I have been toying with the idea of writing a book , two projects come to mind. Of course I talk to my friends about this idea and get great answers. One proposed book would be the fictionalized story of Kim Mee Poo and Alicia McTwit , plans for that union have appeared in the blog. The other brainstorm is to publish the blogs, with added highlights.
The question was posed to CPI and she adeptly responded:
She: JKT had enough cachet to be featured in the luxury magazine, but the blog book is much more exciting. Your adventures are much more exciting with more subtle revenge.
Me: I am not sure it is revenge but you do have a good point. So I shall do more thinking on the blog book.
So more thinking went into the blog book. A title emerged; Alexis McBride.com Vancouver Days: From Optimism to Pessimism and All the Dirt In-between,
This is how it would work. The blog was only two months old when I moved to Vancouver, its success is the one thing claimed while living here. Hence, it would be called Vancouver Days. The related story feature that appears at the end of each blog posting would make it easy to just pick a theme, get the related stories and cut and paste. This was brainstormed with the printers. It would be a paperback, in black and white. The bonus feature of the book would be to tell ALL, name names and, in addition the salacious details not revealed in the blog. Salacious , an adjective, can be the word of the day. (Salacious writing): pornographic, obscene, indecent, crude, lewd, vulgar, dirty, filthy; erotic, titillating, arousing, suggestive, sexy, risqué, ribald, smutty, bawdy; X-rated; informal porn, porno, blue.
The titillating details would be in a different color of ink, that was suggested by Kim. The color was not decided. Various and sundry chapter headings were compiled.
1 The Early Optimism
2 The Perils and Pleasures of Being a Seventy-Five Year Old Man Magnet
3 Two Many Men; Two Little Time.
4 A Wedding to End All Weddings.
5 Uncle Dave’s Adage: Stop Fighting Alexis, Go to the Sidelines.
6 To Blog or Not to Blog, That is the Question
7 Behind the Scenes When the Intended Became the Unintended
8 David’s Jokes
9 Optimism Turns Into Pessimism
But at some point two things became apparent.
1 It seemed as if I was becoming greedy for fame, not an admirable trait.
2 Writing the book would mean looking back instead of moving forward.
Brilliant Kathleen weighed in, “You need a greater perspective. You are still caught up in Vancouver.” So at this point plans for the book have been scrapped. It is difficult to be motivated when readership of the book would be uncertain compared with the readership that this blog attains.
Hoping for some insight I read Tim Parks” New Yorker article Do We Write Differently On a Screen. The basic tenant of the article was the immediate feedback that computers and the Internet brought had a deleterious effect on writing and Parks yearned for the good old days of writing on paper. “Now you could write an article for The Guardian or the New York Times as easily as you could write it for L’Arena di Verona. Write it and expect a response in hours. In minutes. You write the first chapter of a book and send it at once to four or five friends. Hoping they’d read it at once. It’s impossible to exaggerate how exciting this was, at first, and how harmful to the spirit. You, everybody, are suddenly incredibly needy of immediate feedback. A few more years and you were publishing regularly online for The New York Review of Books. And, hours after publication, you could know how many people were reading the piece. Is it a success? Shall I follow up with something similar? The mind becomes locked into an obsessive, manic back-and-forth. When immediate confirmation is not forthcoming, there is a sense of failure. Suddenly, the writer, very close to his public, is tempted to work hard and fast to please immediately, superficially, in order to have immediate gratification for himself in return. Curiously, the apparent freedom of e-mail and the Internet makes us more and more conformist as we talk to each other unceasingly.”
Parks describes a change in writing styles without offering any real proof. “ You realize that the people reading what you have written will also be interrupted. They are also sitting at screens, with smartphones in their pockets. They won’t be able to deal with long sentences, extended metaphors. They won’t be drawn into the enchantment of the text. So should you change the way you write accordingly? Have you already changed, unwittingly?”
Parks solutions are not particularly helpful nor original. “Or should you step back? Time to leave your computer and phone in one room, perhaps, and go and work silently on paper in another. To turn off the Wi-Fi for eight hours. Just as you once learned not to drink everything in the hotel minibar, not to eat too much at free buffets, now you have to cut down on communication. You have learned how compulsive you are, how fragile your identity, how important it is to cultivate a little distance. And your only hope is that others have learned the same lesson. Otherwise, your profession, as least as you thought of it, is finished.”
His article is not applicable to my situation because I do not (purposively) get feedback from readers of the blog. Will blog writing interfere with the concentration needed for fine art studies? Should my time be better spent doing something else? On that sodden thought I shall close and address my attention to a reading of the provisions of the new health plan provided by the County of Marin. The previous health plan provided private medical care in London, and was that ever posh.
On a completely different note I met three handsome young men at Earl’s Test Kitchen yesterday evening. I include a picture of two of them. It was also placed on Instagram and received the following messages.
She: Your men lol can’t wait for you to be back in Marin for a visit (accompanied by emojis expressing affection).
This from a woman in Southhampton, met her and hubby on a tour bus when in Iceland.
She: Go girl! Which one is ready to get married? Flower girl needs a wedding, xx
Actually flower girl is the husband, we were hilariously planning a wedding (to some guy or another who is no longer in my life). I do have a vivid imagination.
