The Joys and Agonies of Writing...

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:        

The Joys and Agonies of Writing...

E.g.     "Making a U-Turn in the Gig Economy"

Joel K

Not my Magnum Opus, perhaps, but, in what in my humble opinion is a creditable, almost noble effort. I started the book somewhat coincidentally with our new, if necessary career path…. Food Delivery Drivers. A joint effort, a partnership, a husband a wife venture, an adventure.

Making a U-Turn in the Gig Economy is a new work, published officially in April of 2022, printed by a superb organization called The Bindery, a creation owing to the genius of Zach. The cover, front and back, spine too, of course, was designed by Diana of “BearBear.” The entire process was accomplished in an outstanding fashion with professionalism and exquisite attention to detail.

The “joy” we can attribute to the fact that it has been accomplished and is now available in print, with gorgeous illustrations by a much-loved collaborator, 16 or so of them by Lucy. One for each chapter, and an extra or two depicting specific episodes in a brilliant career! I editorialize, just a bit. One illustration was made by a younger contributor, Phi Phi. We are grateful beyond our poor ability to express gratitude for those beautiful enhancements to our literary effort.

Many if not most of the ideas expressed in print were created by someone I lovingly call SweetHeart. She is my life partner, and my most cherished collaborator, the better half of our duo, one I would be a bit boastful, I suppose, in labeling “dynamic.” Or maybe I go a bit far…

The book has a beginning, of course, in which I describe our journey from a quite serious financial downturn to a kind of new beginning. We accepted our circumstances with a degree of dignity and aplomb — at least I believe we did, false modesty and self praise aside — though our self perceptions struggled with the idea of “classism.” One is never too old or too important to learn and absorb new life lessons.

As the story wanders into a kind of fresh reality, we find joy, and agonies, along the process. The hunt is a crucible, difficult and at times frustrating and seemingly hopeless. In the end we find light, a passageway. Acceptance! We meet extraordinary people whose generosity and kindness we found to be remarkable, and continue to do so, in spite of economic status, social and societal constructs.

I like to think of our new career circumstance as adventure. We became and are still becoming pioneers of a sort, like dusty, care-worn and exhausted denizens of the conestoga parade, plowing new ground to find ownership, independence and a proud new way of living. Perhaps I go a trifle overboard, like a mariner in storm-tossed seas, rescued by a lifeline, a fortuitous turn of events.

But I don’t want to give away too much. The book is available for purchase, for those who are able to identify, to learn, to be edified perhaps, to consider their own perilous journeys and events in the “Time of the Virus.” Caught in rip tides of struggle, trying valiantly to swim to safety, to survive life’s unexpected upheavals. Earthquakes and forest fires and mud slides, yet pulling themselves, ourselves, up out of the abyss, surviving, moving on, re-building. 

The great lesson learned is, can and should be a shared experience. Write down your own stories, not merely of survival, but of family members and friends, even your own trials and adventures. We all have fascinating tales to tell, populated often by fascinating personalities. Your and our stories don’t have to reach a wide audience, only our own compact and personal orbits, often our only modest limits…. Or perhaps your’s will resonate so profoundly with others as to generate a huge wave, a tidal surge, swallowing and consuming the minds and interests of a multitude. The point is to try, to begin. 

If anyone who may happen to wander into these paragraphs wishes to do so, contact the perpetrator, that’s me, of course. I would be delighted to help, to share, perhaps to counsel if such counsel is desired. Thank you and good sailing! 

"The Nomination is the Award!..." (subtitle) The Curse of Ageism, and What Geezers Face when Discarded, Ignored and Diminished by Society!

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:          "The Nomination is the Award!..." 

                       (subtitle) 

                       The Curse of Ageism, and What Geezers Face

                       when Discarded, Ignored and Diminished by Society!

Can't readily recall where I originally heard the expression, the one used as the main title of this posting.  It seems apt, however, for those who did not have the great honor of rising, somewhat stunned, walking up to the awards presentation stage to be handed the top prize...    but who, nonetheless, were so honored by their peers, one of a just a chosen few...  not blessed with ultimate victory, perhaps, but at least...   nominated, even though steeped in GeezerHood, considered to be out of date, obsolete!

The new book that I was privileged to write and have published is entitled, Making a U-Turn in the Gig Economy.  SweetHeart helped a great deal by contributing excellent topic ideas and editing skill.  Our wonderful granddaughter, Lucy, created all but one of the gorgeous, cartoon-like illustrations.  Younger granddaughter, PhiPhi, drew one picture, and that, too, is featured toward the end of the book's content.

