"Working Title"...

Once upon a time,…I always wanted to start something with that. Not that I ever figured I would become a big-time writer or something. I enjoy listening to someone tell a story about their adventure or how they figured out something. I never really had the gift, as most here have to put words into a way that makes your brain come alive. Ideas and pictures, for me, start to dance around, and new things come alive.

Anyway, I have been away for a while, missing my readings here from some of my favorites. I think they know who they are without naming names. Reading the works of the writers I follow is equal to picking up your favorite magazine or book and reading the same chapter or story repeatedly with a coffee by your side and a fresh bagel beside it. It feels comfortable to me.

So I have fallen behind by a few weeks. Disappeared, you could say, from the digital universe here. The holidays are a fun time for me, and afterward, everything else that was on hold for that time frame flooded in from all directions. Ideas come and go. Feelings grow and fade.

So I sit here in my poorly written English. Ugh, it bites, but I am trying to say, when I can, get to all these after-holiday stories and events you have written about. I do the same with my favorite movies or T.V. shows. I skip the final or last few episodes because then it tells me it is over. Same with the holidays, if I read about what everyone enjoyed or is looking forward to, it tells me it is over. There is always next year, of course, but this season seemed to fly past at supersonic speed.

The thoughts and ideas keep coming up about how a good fountain pen can seem vintage and putting the words down in a floppy leather-bound book that you tie up when finished with it. How a freshly sharpened pencil feels and smells with a point ready to put the words onto the paper of a nice notebook. Then, for whatever reason, I can say this, but if you understand it or have had this feeling before, you’ll get it. I don’t know why, but I feel I am missing the city. Not just any city, but New York. My last time there was like a century ago, in the early 80s. Since much has changed, I feel like I am homesick for it. The sounds, the smells, the food. The things going on and all there is to do. I would have to be part ghost at times and person the other. In every TV show or movie I see, the one character I notice is the city. Yes, it is the backdrop for the show or movie or for someone writing, but it is a character. It has its own life and many, many family members.

In my past life, I think I was from there, born and raised in Queens or Brooklyn. I grew up and went off to Europe to fight in WW2. That’s where it all ends, so maybe that is why. Maybe all the news and shows I have seen since have sparked it. Who knows, but a bagel and cream cheese sound pretty good right now.

So, for now, I am going to try and put together my next writing on what the album “Speaking in Tounges” by Talking Heads was to me and how it changed me in ways. Until then, Keep writing. I’ll keep reading, and hopefully, we will meet in the middle someplace over coffee and bagels in mid-town. Until then, thank you for making it this far. See you on the flip side.