That Little Voice in the Middle of the Night

Thought for the Fortnight

The email arrived at roughly 10.30 p.m.  I wouldn’t normally even look at my computer that late, but I was going to a funeral the next day and suddenly wondered if I was supposed to take flowers. I logged on to write to my friend who was giving me a lift.

And there it was – an email with the ‘about’ line saying “We think Life in a Hospice is amazing! We want to work with you!!!”.  Life in a Hospice is a book I wrote about hospice care as seen through the eyes of people who provide such care. As with all my books, I am very fond of it and, because of the subject matter, I think it has profound things to say.

Yes, I think it is amazing, too.

Beware of scams

But I am very aware of the many scams that exist in all areas of life, including some directed to ever-hopeful writers. My immediate reaction was that this was surely a scam. Too many exclamation points to be very professional. Altogether, over the top. 

On the other hand, Americans are fond of exclamation points. On its own, this wouldn’t rule anything out.

I read on and saw that it came from a named person, who said he was a senior production executive at a named film company. The email address confirmed this. He wrote that they were “on the lookout for captivating books” with the potential to become a documentary film, either as a series or a full-length film.

Moreover, he continued, “We believe that your book has the potential to translate beautifully onto the screen” and they wished to discuss this with me and “some of our investors” to work out the terms of any possible collaboration. There was mention of a possible contract.

And he understood that this was a big decision and that I might have questions or concerns and he would be happy to address these before moving forward.

Well, leaving aside the many exclamation points, it did seem serious. The obvious first step was to put the name of the film company into Google. Much to my surprise, the name did come up as a documentary film company associated with a well-known movie studio. Oh my God, I thought, perhaps this is serious.

So, the next step was to ask someone who would know about these things and I thought of two writers who might be able to advise. I sent them both a quick email and asked their opinion. 

Then time to go to bed. As indicated, I had a funeral the next day. I wanted my beauty sleep.

That little voice in the night

I am not a good sleeper at the best of times and I spent a terrible night. Forget about it, my rational voice said, it’s obviously a scam. But, said that other voice – the inveterate optimist – what if…? What if someone has recognised what a wonderful book Life in a Hospice is – and how well it would translate onto the big or small screen?  What if, so late in my life, the value of my work is suddenly being discovered?

Life in a Hospice was a labour of love, the first I undertook at my own expense after retirement. I had been used to the process of interviewing people, transcribing the interviews and writing books and reports based on the resulting material. But I spent my working life doing this on someone else’s dime, because they wanted to know the outcome. This one was instigated by myself and paid for by myself and it wasn’t cheap to do.

“Other people go on skiing holidays”, I used to say, “I chose to write a book about hospice care”. And I never regretted it. Compiling the book was fascinating. Full of the details of what goes on in a hospice, from anticipating patients’ needs in all sorts of ways to helping their loved ones after a death.

I interviewed a number of doctors and nurses, of course. But I also interviewed all manner of other people, such as the woman who handed personal effects back to relatives and the cook, who gave all his attention to encouraging patients to eat. All impressive people. And all loved their work – indeed, they felt privileged to be able to do it.

So yes, this small voice kept reminding me, yes it would make a very moving documentary.

The morning after

The following morning, there were emails from the two writers whose advice I had sought. They both said more or less the same thing – look into it, be cautious and run a mile if they ask for money.

And then I pursued the film company on Google with greater diligence. Several avenues told me the same thing – yes, it was a film company, but it had gone out of business in 2005. I could find no evidence of any working company with this name.

Alas, it was not to be.  My initial instinct was right. 

My wonderful book had not been discovered after all. 

But it has been very well reviewed and sold almost 5000 copies. I can console myself with that.

Over to you:

Have you received scams that made you stop and wonder?

Do you in any case suffer from that little voice in the night?