OK, now . . . what?

OK, now . . . what?

*

Yeah, I know, I’ve been remiss in setting up a blog. Probably the only novelist in the Western hemisphere (maybe the entire world) who hasn’t done so years ago. Well, now I have, and . . . ?

Years ago, I was an avid reader of big city newspaper columnists: Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamil, Mike Royko, Jim Murray. I loved their stuff, thought they were great (they were!). But, I also thought, ‘what a way to make a living.’ I mean, crank out six-eight hundred words of copy, close up the typewriter, go out and get shitfaced with all the other boozing journalists. Deadlines? C’mon, we’re talking eight hundred words here. Nothing to it.

Of course those dudes turned out quality prose. For the most part, GREAT prose! Every fucking day. Day in, day out. Year after year, after year, ad-infinitum.  

Now, here I sit, looking to fill some blank page space, try out my brand new blog, and I realize just how talented and imaginative those guys really were. Me, I really have nothing to say, and am struggling to say it (nothing?) in a semi-coherent fashion.

I should stick to fiction. There, my characters perform, I simply record their actions . . . BAM!  Two thousand words!

One saving grace, I doubt I’ve embarrassed myself. How could I? There’s probably no one going to read this piece anyway. ;-)

Hmmm, let’s do a word count . . . 237.

Two hundred and thirty-seven!?!

Shit, that’s not even half a column!

AND . . . what will I write about tomorrow?

My apologies to Breslin, Hamil, et al.

You guys worked . . . hard!

But then, deep in my heart, I always knew that.