Ten wisdoms for a dollar Several months ago I went to book sale. It was the last day of the 3 day event. In keeping with book sale tradition the last day is usually called bag day or box of books day. Bring a box or bag, cram it with books and pay... Continue Reading →
The only pure communication is between you and your work. Recently, I have been resisting working on "Back outta the World. Oh sure, I can tell myself that work has been busy. True. I have been paying more attention to the blog. Also true. This afternoon I spent a good deal of time letting as... Continue Reading →
My view from store #204 In Tripio, the protagonist Jay works at a Starbucks store located near Lincoln Park on the corner of Clark, Diversey and Broadway. In the novel Tripio, for the sake of brevity and authenticity, I refer to it simply as store #204. It was already beat up and worn out when... Continue Reading →
Yesterday my daughter spent some time on the internet trying to find an English version of a French Starbucks documentary she had seen on a flight home for the holidays. It was called “Starbucks Unfiltered” and she could find the French version, but nothing with English subtitles. A little bit later, as we watched... Continue Reading →
“Just saw Taxi Blues at the glorious Music Box Theatre. There were women speaking Russian in the lobby.” That is an excerpt from my Sketchbook of the Mind that I began on October 4, 1990. It is the first journal, or SotM, of the years I lived in Chicago. Those journals and many entries just... Continue Reading →
In Tripio, https://www.amazon.com/Tripio-novel-Starbucks-Millionaire-Novelist-ebook/dp/B07NQ1413V Jay works at a Starbucks (called the Cosmodemonic Coffee Company in the novel for reasons I just covered in a previous post) store located near Lincoln Park on the corner of Clark, Diversey and Broadway. In Tripio, for the sake of brevity and authenticity, I refer to it simply as store #204.... Continue Reading →
Computers are useless-all they can give you are answers. --Pablo Picasso In Tripio, Jay is suddenly transferred from his nearby Starbucks to a location in suburban Chicago. He has no car so must rise at four a.m. to make the two train commute. He has to first take the El downtown and then walk several... Continue Reading →
I have recently given myself credit for creating a new word: Starbattical. Do you like it? I define it as long retreat or break from Starbucks. I came up with it to describe the 20 some years I was either too busy, too poor or using my time to raise a raise a family to... Continue Reading →
“Here goes.” I stepped down from the small but elevated stage at Indy Reads Books with copies of Tripio in hand and headed for the shelves. The store closed in ten minutes and I had decided to give my novel away. No matter that it had been born in a series of journals I kept... Continue Reading →
Writing is not easy. It is not as easy as it sounds to sit down and write a good story. The relative difficulty of any writing effort takes a giant step into the Terrordome (apologies to PE) when you think of your creation being read by real living, breathing, thinking people. In blog #12 I... Continue Reading →
