The Writer's Life 3/16 - Jokers

Conservative pundit John Podhoretz despises Donald Trump, and seems incapable of objectivity on the issue. In his op-ed piece in today's NY Post, he predicts Trump will fall short of the required delegate majority that would clinch a first ballot nomination at the convention, and that the resulting chaos will result in a Hillary presidency. As I see it, only Trump has a chance to defeat her. I believe Ted Cruz is the best candidate, but I think he would lose the general election by a wide margin. Trump gives the GOP a 50-50 chance.

The Post's Weird But True column reports that a large number of Buddhist monks in Thailand are obese. They rely on food donations from the public, and people have been leaving snacks and sugary drinks. Maybe Michael Bloomberg should run for president there.

Kudos to the creators of Limitless, prime time TV's most quirky and inventive show. Most series of its type, The Blacklist, Blind Spot, etc., rely on high body counts and fast-paced action. Limitless opts for the imaginative and outrageous. How refreshing.

I've completed the reworking of four parts of the first manuscript I ever typed, begun in long hand in November 1975. 500 pages of hard copy have been reduced to 159 in MS Word. The protagonist is not the needy individual he was originally. He is a lot stronger. The novel is now entirely from his point of view rather than from multiple points of view. Gone are the young author's pontificating and the arty, often artificial language. The most critical change involves the story line. I will not post an excerpt, as I want it to slam the reader, at least those who haven't figured out what is coming. In the past few days I must have lopped off 80 pages, a lot of them involving the ups and downs of trying to be a writer. I pared down a lot of the golf and tennis the main characters play. I don't anticipate a lot will be excised from the remaining 159 pages. Will it be a good book? That is always for readers to decide.

There were only two sales today at the floating book shop, but a slew of donations. My thanks to the kind folks who ponied up, especially the Russian gentleman who brought about 20 books in his native language. One middle age guy, who always comes by on his bike to either buy or donate, is an avid collector of playing cards, particularly jokers. He showed me a tiny deck in Russian. He recently bought 23 different decks, paying a buck a piece. I showed my appreciation by giving him a pair of jokers from a deck Synovate surveys gifted me before it was acquired by another firm. What strange passions humans sometimes have.

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

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

Website: http://vicfortezzaauthor.my-free.website/