A View At The Start Of My 80th Year

Some people didn't think I'd make it.

Since I'm still not looking at Twitter and finding crazy shit to post. I will continue to shamelessly pander for clicks with my parade of cute kid pictures.

Top-down Brixton and Micka

Left Ledger. Right, Jonny Bird.

Photo credit: AJ Sieve, aka Dad

I'm not going to get all teary-eyed and backward-looking. This last year of self-indulgent navel-gazing has produced hours of woulda, coulda crap that I may have hinted at but for a good reason dismissed as flashback hangover grief.

No, what's fascinating me now is the quality and quantity of my writing. I'm poking at my keyboard for hours every day. I know that some may say that an improvement in my writing is a pretty low bar to reach for and that while my writing may be better, it's still barely worth reading, but... and this is the big but, I like it. It's true. The older you get, the less you care about what others think of you.

However, I not dismissing people critical of my work to make it better.

What amazes me is the quantity of work that I've produced in the last eighteen months. I am almost ready to self-publish a book, 26 Women, that I wrote the first draft in less than ninety days. I have two other long pieces in the process.

I challenged myself to take a shot at writing scripts. I 'have four in the mill. One of them would be a series of 12 half-hour episodes of TV drama. The subject probably would require is be streamed on cable.

Some of you are kind enough to read and comment on my weekly blog, Point Taken. I've added to this mix occasional entries onto my theater blog site, BackStage. Then I started Bound To Be Good with Blog, Website, and Facebook page.

I'm fortunate enough to have my previews of Milwaukee regional theater performances published on Urban Milwaukee's online news forum.

I want to make one more observation. My work has never been more fun. I often fall asleep at night in conversation with my characters, only to find myself putting the results of those conversations into the piece. Why this joy of creation has been accelerated, I have no idea. But I'm thankful and grateful for it.

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