Well yesterday's solution to my Act I issue (its ending) turned out, after several hours of work, to be a dead end. I have to try again, I guess. Though at this point I wonder if I should work on Act III for a while and let Act I simmer. Write without hope or despair, advised Flannery O'Connor. It's great advice, but far easier to say than do.
Like everyone in the world (including students at Florida State) I rooted for VCU to defeat FSU last night. It was only intermittently an enjoyable game to watch, but the ending was entertaining. Still, if VCU plays like that tomorrow (many turnovers, missing all their free throws) Kansas is going to beat them into the ground. At least, that's my prediction.
It's Saturday but the wife is at work, so it feels like a weekday. I stayed up last night talking to a friend in New York (Johannes) on phone. I should talk to friends more often (than never); it always lifts my spirits. In response to my telling him that owning chickens for pets has become a trend among a certain set of suburban housewifes, Johannes suggested I try and pioneer the trend of owning FOXES. It's an idea that offers much promise. We also are talking seriously about going to see a music festival in May, in Palm Springs. "Acting like we're still in our early 30s" as I told him. Maybe we'll wear do-rags!
This afternoon I think I'll watch Black Narcissus. It's a Powell/Pressburger "joint," as they say, and them's my people. All my new books from Amazon are starting to roll in; I should try and finish Crime and Punishment today as well. The last fifty pages are starting to lag a bit. Maybe too much Svidrigaylov? Jarrell's great definition of a novel springs to mind: "a long piece of prose with something wrong with it." There's always something wrong, but imperfection is life. The only thing that's perfect is Death, Dean Young writes (or something similar) in his book about how to write poetry (The Art Of Recklessness). An intriguing idea, if somewhat mystifying.
At least twenty of the words in this post are underlined in red. My spelling's not great, it seems. Well, mostly it's the proper nouns. But, look, people: I type this stuff fast. And usually I'm high on eight or nine drugs. And battery acid. So take what you can get!
4 comments:
I like this blog post per day thing. Keep it up, please. You're inspiring me to get back to my own. So far, I'm still in the inspiration stage -- need to reach the perspiration stage.
I'm rooting hard for Butler in this game.
Yes, JMW, cause if you leave off posting for too long, previously faithful readers don't bother checking your site when they run down their bookmark page.
Have you, Anciant, let all your readers know you are back? Is there a way to do that? Perhaps via email?
JMW: I'd love it if you started posting again. Please do. Your entries are always so well written. They're a pleasure to read.
Barbara, I've not made any effort to tell people I'm posting, no. Honestly, there's only about five or six people I write this for, and they all read it already. I have no aspirations to acquire a massive audience (which is good, since I'm in no danger of doing so). In fact, I write best when I imagine that no one will read this but me. Well, maybe not best. But..most unthinkingly. Which is the goal.
Oh.
I know what you mean. I had a subscription list of 60 people to an emailing I did once a week for years, but I also wrote it to one (theoretical) person at a time. Like my public speaking, one to one in a room of hundreds.
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