Oh, hello, Square One, I...wasn't expecting to see you here. How are you? It's been a while, hasn't it?
Four years? Really, that long? Time flies, huh? Sorry I haven't kept in touch, you know how it is.
Well. I'd love to stay and hang out, but--
Yeah, sure, we can hang out a little. Catch up a bit, sure, I guess I can do that. Is there anything you'd like to do?
...
Sure. Yeah. I guess we can look at the old spreadsheet. I guess it's around here somewhere...yeah, there it is. Geeze, what a lot of work we put into that, huh?
Yeah, I guess we can update it. Wow, what fun. You really haven't changed much in four years, have you?
Wait, you want to do what? Query writing? I haven't written one of those in...four years. But I do sometimes write query-like paragraphs, so I'm not totally out of practice. Oh, but guess what I still do a lot of? Waiting! Yeah, I'm still pretty good at that.
Well, it sure has been fun catching up with you, Square One, but I'm sure you've got places to be and I don't want to hold you up, so....
Oh, you've got time? Lots and lots of time?
...
Yeah, that's great. Just...great.
***
Welp, as you may have figured out, I am once again agent free. It's a business decision, one of those things that happens from time to time. I want to express my gratitude to Carrie for taking me on, showing faith in me and my work, and working on my behalf, and I wish her well in her new position at Laura Dail Literary Agency.
***
Interestingly, on my way to work on Tuesday (before I became a free agent, so to speak), I heard this song on the radio, and remembered how much I like it, and considered slipping it into a blog post somewhere soon. Now, it's more appropriate (I also think I may have done this once before, but if I did, I didn't tag it specifically, so if it's a rerun....). The song is, when you get right down to it, pretty sad. Chrissy Hynde wrote it shortly after the death of Pretenders guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott from a drug overdose, which itself came about two days after the band fired bass player, Pete Farndon for his drug use. Despite this, I've always found something optimistic and uplifting here, and I'm going to be positive. Hope all is well with all of you, what's new?
Monday, February 26, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
We've been here before
Recommended reading if you haven't already run across it on Facebook or elsewhere:
I may have said this before, after some other school shooting, or a mass murder in a gay nightclub, or a massacre at a movie theater, but I'll say it again: I'm not anti-gun. I don't want to take your guns away--not exactly. But I do want to see something meaningful happen here. The majority of people in our government are more interested these days in restricting the voting rights of a large segment of our population than giving even the barest hint of increasing control on gun ownership in the slightest. Yes, that's a convoluted sentence; it's supposed to be. It matches the thinking of lawmakers who insist this is not the time to talk about this; of a president who first shifts blame to the community, then to law enforcement, and then manages to make it about himself.
Gun rights have long been seen as a Red vs. Blue, liberal vs. conservative, Republican vs. Democrat issue. It's time to stop thinking about it in party lines. It's time, really, to stop thinking about everything in party lines, because this, I fear, is where the true downfall of our country comes in, but maybe that's the basis for another post, or a stunning piece of fiction. It's time to start thinking about it as a human issue, because that's what it is.
After last week's post, I told myself I wasn't going to be political, and that I was going to write about writing again. Sorry. Maybe next week.
Fuck you, I like guns.
I may have said this before, after some other school shooting, or a mass murder in a gay nightclub, or a massacre at a movie theater, but I'll say it again: I'm not anti-gun. I don't want to take your guns away--not exactly. But I do want to see something meaningful happen here. The majority of people in our government are more interested these days in restricting the voting rights of a large segment of our population than giving even the barest hint of increasing control on gun ownership in the slightest. Yes, that's a convoluted sentence; it's supposed to be. It matches the thinking of lawmakers who insist this is not the time to talk about this; of a president who first shifts blame to the community, then to law enforcement, and then manages to make it about himself.
Gun rights have long been seen as a Red vs. Blue, liberal vs. conservative, Republican vs. Democrat issue. It's time to stop thinking about it in party lines. It's time, really, to stop thinking about everything in party lines, because this, I fear, is where the true downfall of our country comes in, but maybe that's the basis for another post, or a stunning piece of fiction. It's time to start thinking about it as a human issue, because that's what it is.
After last week's post, I told myself I wasn't going to be political, and that I was going to write about writing again. Sorry. Maybe next week.
Monday, February 12, 2018
One of the big problems with this country, summed up in a single sentence
According to a story on CNN's website this weekend, during a 2006 meeting with employees angered over a new rule that would force them to share tips with their supervisors, casino mogul Steve Wynn said this in response to a woman who stated the rule would cost her fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a year:
Steve Wynn is worth an estimated 3.4 billion dollars.
