The Writer's Life 4/26 - Comments

I had an odd dream last night. I was seated in a classroom, listening to a lecturer, and I engaged in repeated wise cracks with a slovenly guy seated in the back. A car horn sounded outside. “B,” I said, baiting the guy. “You’re tone deaf too?” he shot back. “It was a G.” I smiled and said: “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist commenting.” Freud believed dreams are wish fulfillment. Working from that, all I can conclude is that this one was a wish that know-it-alls cease and desist. I don’t think it pertains to me personally, as I haven’t received any criticism lately. In fact, all the comments about my work have been positive. I’d guess it has to with the media, possibly from losing patience with Sean Hannity a couple of times last week. Each segment contained someone defending the Clintons, and he went off on them. It was silly, pointless. Everyone, even the Clinton's supporters, know what they are. I skip any article about them. I passed the point of needing to be convinced early in Slick Willie's first term.


It was a perfect day to sell books, and I scored the ideal parking spot. My thanks to the two women who made purchases, and to the guy who handed me a dollar he claimed the wind had blown past him, and who said, through a Russian accent, that what I was doing was "good." A woman who has donated about 12 books in Russian tried a different tack today. She wanted me to sell three for her and set the price at ten bucks. I talked her down to five. I wasn't happy about doing it, but I figure I owed her, as I'd sold every book she'd given me. Unfortunately, the three did not attract any attention. To my relief, she retrieved them before I left. Fortunately, there were a couple of amusing incidents that alleviated what was otherwise a most boring session. Every once in a while a young Russian male I refer to as "20 Questions" shows up. Today he asked if best-selling author David Baldacci is a personal friend. No, this goombah has not met that goombah. The kid seemed disappointed. A middle age guy I'd spoken to before approached and asked if I had any books on baseball. This led him into a monologue on Mickey Mantle's most prodigious home runs. He said the longest was 734 feet. I remembered it being 565 at Washington's RFK Stadium. The one to which he was referring was actually an guestimate, having struck the top of the facade, 118 feet from the ground, at Yankee Stadium. Of the next five listed at themick.com, the second, 656 feet, occurred vs. USC in an exhibition game in California; three others were guestimates of well over 600 feet that remained in park; and one cleared the roof in Detroit and landed in a lumber yard, 643 feet from home plate. All those were hit left-handed. The one I recalled was hit right-handed and landed in someone's backyard.

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/

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