Realized, dumb me to take so long to get to it, that I slide over to Substack because I want to write something and publish it! Hacking through notes and editing and organizing does not have the satisfaction of that. And The Great Good Place is slogging, a lot of the time. But I get satisfaction when a piece takes shape and I now need to find that lilt (a great word, thanks to Joli Jensen for using it) as I finish the book. It’s there to be found. I [...]
More serendipity, another tidbit for the Valerie Eliot story. A fellow I know from the sauna at Simon's Rock was in NYC theater for years. I asked if he had seen Cats, or knew about the new version, Jellicle Ball. Turns out he knows the director well and that Andrew Lloyd Webber had seen and loved it. Now I have to see it, and find out how Valerie's surfacing of Grizabella plays out in this very different staging.
While the priority is finishing The Great Good Place II, some wonderful things have been happening with the next book, too. A biography of Valerie Eliot might seem a completely different subject, and in substance it is. But in essence there's a lot to connect them. In both books, I'm noodling at questions about what constitutes the good life, especially in terms of our relationships. Third places are for regular but not intimate relationships--but so steady and solid that in times of trouble they may provide the succour we tend to think [...]
Mixed bag, today's to-do list. I have to write about Valerie Fletcher's secret wedding and all the reasons and connections that have been missed. It's extraordinary to me, but a fact of life, that biographers have never asked obvious questions about the Eliot story. In real life, with real people they know, even the stuffiest academic would think to ask. It seems that every word falling from the lips of Eliot, or Valerie, or anyone speaking or writing about them, is treated as accurate. Which is silly. Why would they [...]
My current hypothesis is that men talk about their AI successes (endlessly, as I found yesterday) because AI gives them a sense of power. Standing alone in the wilderness, waiting for prey, bringing back game. It’s a dopamine hit for men of a certain age. They are intelligent and educated, but they feel a bit faded and they don't have the satisfactions of the artist or brilliant thinker. In a weird, warped way, an AI result feels like something they powered and something that sets them apart from the rest [...]
I love writing advice from rich and successful writers. Their writing space is beautiful and organized, they are disciplined, and their habits are inspired. The work is everything, the path is clear. My writing life has never been like that. My life has never been like that. It's Trollope's advice that has echoed with me always. First thing in the morning, absolute discipline. Then off to the day job. I have, regretably, not followed that advice. My writing has been voluminous but undisciplined, and I struggle still. A conversation this [...]