I'm delighted to announce that today we introduce a new weekly series, "Ready to Serve: Writers and Artists in the Resto Biz." We got the idea after reading that Stephanie Danler had landed a two-book six-figure deal with Knopf while waiting tables in a popular West Village restaurant. One of her regulars was a senior editor for a major publisher; when she mentioned that she had finished her first novel, he invited her to send him the manuscript.
So many of us, myself included, have worked in the restaurant business, and not just in NYC and L.A., where struggling actors support themselves while waiting for a break. We've been waiters and chefs, bussers and bartenders, at every kind of establishment, from rest-stops on super-highways to temples of haute cuisine. I invited you to submit stories of your time in the service biz. We begin posting those stories today. Check back later for Anna West's tribute to her San Francisco waitressing years.
(Watch at 4:20-5:20).
-- sdh
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