AUTHOR HITS PRIME AT LONG ROAD'S END.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Dick Wimmer feels like he's hit his prime. The '90s have been good to the Agoura Hills author - and '97 is shaping up to be a capstone year.

For openers, he has sold his first novel to Hollywood. And three books that he either wrote or co-edited will be marketed this year - with a fourth set for '98.

Such success contrasts with earlier, tougher years for the novelist and college teacher who walked away from his father's million-dollar pest control business some 30 years ago to pursue a dream of being a writer.

In 1988, Wimmer had published his first sportswriting anthology. But he searched for years to find a publisher for his first novel.

Wimmer's first novel, ``Irish Wine,'' was published in 1989. It was a long road to publication - 162 publishers rejected the volume before it finally made print.

Since then, Wimmer has published a second sportswriting anthology, a second novel and won a nationwide short story contest. He's also sold ``Irish Wine'' to Hollywood.

And rather than focusing on past rejections, the now veteran novelist counsels fellow writers about the importance of supreme self-confidence and aggressive self-marketing.

``Writers have taken rejection as their due,'' Wimmer said while stroking a white cat named Kirby Puckett (named after the former Minnesota Twins baseball star). ``But I've learned that you have to be aggressive about it. You have to get out there and sell yourself, otherwise, you may end up like Toole, the guy who wrote `Confederacy of Dunces.' ''

After receiving dozens of rejections for the first novel, Toole committed suicide, and the novel was published posthumously through his mother's efforts.

Wimmer also said that the support of fellow writers has been a help. ``I've always believed in myself, but it also helped that while I was getting rejections, I was also getting letters from writers I admired praising the book.''

Some of that praise ended up as book jacket blurbs. Writers like the late Anthony Burgess, and Malcolm Cowley, compared Wimmer to Joyce Cary and J.P. Donleavy.

`` `Irish Wine' is absorbing and beautifully written,'' Burgess wrote. ``While the Joycian influence is there, the book is not derivative.''

Wimmer also studied the public posture of successful writers.

``I came to believe that you have to maintain that confidence despite rejection,'' Wimmer said. ``I learned a lot from my friend T.C. Boyle, who completely believes in his talent. I think a writer has to do that and modesty doesn't fly anymore.''

And after those years of work as a seldom-published writer, Wimmer is enjoying his success.

``I've paid my dues, and my time has come,'' he said. ``I believe I deserve the approval I've earned.''

Part of that success came in the form of glowing reviews for his first novel.

Wimmer, though, also learned that success can sometimes include disappointments.

``When it was published, I said to myself, what's the best thing that could happen? A glowing full-page review in the Sunday New York Times Book Review section - and that happened, and the book still didn't sell.''

Wimmer blames poor sales on poor distribution.

``The week the review came out, the publisher didn't have the books on the shelves,'' he said. ``I told the distributor, look, if you don't have the Wheaties on the shelves, people will buy the Cheerios!''

Wimmer has also endured something of a publishing education over the past few years.

``Most of the major publishing houses have eliminated mid-list literary fiction, with the exception of St. Martin's Press, which publishes about 35 novels a year, hoping that two or three of them will sell and finance the publication of the others,'' Wimmer said. ``But all the publishers want blockbusters now.''

Wimmer hopes the release of his second novel, a sequel to ``Irish Wine,'' will coincide with the first book's release as a movie. He said ``Irish Wine'' is slated to go into production this summer.

Creative Artists Agency is packaging the project, Wimmer said. And the agency's team is now trying to cast the lead.

``We were looking at Geoffrey Rush, but now that he's won the Academy Award, he's too expensive,'' he said. ``So we're thinking of Gabriel Byrne or Kevin Spacey.''

And though he drops Hollywood names with ease, the glare of the bright lights haven't distracted Wimmer from what he views as his real purpose.

``Suddenly, I have four books out, and my first book is in the works as a movie,'' he said. ``So I thought about ways to parlay that into other ventures . . . but I ended up thinking that what I really am is a serious writer of fiction.''

In good times and in bad, Wimmer seems sustained by his love of writing.

``People remember the 162 rejections as though I was a freak of nature, but of course, that was what was newsworthy about the story. When for me as a writer, it was always about the work itself, about the quality of the work,'' he explained.

``And now I'm in my prime with a wonderful zest and energy for the work itself.''