Saturday 5/21/22 Went through "Swoony and Moony" again. I've worked so hard on this story. I made about a half dozen small changes that...

Saturday 5/21/22 New week starts, so let's play another edition of The Week Game and look at what was done in the week that just...

Thursday 5/19/22 Giving the General Some A new book treats Buster Keaton—and his art—as Buster Keaton deserves to be treated. Few skills...

Thursday 5/19/22 Here's an example of not a good way to go. As I wrote the other day, there are people who want to take me on. They have...

Wednesday 5/18/22 I'm cranking masterpieces. Wrote a big piece for the Library of Congress on Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers' "Jesus...

Wednesday 5/18/22 Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers: “Jesus Gave Me Water” (1951) The record-buying world was largely introduced to the...

Tuesday 5/17/22 Sometimes, in a clout-y way, someone desperate to be right and notch some "score" against me and finally get up on the...

Tuesday 5/17/22 2300 words into a new story I started that is powerful. It'll take some time as part of the process of getting it right....

Sunday 5/15/22 Yesterday was that day of the year when I go from long hair to virtually no hair. Before: After: Walked three miles both...

Saturday 5/14/22 I was not productive last week. I need to be, because a larger piece has fallen off the refrigerator and that's going to...

Thursday 5/12/22 The Celtics blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead last night and the Capitals a 3-0 lead. The lesson we can take from...

Thursday 5/12/22 Started two new stories. I don't know what they'll be yet. I am rereading "The Spot," though I said it was fully done. I...

Tuesday 5/10/22 There will be a decent amount happening today, which I'll try to document on here. I have three lengthy entries that I...

Tuesday 5/10/22 Released in mid-May 1972, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street was one of those works of art that, in its time, was...

Tuesday 5/10/22 I won't put this person's name up, because she's by no means a bad person, but this is typical of how people interact...

Tuesday 5/10/22 I said to a buddy of mine once that he has to make sure to tell his two girls not to try heroin. If you do heroin once—if...

Tuesday 5/10/22 This kind of thing is frustrating to me. Rarely on a dating site--say, maybe once a month--will you encounter anyone who...

Monday 5/9/22 “I’m not putting myself through the hell that is you,” a wife informed her husband. “Any longer, you mean,” he said, having...

Saturday 5/7/22 Swoony and moony, that’s what my granddaughter Esmra calls the old movies I watch. She snickers when I say something...

Saturday 5/7/22 A major breakthrough on EU, which I have not formally begun, but it's me, so it was begun a long time ago. They are...

Thursday 5/5/22 * Things are not going so well with the Mother's Day op-ed, which is called "My real mom." As I've said in the letter...

Thursday 5/5/22 Six AM nearly. Been working for about three hours. I am so blocked--the pressure in my nose is almost painful. I couldn't...

Wednesday 5/4/22 Or it is to me, anyway, and I could write a novel about this. The stat line belongs to Nate Berkenstock, a right fielder...

Wednesday 5/4/22 It'd be nice to be able to breathe again. Nasal passages are so blocked that when I do the nasal rinse, the water won't...