The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 11/19

I wouldn't say there isn't anything interesting going on in the world right now, but the arguments haven't changed much in the past day. The President has dubbed Republicans ISIS's greatest recruiting tool. I think it can be argued that the best thing that happened to ISIS was the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and, if I'm not mistaken, I believe responsibility for that lies elsewhere than with the GOP. Anyway, the most interesting item I read in today's paper is that the minimum salary for major league baseball players is remaining the same as last year, $507,500. I think they'll get by.

Since it had stopped drizzling when I returned from the recycling center at Stop n Shop, I decided to open the floating book shop. I was there an hour or so before the sprinkles returned, without making a sale. Something interesting did happen, though. A woman who wishes to make a book donation asked if I would be there tomorrow. "100%?" she asked. I replied that there's no such thing as 100%. "Ninety-nine," I said -- "how's that?" She smirked. Given our ages, I don't know how we could be completely sure about being anywhere tomorrow. She's an overweight smoker, for Pete's sake. Maybe she just hasn't reached the point of considering such a possibility. Some days I'm so grateful for the privilege of another chance, of making it out of bed.

Here's the Table of Contents for the short works collection I plan to publish after the start of the new year. All but a lucky 13 have been published, some in more than one publication. The title will be Billionths of a Lifetime:
Rude Awakening…………………………………………………………...5
Lessons Learned…………………………………………………………..12
The Bat……………………………………………....................................17
Change………………………………………………………………….....31
Distinctions……………………………………………………………......38
Actor-Activist………………………….......................................................52
Mysteries………………………………………………………………......58
The Best Revenge………………………………………………………....70
Up and Down……………………………………………………………...74
Bad Form……………………………………………………………….....85
Member’s Only…………………………………………………………....89
Murky Realm……………………………………………………………...90
Chaos in Alphabet City…………………………………………………....99
Symbiosis………………………………………………………………...102
What Might Have Been………………………………………………….106
Just a Joke………………………………………………………………..112
Wonder Wheel…………………………………………………………...119
Oblivious………………………………………………………………....131
Rain and Rhubarb………………………………………………………...134
Decisive…………………………………………………………………..138
Miller’s Time…………………………………………………………….142
Colors…………………………………………………………………….146
Panorama…………………………………………………………………149
Fear……………………………………………………………………….156
Hip Hop…………………………………………………………………..162
What Is Life?..............................................................................................164
Fall………………………………………………………………………..174
Real World………………………………………………………………..180
Psychology………………………………………………………………..184
Fairy Tale…………………………………………………………………192
One Billionth of a Lifetime……………………………………………….196
The Last Laugh, one-act play……………………………………………..201
All Hallows, screenplay…………………………………………………..212
A Truth Universally Acknowledged, screenplay…………………………262
Not So Black and White, teleplay………………………………………...340

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/