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Cary Tennis

Cary Tennis
Location
San Francisco, California, USA
Birthday
September 11
Company
Salon.com
Bio
Born in Virginia, raised in Florida, lives in San Francisco. More could be said about this (and probably will be).

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APRIL 15, 2008 5:33PM

My Next Since You Asked Book

Rate: 1 Flag

So. Well, the next book. The next book I think I will call

 Problem Solved: True Stories of [21] Real People who Reached a Crisis, Asked for Help and Changed Their Lives.

How do you like the title? Kind of ok, I guess. It gets the point across. the idea is that people who have written in for advice and had it published, especially if it was published in the first SYA book, well, they will write to me and we will talk and I will find out all about what happened after they wrote for advice -- did they take the advice, if so what happened, were there surprises. They will be very interesting true stories of how people deal with stuff. And there is much more about it but that's the basics.

(Hmm. That wouldn't be very persuasive if I was pitching this to an agent, right? But Cary Tennis Books, LLC is going to publish this so we don't have to persuade anybody of anything. It will be good. We know that. So I can be my goofy and somewhat unprofessional self because this "open salon" thing is like a hangout place behind the building where we smoke pot and stuff, well, i don't smoke pot, but where, uh, well, nevermind.)

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I do often wonder what happens to the letter writers, so I like this idea. I would hope that you'd include some folks who took your advice, and frankly, wish that they had not, along with the success stories!
Katharine Mieszkowski
April 17, 2008 07:15 PM
If you did a mixed bag of people who made things better and worse, then maybe something like "About That Advice: True stories of xx people who asked what to do in a crisis and tried to change their lives."

"Problem solved" is ok. If you did do success stories only, maybe something less practical and mathematical... to convey a bit of the drama of the resolution. Just pondering here.

After the Turning Point. What happened after twelve troubled people took serious advice to get their lives together.

But Can You Make It Stick? Real People who Reached a Crisis, Asked for Help and Actually Changed Their Lives

Paying Attention: stories from real people who found help and changed their lives.

Crisis Averted. Debugging Your Life.

uh, I don't know this time around, no clear insight about what woudl grab somebody. But it's a great concept!
gail williams
April 18, 2008 02:18 PM
You're like the New York Times Magazine's "The Ethicist", right? He and I are from opposite sides of the same rotting little city in the microcosm of America, Pennsylvania. Seriously, I know who you are and I like your work. The idea of follow-through on people who actually took your advice would be the closest thing I could get to people in cognitive behavioral therapy and how they turned out after the actual therapeutic experience. Did it stick? Was it worthwhile?

I'm reading Christopher Bram's "Lives of the Circus Animals" today and he uses the dialogue-with-the-dead-on paper method of expressing feelings and obtaining closure. Your recommendation of a letter to the deceased or to someone close to her was prescient.

Responding to you this way is much better than writing to a wide audience. Thanks for participating in this trial.
John Marquette
April 25, 2008 07:43 PM
I remember you talking about this way back when you were plotting book one, Cary. Glad to see the idea is still in play -- definitely worth pursuing...
Scott Rosenberg
May 01, 2008 12:41 AM
Since You Answered

or

Since I Answered
King Kaufman
May 02, 2008 05:17 PM
Cary, I never wrote to you, but you've changed my life and I've meant to thank you for it many times, so here goes - Thank you. I read your column pretty much every day. Just over two years ago, I finally sought help because I thought I was bipolar. The person I picked to go to specialized in cognitive therapy, which you've mentioned with high regard. He was great.

I found out it was the daily drug use that was really my problem. I'm clean now and I've taken steps to work through what drove me to use. Now I can help others do the same and I can live and enjoy life like I couldn't before. My life is incredibly different now than it was a few years ago and part of the reason I finally reached out for help is you and your writing. It helped me realize I didn't have to try to fix everything on my own- that getting help could work. Thank you.
tomgrantusa
August 08, 2008 05:21 PM