Today's writing

Let’s do something. Wasn’t that the reason we came here, to flee the drive to act? That tart old trope: Wherever you go, there you are. No escape. But we try. Oh, do we try.

I might be tempted to say that this describes me more than Rob, but that’s not the case at all. We sometimes hide in different places – him internally and me speaking far more than anybody should – but in similar ways. They’re not unique. We hide in our phones, our stupid conversations about nothing at all. By petting the dog, doing breathing exercises. We hide by living, through the stuff of the everyday. And in that sense, we’re getting ready to die.

Science on a rainy day

 

Santa Barbara, 2015

 

On the Cusp - Green Apple, Jan. 20!

 

COVID negative!

Tested negative at 2:30 in the morning. Seriously thrilled. Isolation sucks. But weirdly, in a way I'm a little nervous to rejoin the world. The human brain is so bizarre. 

Have I mentioned

How much I loathe Christmas? And the people who make a big fucking deal out of it? 

Now I have. 

COVID Chanukah

We've all got it. I got it and gave it to the boys. They were not exactly thankful. But we're all together and we're doing okay, which is the most important thing. 

Six years ago

 

Today's writing

Oh, I’ve been attracted to women before. Dated them on occasion too. It just never really felt like my thing even when I was doing it. Women are just a pain. The feminists of Berkeley, the old hippie hags and the woke folk alike, would have my ass for saying that, for painting an entire gender with one dubious and cynical brush. Let them. My mind is not the place where they enter. It’s not the place most people enter. If I went loose with everything I think and feel, everyone would probably want to cut off my legs. 

John Lennon, "Nobody Told Me"

Three, four

Well, everybody's talking and no one says a word
Everybody's making love and no one really cares
There's matches in the bathroom, just below the stairs
Always something happening and nothing going on
There's always something cooking and nothing in the pot
They're starving back in China so finish what you got

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Strange days indeed

Everybody's runnin' and no one makes a move
Well, everybody's a winner
And nothing left to lose
There's a little yellow idol to the north of Katmandu
Everybody's flying and no one leaves the ground
Well, everybody's crying and no one makes a sound
There's a place for us in movies
You just gotta lay around

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Most peculiar, mama

Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
There's UFO's over New York and I ain't too surprised

Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Most peculiar, Mama, roll

Toad the Wet Sprocket, "Nightingale Song"

We sing the nightingale song alive

Streets never border further than my eyes

We sing the nightingale song alive
We might be different but our hearts won't lie
And little ever changes if anything at all
But the song rings loudly through these halls

We sing the nightingale song alive
We might be different but our hearts won't lie
And little ever changes when you view it from the sky
The damage we encounter, Earth just passes by
Little ever changes, if anything at all
Just remind ourselves how small we are

My craft talk last night

"What We Can Learn about Writing from Reality TV"

Great editing. Amazing curation. We don’t see everything (bathroom breaks and such), nor do we have to unless it’s germane to the story. Comes off as fast and furious in reality shows, bur doesn’t necessarily need to. It just needs to be there in some strong structural form.

 

Repeated takes until it works. I realized this just yesterday when I was watching Hell’s Kitchen and they showed Gordon saying the same thing twice in different ways. Obviously they had done more than one take. Similarly, you will do way more than one take as you produce your work, whether it’s a short story, poem, novel-length work, or whatever.

 

You’re the director. It’s your job to orchestrate narrative structure as well as blocking and choreography so that we understand what’s going on here. Let your directorial muscle lapse and you’ll see it in sloppy writing.

 

Memorable personalities. You don’t go on a reality show if you’re bland. Likewise, bland characters are boring.

 

Tension. These people want things. They’re willing to go to great lengths to get them. How does this affect the interpersonal and community dynamic? The more tension the better!

 

Location has a purpose. These people are put there for a reason. That reason plays into  who they are and what they are willing to do to get what they want.

Drinks with Tony!

Check it out!

San Franciscan Magazine

I'm going to be featured there in spring! Exciting. Also, Writing Class Radio has tapped me to help develop a class with them. And I'm reading at The Racket Reading Series tomorrow and taping a Drinks with Tony podcast tonight. Shit's happening!

Residency envy

Once upon a time I did two weeks away without a blink. A month, twice. Now it's hard for me to get away for a few days.

I'm doing it, though. Next November I'm headed to The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow for a week. A blessed fucking week. I cannot wait. 

Sublime, "Santeria"

I don't practice santeria
I ain't got no crystal ball
But if I had a million dollars
I'd spend it all