I dig

The hardest thing about writing is getting yourself into a state of not not writing, which -- when it gets really bad -- has me going for my stash of scribblings I've collected in a folder for no other reason than I never want to forget them. They have hydrating electrolyte-like properties.
I first learned about John Cheever in high school and read some of his short stories in college, which may have something to do with why I have a soft spot for seeing -- emerging from incredible strings of words and sentences -- every-day life under a microscope while maintaining nuance and decorum that is a mix of beautiful, neurotic, ordinary, sweet and a little bit dark. An example of what I mean is below. It's a gem, a passage I can read over and again without fully understanding all the reasons why I'm so in awe.

"We have a nice house with a garden and a place outside for cooking meat, and on summer nights, sitting there with the kids and looking into the front of Christina's dress as she bends over to salt the steaks, or just gazing at the lights in heaven, I am as thrilled as I am thrilled by more hardy and dangerous pursuits, and I guess this is what is meant by the pain and sweetness of life."
- John Cheever, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill

Excerpt Time!!

From my next NTWNGP, proof that I'm still trying to be motivated:

Loomis felt her eyes on him, and the effect was as though a lifetime of manners could slide right off. She regarded him up and down, her eyes at least stopping and looking straight at him with no acknowledgement at all of what she might be seeing. She was quiet. He couldn't figure out if her gaze was a trusting one, or all scrutiny, but he certainly liked having her across the table.

Yes, it took five years to write this one paragraph. Thank you.

Not much to like about emoticons

I've tried for about ten years to find something appealing about symbols and various bits of punctuation like colons and semi-colons to make stupid smiley faces or winking faces or "just kidding" faces or "stop stalking me" gestures, but I've given up. Maybe it's like how I feel whenever I try on a leather jacket at the store: some things just don't feel or look right on me. Leather jackets -- like emoticons -- make me feel self-conscious and a little ridiculous every time I see myself with one. I cringe or wince, and my sphincter might even tighten a bit. Maybe it's because I'm so fiercely ambitious and focused in life, but I always feel like my emoticons are telling me in their tiny li'l ironic voices that everything that came before needs to be re-evaluated and rewritten. My emoticons aren't very subtle. They tend to scream at me: "EDIT, DUMB ASS!" or "DO THE F OVER, BITCH!" Anywho, I don't even like the word emoticon. What a stupid word. I cringed even typing it just now. F-you, emoticon. You suck, emoticon.

Why I love Wikipedia

"When invigorated by spinach, Popeye can lift or press about 36 tons. [citation needed]"

A Real Person for Vice President!

The big vice presidential debate was last night. I had my own little superbowl party with all kinds of post-debate analysis. Here are some of our observations about Hockey Mom Extraordinaire Sarah Palin: she was chirpy and peppy. Her soundbites were well done or at least smiley and upbeat. She winked. She said, "you betcha" a few times, which made her sound tough as nails. She did a "shout-out" to a grade school back home is Alaska, which I found to be in touch with the times and definitely down with her homies. She asked Biden if she could call him Joe and then called him "Senator O'Biden." She incorporated many folksy expressions like "now doggone it" and "all of us that come from a diverse background of policy and partisanship," which ... well, I don't know what that means, actually, but it sounded pretty good, dangit. She said we need to understand that "lots of the American people are a-hurtin." She said something about McCain being the man we need to have "leave," then "lead." She declared to go beyond Vice President Dick Cheney in expanding the powers of the vice-presidency, which was very exciting. She told Biden his wife's reward for teaching is "in heaven" (forgetting, of course, that his first wife is already up there). She also said that John McCain knows "what evil is" and if that doesn't make him the best choice for president I don't know what does. All in all, I think she won over lots of her supporters. I feel that way especially after hearing the insights of an undecided voter who claimed Sarah Palin came across as "real."


This post is dedicated to the Union Civil War commander General George McClellan, not to be confused with Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan.

Rejected: Too American

Dear American Author,
You're too isolated, insular and untranslatable.
Cheers,
Horace Engdahl