I heeded his advice and wrote with frankness and brutal honesty, not caring how I might be judged by my readers. Better to show the warts and all that most of us have, than to sugarcoat an often challenging path.

“Was That a Name I Dropped?” seemed like the right title. In my life I had certainly been fortunate enough to rub noses with some of the most celebrated entertainment individuals on the planet. From doing an imitation of Katharine Hepburn singing in the musical “Coco” for Miss Hepburn in her New York home in 1984, to attending Elizabeth Taylor’s gala 60th birthday party at Disneyland in 1992, to spending hundreds of hours with Doris Day, it had been quite a ride.

Critics and readers alike seemed to respond to the 500 plus pages that mixed a lot of famous folks with a lot of less than pleasant incidents.

David Kaufman, a celebrated New York writer said in his review: “What comes across more than anything else is Paul's unquenchable sprit as well as his compassion for everyone-even the reader-he-has-yet-to-meet, who, time and again, will feel compelled to identify with what Paul is going through. I can't decide what impresses me more about Paul's book: his candor or his ability to recall so many emotional details as he looks back at a life chock-full of one roller-coaster ride after another. But then, neither his forthrightness nor his keen memory should surprise”

A Los Angeles paper noted, “"Was That a Name I Dropped?" is the most riveting book I've encountered over the past several weeks. In a very intense and hyper-intelligent story, Paul Brogan details his life growing up in a small town in the Northeast.”

Our own Gibson’s Bookstore arranged for a book-signing event to be held in late June at their store. Because much of my story was set in Concord, I loved the notion of sharing my good fortune with many of the people who helped to influence me and to forgive me my sins over the years.

Curiously the Concord Monitor had no interest in writing anything about the book. As fate would have it, however, there was a new source of news in Concord – The Concord Patch. The fledgling publication welcomed the chance to help me tout my book, my upcoming Gibson’s event and share thoughts and feelings about my lifelong love affair with Concord. The book, after all was framed by my decades of discovery within our endlessly fascinating community.

The event at Gibson’s went well and I found my book their top-seller for the week. Imagine my shock, however, when later that summer, my book topped the lists on Amazon.com. In a rare display of self-indulgence, I carefully copied and displayed in a scrapbook, all of those number one listings. It was a testament to how honesty and truth can and should pay-off.

I found a wonderful niche with Concord Patch and in the years since, have regularly written over 150 blogs, even winning a NH Press Association Award in the process. Writing, however, should not be about amassing awards and honors but sharing thoughts, feelings, ideas, or knowledge with others in the hopes of enriching them.

My book was snatched up and optioned by an eager producer, who feels it would make a good movie or television dramatization. However, it currently languishes in what those in the biz call “development hell” where it might or might not actually happen. However, the rights revert back to me next year, so who knows?

On its fourth anniversary a year ago, I took the book officially out of release, feeling that anyone who wanted to read it would have had the chance. However, used copies continue to be available on Amazon.com at insanely ridiculous prices of over $100. And they sell, although I get nothing from it since these are used copies being bandied around. Had I known I might be worth that much, I would have hoarded dozens of copies myself.

It's obscene to pay that kind of money for a book by me!!! If anyone would like me to send a complimentary copy of the story via e-mail, please e-mail me at pebrogan@gmail.

For me, it has been a joyous ride and a chance to help others through my own experiences. When speaking to audiences at colleges and other entities, I find that there are always dozens of questions needing to be asked from individuals who are seeking their own path in life but hoping to find a fragment of guidance from my journey.

If I can leave nothing more than the realization that my story saved a life or spared someone needless misery, then that is a legacy of which I will be forever proud of.