SMC — With his literary debut “Attention. Deficit. Disorder.,” author and Santa Monica College professor Brad Listi is experiencing the kind of success most young writers can only dream of, with his novel reaching No. 8 on the Los Angeles Times’ Best Seller list.
The fictional work, which has been described as both “American picaresque” and “something different, and defiantly genuine,” follows a 20-something named Wayne Spencer, who like many in his generation, seems to be wandering aimlessly through life, working as “a defeated day-trader and idling pizza delivery boy with a B.F.A. in avant-garde filmmaking.” Something dramatic occurs that sends the protagonist’s life spinning out of control, leaving him lost and searching for meaning in a world where everyone is in a hurry to move on to the next thing.
Positive reviews are nice, but Listi, 30, is more pleased that readers are connecting with his work.
“Most writers hope that they’ll have readership. You want your work to be found, people to read it and hopefully enjoy it,” Listi said in an interview last week, held at SMC following one of his creative writing classes. “I never sat down and said I want to be a best seller. I think you just hope it finds an audience. And I’ve been presently surprised that it made any list, let alone the Los Angeles Times. It’s been a big thrill.”
Because of his success, Listi is close to signing a deal to publish his sophomore effort, “City of Champions.” It’s all happening rather fast, and Listi admits it has been hard for him to catch his breath over the last few months, what with readings in New York, San Francisco, Orange County and Los Angeles, but through it all, he has remained dedicated to teaching at SMC, and credits much of his good fortune to lessons he’s learned from his students.
“This is my second year, and so far it’s been great,” Listi said of the college. “The thing about writing, and I was just telling my class this, is that when you’re writing, you’re by yourself. It’s a very internal process and there’s
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 3, 2006. Read the original PDF.