The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 2/25

Sunday, February 25, 2018

The Writer's Life 2/25 - Time Heals

Recently, Warren Buffett reiterated a belief that people like him are not taxed enough, something that Bill Gates echoes. In a column in today's NY Post, Jonathon Trugman suggests they cut a check to the government. Anyone who believes as those two gentleman do can send funds to the Bureau of Fiscal Services, stipulating that they be used to reduce the debt held by the public. It's even tax deductible.

Phil Mushnick, the Post's sports media critic, devoted a significant portion of his column to the folly that is the over-analysis of the NFL draft, citing that in the recent Super Bowl there were as many undrafted players, 11, as number one picks in the starting lineups. Future Hall of Famer Tom Brady, arguably the best QB ever, was chosen in the sixth round.

With so much time on my hands because of the rain the past few days, I've begun proofing next year's novel, Inside Out. It seems it will be a much easier task than the recently published Present and Past. So far I've read 110 pages and there have been no problems with the margins, something that plagued the file of the aforementioned book. There is much more standard English in the dialogue, which eliminates the distracting "error" highlights, the liberties Word doesn't understand. It also paid off to do a couple of sweeps where I looked only for obvious errors, which I did during January's cyclone bomb. This has enabled me to concentrate almost exclusively on the story and characterizations. I came upon a scene based on one of the most painful instances of my life in terms of affairs of the heart. I was working at John Dewey H. S. as an aide and was madly in love with a gorgeous woman in the same position. Today I made a point of passing within 100 yards of the spot where it the incident took place. Hoping to catch a glimpse of her, hoping she would ask me to tag along, I sat on a bench I knew she would pass on the way to her car. There was a teacher waiting nearby. I inadvertently interrupted a lunch time rendezvous between them. I was devastated that she preferred a married man to one who was free and loved her madly. It would be years before I realized that love was engendered by the call of hormones and not by the feelings that lead to a lasting relationship. That wound has long since healed, but I still think of her frequently and wonder if we will ever again cross paths. I will be thinking about her a lot while I work on the manuscript. She was the inspiration. The relationship the protagonist undertakes is sort of an imagining of what might have been, although the character is blond, not brunette. I put her in place as Peggy's replacement at the school. Peggy is mentioned throughout the narrative and even appears briefly during the NYC Marathon, side by side with the character she inspired. The book will be dedicated to her. I once gave her a hard copy of the manuscript, which was returned in the mail one day out of the blue years later. In her brief note it sounded as if she'd found religion. Damn, I'd like to speak with her again. Although I had my camera with me, it did not occur to me to park the car and take a picture. Here's one I found on the web. The angle is correct, but the sign obscures the spot, which was to the right of the cars. Although no monument commemorates that spot, it is one of the markers of my life.