Val Emmich has been something of a Renaissance man for nearly 20 years -- a composer, lyricist, singer, band leader, writer and actor. Music fans know him as an accomplished singer/songwriter who's toured the country and released 10 albums, five EPs and several singles. His acting credits include appearances on HBO's "Vinyl" and network series like "30 Rock" and "Ugly Betty'' and in a host of commercials.
Now Emmich's tackling a new medium: Little, Brown will publish his first novel, "The Reminders," on May 30, followed by a concert and booking signing at Maxwell's Tavern in Hoboken on Saturday, June 3.
Emmich, who grew up in Manalapan and attended Rutgers-New Brunswick, now lives in Jersey City Heights with his wife and two daughters. That's where "The Reminders" took shape. But not before a couple of misses.
"I started writing long-form fiction in 2007, that's when I started my first novel, and it's been ten years of struggle," Emmich said. "I wrote two other novels that weren't any good and didn't get me an agent or anywhere, and in 2013, I began this one -- my third try. Then I got an agent in 2015 and it's finally being published in 2017, so it feels like a solid decade of 'I WANNA WRITE A BOOK.'"
"I've been telling people that I've been trying to do this for so long that it's almost become a running joke," he continued. "I got this little write-up in The New York Post and they mentioned the book, and then I got a write-up in The New York Times and they mentioned the novel. And I felt like the boy who cried wolf because I didn't actually have anything that anyone could read. I was just working on these ideas. So I feel like the build-up has been going on forever, and it's actually added pressure to me. You work on something like this for so long and you never know if anyone's actually going to like it."
Emmich can rest assured there. Advance notices have been terrific; buzz has been building, and I had the opportunity to read a galley copy and can attest that it's an entertaining and emotionally powerful read.
"The Reminders" tells the story of 10-year old Joan, who's been gifted (or cursed) with the ability to remember every detail of every moment of her life. The daughter of a struggling musician, Joan loves the Beatles, especially John Lennon, and wants to be a songwriter herself. So when a family friend comes to visit, and he's a former bandmate of her dad's, Joan enlists him to help her win a songwriting contest.
But Gavin Winters, the family friend, has a lot to deal with; a gay musician turned actor with a role on a hit series, he's reeling from the sudden death of his life partner. When it turns out Joan met the man on several occasions and can remember every second she spent with him, Gavin agrees to help Joan write her song in return for her memories.
But wait: Writing teachers always say to ''write what you know,'' and this is a book about a 10-year-old girl and a gay man. So did Emmich just throw away the rule book?
"Well, I completely ignored that rule for my first two novels, and I think that's why they felt so disingenuous and had no spark," Emmich said. "I really do think I wrote about what I know this time, which seems strange because of that question: How did I write in voice of these main characters? But there is the fact that they're from Jersey City, and there's the love of the Beatles, and the idea of songwriting as lessons for living and healing. So I definitely used things that felt instinctual to me."
"I didn't set out to write two characters who weren't me, it just happened organically," he continued. "The inspiration from the story came when I was staying home to watch my first daughter, and one day we went to Home Depot and my daughter fell out of the shopping cart and hit her head. She was only 18 months old at the time, and I really thought I had killed her. Now that I'm a seasoned father, I realize that kids are pretty invulnerable and things happen more often that you'd think, but for a while I was really scared about what might have happened."
The timing was right.
"I was in a funk at the time because I didn't have any acting jobs and I wasn't playing a lot of shows, and I didn't know who I was, I was just a dad," Emmich said. "And I just started writing the story from the perspective of this little girl who fell on her head, like my daughter. Maybe I just needed to tell myself it wasn't so bad, but I started to write from this little girl's perspective, and I just felt like I had something.
"All that coincided with me watching '60 Minutes' one night and seeing a piece about people with this specialized memory," he added. "Only about 30 people in the world have it. (Actress Marilu Henner is the most famous.) What if this little girl had that and could never forget the day she fell? I don't have that, I don't even have a great memory, so this was out of my wheelhouse, but I just felt like I had something, and I just kept working with it."
With two novels already in the trash, and no certainty the third would be any better, Emmich said it took a leap of faith -- and a feverish obsession -- to go on.
"I needed to write this book," he said. "It's some kind of weird tic that anybody would do this, because it's so lonely. You feel the whole thing rests on your shoulders, and that's an enormous responsibility. And you're there working on it by yourself, for weeks and months. And you never have it exactly right. ...
"I've been thinking a lot about the difference between writing a song and writing a novel lately," he continued. "When you're writing a song, you can just moan over a chord and express an emotion, you don't even need words sometimes to get a message across. With prose, you just have the words. It's simpler, but it's much, much harder. It's the hardest thing I've ever done."
Because Emmich already has a fan base as a musician, he's come up with a unique strategy to promote his novel. He's recorded an album -- mostly covers of songs that come up in the novel, as well as two unreleased originals -- that will be available on CD for everyone who buys a ticket to the Maxwell's show. A national book tour will follow.
"This summer, I'm doing a tour of people's homes, where I'll be doing some short readings from the book and playing a few acoustic songs," he said. "My hope is that the folks who are fans of my music will be my first readers, and when I asked if anyone would like to host an event like this, a bunch of people responded. So I'll be out most of July, and we'll see how it goes. But my publisher is excited I'm doing this. You do an event at a book store, you get 20 people in a big Barnes & Noble, and it feels like a disappointment. But if you get 20 people in a living room, it feels like a party. They'll come to see the music and leave excited about the book.
"My dream is that I have this big back catalog of songs just waiting for people to check out, and if they can discover the music by reading my novel, that would be great. I've been preaching to the same choir for many years now, and I'm really thankful for my little fan base, but it's really hard to grow. The thing I want to do most right now is play music. I think that's just because this book was so hard to do, and there's been such a long build-up. But I'm craving the community of playing music, and the instant gratification of an audience. You can't stand over someone's shoulder while they're reading your book. Even though I'd like to sometimes."
IF YOU GO:
Little City Books presents Val Emmich in concert at Maxwell's Tavern, 1039 Washington St., Hoboken, on Saturday, June 3. Doors open at 7 p.m., book signing at 7:30, concert at 8. Tickets are $7 in advance or $10 at the door.