There's a lot of people in our government--on both sides of the aisle, but predominantly on the Republican side--who think this way. Back in December, while discussing the elimination of the estate tax (which only impacted individuals worth more than $5.5 million, or couples worth more than $11 million), Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies." Nice. Oh, and by the way, Chuck Grassley has an estimated worth of 3.76 million dollars.
The attitude from the likes of Wynn and Grassley is that those who have wealth are deserving or more able than those who don't. I'm not going to doubt that these folks have worked hard, or that they're able. At the same time, as someone who would benefit greatly from an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year, I'll readily admit to the mistakes I've made in my life that have put me, at times, behind the financial eight ball, starting with a career choice made thirty-plus years ago that set me on the road to being a person who is "doing something wrong." But I've also worked my ass off (and I'm good at my job, dammit) in a field that does not really reward its people with riches, and while I'd like to have a Scrooge McDuck money pit like Steve Wynn and Chuck Grassley and pretty much every appointee and "special advisor to the President" hanging around the White House, it's just not gonna happen. And I'm okay with that. Just don't say I'm worth less because I'm worth less.
***
On a different note, last night the wife and I went to see Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. Very good film. Very much like a Coen brothers film, funny, but also very heavy, and unconventional. Great performances from all, especially Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson. I recommend it.
"If $15,000 to $20,000 a year makes that big a difference in your life, you're doing something wrong."
Steve Wynn is worth an estimated 3.4 billion dollars.
There's a lot of people in our government--on both sides of the aisle, but predominantly on the Republican side--who think this way. Back in December, while discussing the elimination of the estate tax (which only impacted individuals worth more than $5.5 million, or couples worth more than $11 million), Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies." Nice. Oh, and by the way, Chuck Grassley has an estimated worth of 3.76 million dollars.
The attitude from the likes of Wynn and Grassley is that those who have wealth are deserving or more able than those who don't. I'm not going to doubt that these folks have worked hard, or that they're able. At the same time, as someone who would benefit greatly from an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year, I'll readily admit to the mistakes I've made in my life that have put me, at times, behind the financial eight ball, starting with a career choice made thirty-plus years ago that set me on the road to being a person who is "doing something wrong." But I've also worked my ass off (and I'm good at my job, dammit) in a field that does not really reward its people with riches, and while I'd like to have a Scrooge McDuck money pit like Steve Wynn and Chuck Grassley and pretty much every appointee and "special advisor to the President" hanging around the White House, it's just not gonna happen. And I'm okay with that. Just don't say I'm worth less because I'm worth less.
On a different note, last night the wife and I went to see Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. Very good film. Very much like a Coen brothers film, funny, but also very heavy, and unconventional. Great performances from all, especially Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson. I recommend it.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Musical Monday: Jackie Wilson said what?
It's a Monday, there's something like eight inches of snow on the ground (despite the forecast that told us we'd have half that, at most), and I'm kind of tired and achy, hoping it's not something coming on. So, we'll have some rather chipper music today! About two weeks back, I completely got Van Morrison's Jackie Wilson Said stuck in my head.
But it did get me wondering: What did Jackie Wilson say? According to Van Morrison, it was 'Reet Petite', whatever that meant. But since Morrison has a rather...unique...vocal style (as my wife says, "He swallows his words," which is a pretty apt description), what you hear may not come anywhwere close to reality. After all, for years I thought the chorus line in Jackie Wilson Said went either "What did Billy want" or "Bop en diddy wah" when it's really "I'm in heaven when". So, I did a little searching.
Turns out, Jackie Wilson really did say "Reet Petite"! Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town) was Wilson's first solo hit way back in 1957, and got a second burst on the charts almost thirty years later, when the following, somewhat bizarre) video was made (three years after Wilson's death).
Well, that's it for me. Just about time to go and shovel. How's things by you all?
But it did get me wondering: What did Jackie Wilson say? According to Van Morrison, it was 'Reet Petite', whatever that meant. But since Morrison has a rather...unique...vocal style (as my wife says, "He swallows his words," which is a pretty apt description), what you hear may not come anywhwere close to reality. After all, for years I thought the chorus line in Jackie Wilson Said went either "What did Billy want" or "Bop en diddy wah" when it's really "I'm in heaven when". So, I did a little searching.
Turns out, Jackie Wilson really did say "Reet Petite"! Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town) was Wilson's first solo hit way back in 1957, and got a second burst on the charts almost thirty years later, when the following, somewhat bizarre) video was made (three years after Wilson's death).
Well, that's it for me. Just about time to go and shovel. How's things by you all?
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