eternaldig's Xanga

Friday, October 05, 2007

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:29:53 GMT

I wrote a little rhyme about the impact of American entertainment on the people of the Philippines. Check it out here.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:56:40 GMT

If I give up hope, will today seem better? I'll only find out if I lay my dreams to rest. Not writing is not a waste of talent. It's an admission of the way the world works. My heart is a waste of time.

next...

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:33:02 GMT

After three total rewrites, the fifth installment is ready. Go to http://northpapers.blogspot.com to read it.

Behind the Scenes

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:26:27 GMT

Click here to see part four of the Whiskey in the South series. It's called "Fawns in the Clearing."

When I sit down to write, it's different every time. Parts two and three came out of me like a breeze, matching the tone of the first without much effort aside from a little pruning when the descriptions felt too strong. I introduced ideas carefully, taking care not to state, but to drift through the experience, landing on the events that cycled throughout the whole week.

Part four was a different matter. It was painful to write, and I found myself launching into blunt rants about eternity and spirituality. I even breathed heavier, fighting to keep the anger out of the piece. In the end, some made it in and some didn't. I let it rest overnight, and revisited it this morning, making a few changes to help it fit in with the previous installments.

Writing is hard work. My dream is to do it full-time, but the stamina required is staggering, not to mention the amount of effort required to sell the work. Anyway, this is a start. I didn't expect to finish this series, but I'm only two pieces away from the finale.

Part Three

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:14:47 GMT

The third installment of my story is now posted on northpapers.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

(Drumroll Please)

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:34:08 GMT

First, a little update on the who, what, where, when and why of the new blog, then a link.

Two Fridays ago, I finished my last day of work at TC Public Relations. The reason I left, at least in part, was to create space so that I could develop a business as a freelance writer. I contacted a good friend, Tim Wood, who does web design work (www.washwithcare.com) and we worked out a deal for creating a site and blog that would work together to offer readers an entertaining portal for media reviews, published stories, and blog entries.

The website is under construction still, and I am meeting with Tim to iron out details this afternoon, but yesterday and today I worked on an ongoing, five-part series of blog entries titled "Whiskey in the South." You can read the first two installments at http://northpapers.blogspot.com.

This blog will remain live because I want to keep in touch with my xanga pals, but the bulk of my writing will go to the new blog. I'll post a link to my new website when it is up an running, but until then, I hope you like the blog. Please leave a comment if you get a chance!

Eschatology

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:57:00 GMT

Well, gang, this is the end times for this blog. Sometime this week, I will switch everything over to another blog which I am developing. It might even be tomorrow. So enjoy it while you can.

Professional Identity

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 01:52:00 GMT

Today marked the end of my career as a publicist. I expected a feeling of emancipation, but as I left the office today, grief hit me like a piano dropped off the side of some Michigan Avenue shopping mall. It was a great time there. I realized that the days of opening the door and saying hi to Drew, Jaime and Tom were over.

So were the days of getting my clients all these great media placements. So were the moments when someone asked me what I did for a living and I said, "I make people famous."

There are a lot of things I won't miss, but I realized as I said goodbye to these people, that they became like a little family and I just left home. I walked from work to a small cafe with a plastic bag full of shaving supplies, press releases I wrote over the years, an old movie poster my boss gave me as a parting gift, and a picture I forgot to take off the wall when I was packing up yesterday.

I spent a few hours with friends laughing at stupid stuff and drinking coffee. When I arrived home all alone, I collapsed onto the bed and started sobbing. Weird. Then I decided to do some writing, so I walked through the apartment to the office, but when I went to sit down, my four foot long iguana glared up at me from the chair under the desk.

"What are you doing here, mister?"

He responded by pushing his front legs against the chair to raise his head. I left him there in the office and marched to the living room, where his cage door hung open. When I returned, our cat Clifton and our iguana Rocket stood nose to nose, smelling one another. Clifton nonchalantly turned away and rocket lumbered over to the bikes, where he climbed up, perched on the handlebars, and eyed me suspiciously.

What an unexpected evening. I feel like crap.

Derelict Boulevards

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:07:13 GMT

Big roads lay vacant downtown after midnight. I weave a tapestry of tiretracks across LaSalle in the dark. A client works during daylight in one of the buildings I pass, but you'd have a hard time tracing the path from the 21st floor to this angry cyclist blasting through red lights like he heard a siren in the distance.

In the last 2 months, I lost 20 pounds. It doesn't sound like much, but if you find a slab of meat that big at the butcher, you get an idea of what I accomplished. Therapy stares at me every Monday morning, and this week we traced the trials we tackled. I came a long way since March, when the echo of some otherworldly rhythm drove me to a hospital cot because I wanted to die.

They paved these roads right over me, but I bucked the system on the second day in July, now I slip past their signals, ready to reclaim these derelict boulevards from the grids that forged them.

This is the literal truth: Yesterday, I rode straight into a thunderstorm with hail in my eyes. I passed an office professional on a Trek singing an Italian aria as we rolled side by side down lake toward the boiling sky.

Here's the metaphor that struck me after I dodged the lightning and unlocked my front door: I made it home, but it wasn't easy. It's a good summary for the ride I've been through since December. Thank God for the love of my wife.

Perhaps His own love waits for me around the corner. If not, we're sunk.

The Final Countdown

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:50:10 GMT

I was told not to make decisions when I'm depressed. Well, I've been depressed for five months and I can't wait forever. To get pumped, I've been watching Michael Cera's motivational video "Impossible is the Opposite of Possible".

It's go time. The fourth quarter. The final countdown. Time to bring my A-game.

Let's activate our awesome.