“The joy of being alive and young suddenly took hold of her — and she spun around and kissed him, quite recklessly.” Before reading any book, I used to go to the last page and read its final line. At best, that would tell me if the whole book was worth reading or not. Of […]

The guitar player strums or picks. The turtle does not scuttle or bumble. The sink drips, while the sirens . . . the sirens . . . holler? Hoot? Sound off?! What describes the sound a siren makes? It’s important to have the right vocabulary, especially when communicating important things to other people. Unfortunately, most […]

This can’t be love, because I feel so well,No sobs, no sorrows, no sighs.This can’t be love; I get no dizzy spells,My head is not in the skies. –Nat King Cole   I often wondered why being in love made you want to stand on top of a mountain, shouting it out. Sometimes for me, […]

2018. Julia sat at a table alone with a birthday cake. Stuck to the creamy icing were six wax candles and a red letter A. She had spent the morning mixing chocolate and eggs for her son, to see him enjoy the three or four slices he was capable of devouring, as he told her […]

I was walking down one of those M.C. Escher stairs, in a museum, when I reached the end. From where I stood I could hear a young boy below, sobbing. The sound wasn’t echoing, as it should have been in such a large space. Fortunately, some of the railing was missing, so I jumped down […]

No. No-o. Nope . . .  No-o-o-o. No! No-u-u-u. NO! We shouldn’t complain.   But here is a list of things that make me snarky, anyway. Some I am guilty of committing myself, while others are pure abstractions. At any rate, it’s what I’ve come up with and would like to share.     10. […]

I.   Leroy was an exceptional man. Except, for one reason or another, no one wanted to date him. It led to much confusion, then suffering. Why?   In answering this question, he began to consider his mother. The cause of his loneliness might be in her. Only, she was a grand woman, always available […]

Sound that breaks is noise, sound that moves is music.   And from where he stood, Ilya Nikolayevich could almost hear the hum of a ship’s haul in the distance. It cut right across the line where ocean meets the sky, the horizon. He wished for the silence necessary to tune in. But from everywhere […]

The following is about the last two weeks, at times a Herculean effort on Ela’s part, while at times an Ovidian exile for me. Now that it’s over, I think Ela’s mother put it best, when she said, “You two will always remember getting married.” In her own witty way, she means we had better […]

Dear Charlie Kaufman,     After an hour of thinking about what to write, I’m ready. Why I am writing this letter is because you wrote two of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Adaptation.   You’re up there with Tarkovsky, Linklater, and Noe for me, but why I write to […]

I feel like someone has to slap me across the back of my head to get me to write about this. My eyes shoot for the horizon, yet I look down at my feet. I can only see the here and now, can’t imagine some other later, just yet.   Today’s inspiration comes from a […]

Feel free to fail. You are climbing over a stumbling block. That’s one.   What are other, recent life lessons? Some silly things. I feel like I am holding a hot ginger tea and wearing pajamas as I explain things or muse, like some youtubers I saw recently. But on an unrelated note, why is […]

Some months ago, my graduate department asked me a similar question in an interview. Now I’m thinking why not expand a little, let my hands hopscotch over the keyboard a little, improve a little.   I think my answer remains the same: Vronsky and Levin. But, adding some meat to the dish, it pays to open […]

Let’s assume I’m this world-renowned author, with aspiring writers from around the world flocking to me for advice. I have this wild, white beard from years of paying attention to other people, a colorful yet tasteful garb over my head to prevent ideas from spilling out, and a voice as clear as ice water. A […]

Outside in Bucharest the clouds pour gentle, warm buckets of rain. Button-up shirts look three shades darker around the shoulders and back. Hair, too. The smell of flaky, crispy pastries finds its way through the wetness of morning.  It is still early, but not for long. One reads.   A list, it can be fun, […]