Jan
1
2010
Jan
1
2010
Why I Love Brooklyn: New Year’s Day 2010
What I saw on my walk to the train this morning.
Location: 7th Avenue from 14th Street to 9th Street.
Jan
1
2010
This is how it starts.
Writing a book is a lot of work.
For example: I just spent three minutes trying to figure out which pen I was supposed to use.
[Looking at the two pens I'd pulled out of my bag] I like pink but it might draw too much attention cause I know that the lady eating yogurt next to me is just DYING to see what I’m writing. But blue is such a crappy color. What is it about blue ink? It seems non-committal for some reason. What does that even mean? But the pen’s in my hand … maybe it’s a sign?
Then, way down deep in my Superhero Supply bag I see the glint of a silver pen clip attached to a totally different pen. A SURE sign. I dropped the first two pens and grabbed for the one at the bottom of my tote and finally started writing my first sentence: Writing a book is a lot of work.
Total time spent? Seventeen minutes.
I have a book inside of me. In my head I know the stories I want to tell, the issues I want to analyze, the work I need to do. But when I think about writing it, I feel so overwhelmed. WRITING A BOOK. Such a daunting task. And it’s not just the writing. It’s the planning and the research. The scariness of re-living my story and revisiting my old injuries. And of course, the ever-present fear of, “What will they think?” raining on every aspect of the book writing parade. But I’m writing it. I’ve been writing it for over twenty years.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello” she said
“You look like the silent type”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
I learned on Rock Band that in concerts Bob Dylan used to introduce Tangled Up in Blue with, “This song took me ten years to live and two years to write.” 12 years for less than 600 words.
Maybe I’m right on schedule.
