Blogging

For a few months, over 90% of my visitors requested Bear Grylls : Worst Case Scenario is Coming Soon. I had no idea that the Worst Case Scenario television show would be so popular!

My article is ranked ninth on a Google search for “Bear Grylls” “Worst Case Scenario”

For over a year, the favorite had been Where Does Bear Grylls Live? If you search for “Where Does Bear Grylls Live” on Google, my article has been on top for 20 months!

Remembering Dead People

Writing relieved my sadness after my 48-year-old friend, David Nolan died. David thought he was going to pickup his daughter from school, until he had a fatal heart attack on the Subway.

I also wrote something not-very-cheery, about my dear departed friend Ellen, but I over-edited it.

So I started reading books about writing.

Writing More and Enjoying It More

I met Stefan Andersson at Writing Practice. He was visiting Lexington from Sweden, and writing about Bertrand Russell. Stefan writes very well, in English, his second language. He must be unbelievable in Swedish!

We became friends while I made his homepage, and enjoyed many hours together, solving English crossword puzzles. Sometimes we watched television, on one of the three channels that his ancient window antenna received. Stefan especially liked the hockey games during the Winter Olympics.

Our afternoons do not seem exciting, but in between these events, Stefan encouraged me to write. I heard “You have a great voice” many times. After many attempts, I have finally finished one story that I think is good enough to sell. Stay tuned.

Why Is This A Year?

I have only written an “end of the year” article once: Five Wishes for 2008. Three wishes came true when New York Giants miraculously won the last three games of their stupendous season. But right now, I just hope Giants do better than last year.

So no more wishes, and certainly no predictions for our illogical world.

It is a year, because yesterday was my birthday. I refuse to disclose my age because I do not want to see it. I wanted to write about making it through it another year, and I hope I can do this next year too!

Stories will be judged by Alan Cheuse, who reviews books for All Things Considered. Winner receives an autographed copy of Cheuse’s novel, To Catch the Lightning: A Novel of American Dreaming. Entries must be received by February 28 – in three days, but monthly contests will continue. Read the rules for more info.

How I Wrote My Story

I installed the photo as desktop wallpaper, to see it as often as possible, until I wrote “Flight”. I copied/pasted into entry form and submitted it. I found Previous Three-Minute Stories later!

Update

(March 21, 2010) Congratulations to winner, Rhonda Strickland, for Please Read. The fourth round of the contest will be announced next week.

Summarizing a life should not be that simple.

Remembering Ellen is my favorite non-fiction writing assignment.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

So, in addition to tourist attractions, like Kentucky Horse Park and Keeneland, Lexington has a fantastic public library system.

Central Library

I recommend the main branch, or Central Library, on Main Street, where you can query my favorite reference librarians, and watch a Foucalt pendulum powering the world’s largest ceiling clock.

Central Library was built in 1987, and designed to permit expansion for 20-30 years. It replaced a 1904 building (shown), which was leased to The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning for ten dollars a year.

Lexington Kentucky Writers Meet at The Carnegie Center

The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning offers many courses for writers. See their schedule (PDF) for more information.

I take a two mile walk to The Carnegie Center, twice a week. I attend a non-fiction writing class led by writer-in-residence, Neil Chethik, on Tuesday afternoons. I return on Friday at noon, for Gail Koehler’s Writing Practice.

Writing Practice

From Carnegie’s Course Catalog:

Designed as an opportunity to practice creative expression without judgment. Develop your natural story-telling instinct or refresh writing skills from word prompts or personal experiences. Recommended reading: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (not required). Class may be entered on any day it is held; it is not necessary to commit to the full duration of the course.

In Writing Down the Bones, Ms. Goldberg exhorts readers to keep their pen moving, which is the essence of this course.

After Ms. Koehler selects three random words or phrases to use, we keep our pens moving for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the class. My writing is simply stream of consciousness, but some students write actual stories. I transcribed my output from our last two classes, about 500 words each, so you can read examples.

Our teacher begins the next segment by reading what she has written about her random subjects. The rest of the class follows. Classmates often laugh while I am reading, but I am really not trying to be funny. I write in a relaxed setting, with familiar classmates, and enjoy this opportunity to express myself.

If there is enough time, a ”call around” follows each reading, when writers recite their favorite quotes to the reader.

Do Not Attend Afternoon Writing Practice!

Seriously, we have a nice group; let’s keep it that way. Try the evening class, on Monday at 5:30 — visit The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning on the Web for more information on their programs and activities.

The Carnegie Center almost closed in June 2003, after former Mayor Teresa Isaac removed it from her budget. Please send a tax-deductible contribution to keep this vital institution open.

I started with novels and selected five authors:

I have included Amazon links to paperback editions of these novels. Purchasing a book from this page helps support Where Did My Brain Go? — Thanks!

Check out Reading: Novels for my favorite novels and novelists, and let me know if you enjoy my selections.

I plan to add other sections, including non-fiction and computer books.

Writing is a new page on Where Did My Brain Go?, where you can sample my efforts.

Sixth Avenue Story is a short poem about Amy. I met Amy in the Winter of 1980, while I was working as a waiter on East 44th Street, in Midtown Manhattan, and living at Hotel Seventeen, a mile away, on East 17th Street.

Although the Hotel 17 Web site describes it as a “chic budget hotel,” in 1980, it was just cheap. Woody Allen, who was a legend at my high school, filmed part of Manhattan Murder Mystery there in 1993.

My weekdays at Hotel Seventeen, began at 5 A.M., when I walked down the hall, to take a shower, to get ready for work at 6. It was quiet, except when I passed one room, where there was always a poker game in progress. I was startled when the door to that room was open one day, and I discovered that the “game” was one fellow, playing four hands, and speaking in four different voices to imaginary friends. I did not care for evenings much either, when I had to push past a group of aggressive, drug-dealing transvestites, to enter the lobby.

But weekday afternoons were sublime. I left work at 2 P.M., with a passionate Puerto Rican waitress from The Bronx, who had three hours of free time, before she had to pick up her young son from day care. We watched television after our adult activities, and she maintained her magnificent figure, doing situps during commercials.

Unfortunately, her schedule changed, and our relationship dissolved after a few weekends with her two children at her apartment, which was located in a scary neighborhood, a few blocks from the Happy Land Social Club.

My Sixth Avenue Story

I met Amy at work, when I heard my boss screaming at her, because it was the second or third time that week, that she had forgotten her purse and could not pay for lunch. I ended his tirade by paying her outstanding bill. Amy told me to visit her that evening to be repaid, at the magnificent loft she shared with her sister, in Manhattan’s Flower District, on Sixth Avenue, which is now known as “Avenue of the Americas.”

I became aroused when her sister answered the door topless, transferred some of that energy to Amy, who was very pleased, and moved in the following day.

My poem, Sixth Avenue Story, succinctly summarizes our time together, in eight lines.

I think it is wonderful! Please let me know if you like it too!