It's somewhat like a serendipitous find while walking in the park, for example, when a large denomination note of currency suddenly and completely unexpectedly appears at your feet.  You stop and pick it up, discovering that it's real.  You stuff it in your pocket, and there it seems to grow, even glow, as if emanating stars and sparkles and bright colors, and you begin to levitate, in a way; you lose yourself in pleasing thoughts of using that find to perfect advantage....

But I digress a bit.  I seem to do that frequently...  The Book...   When SweetHeart and I

discovered a large crack in our "Nest Egg," we knew we had to find new means of generating income.  At a certain advanced age, one finds oneself, sadly, a victim of Ageism and irrelevance.  It matters little how brilliantly you may have performed in your professional life, how many awards and accolades you received along the way.

When we reach a certain age, we become mere labels...   "Seniors," "Elderly," past our prime.  The perception among the young -- to those of us no longer in the bloom of youth -- is like a scar or a poison pen letter or a false accusation or a striped prison tunic with a large number sewn onto its chest position...  A stigma, like a contagious disease, like a toxin.

In spite of brilliant Curricula Vitae (CVs), endless job searches, want ads, internet career sites and too much more, all pursued exhaustedly, we, the "Geezer Set," are rejected, abandoned, ignored and forgotten, like so much detritus cast onto curb sides and rubbish heaps...    So what then? 

We swallow our pride, accept reality and the "career paths" available to us.  In our case, food delivery driving, using our own vehicle on our own schedule.  No base salary, no insurance, no promise of an IRA or a pension or a so-called "golden parachute." 

But then...   like a kind of curative drug, a precious discovery, the great and glorious career has its joyful moments, a kind of re-awakening, and thus we decide to write a book, chronicling our experiences and adventures, the fun and the funny, the enriching and educative moments, the voyage into uncharted seas.  We begin collecting tales, writing down the memories, the rewards and the pains, after five or six years of picking up and delivering food to those who harvest their sustenance from smart phones and the "Applications" loaded into their complex circuitry.  We have something to say, something rare, something relevant and important!

The results, both unexpected and gratifying, can make the joys and the miseries seem almost worthwhile, worth the time and the travel, the mileage, the aging, unbent limbs locked into position in what seems a perpetual motion contrivance, and the costs of fuel and the setbacks and the wasted time and motion that so often come with the territory. 

Again, the unexpected!  We're invited to conduct a class via a university's continuing education program for older adults.  We've been invited to discuss the book before a large and erudite group, a book club, one populated by intelligent and well-read members.  Both events would center on our book, and the gig economy generally.  The former may be cancelled due to low registrations, but it's the nomination that counts, that lingers in memory like a sunlit day at the beach with crusty bread, ripe fruit, cool drinks and sugary treats.  

But then my thoughts return to the potential audience, and whether anyone who lives in

well-to-do neighborhoods has ever had an occasion to be mired of necessity in the gig economy.  There are exceptions, of course.  And, it's summer...  People tend to remove themselves from tedium, travel on holidays to pleasant, sunny and summery environs, and try to recall what it was like to be young and carefree.   Many are buoyed by strong spirits and mugs of cold beer, but like the holiday itself, a kind of phantom, ephemeral, gone like the fading of a dream.

But inside our heads, in our minds' eyes and memory, the things that cannot be removed or erased (save the devastation of dementia, of course), we can savor.   What used to be or perhaps what might have been, and we can lose ourselves in the joy of knowing we were awarded the nomination.  And we'll always have those triumphs, successes, our trophies and our victories.  Those thoughts, those ideas, are locked inside our psychic vaults forever...  or until we're dead!   

(Special Note:    Making a U-Turn in the Gig Economy is available through Amazon.com, as a Kindle, a Hard Cover version and as a Paperback.  One can also purchase the book at a somewhat modest cost directly from the author...   joelkrio@gmail.com...   Thank You!)

[ 2.  The perpetrator dedicates this posting to SweetHeart for her precious and indispensable partnership, support, superb ideas, her editing skills.  In addition, we dedicate this writing to Lucy, without whose gorgeous illustrations, the book would not be the literary and aesthetic jewel that it is!  Readers are welcome to judge for themselves, of course!  "Jewel" may be considered by some to be somewhat hyperbolic!  (But probably not!) ]    

  

          

    

Writing as an Obsession: Joyful, Agonizing, Necessary...!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:      Writing as an Obsession...   Joyful, Agonizing, Necessary...!

For those who love the act and the art of jotting words on paper, in journals or punching keys to turn x's and y's into thoughts on a computer screen, writing is a compulsion, at times joyful, at others agonizing!  But often, perhaps more accurately always, a kind of dominating obsession.

When I was a callow youth suffering through a Jesuit high school education, an English teacher told a friend of mind that he might consider writing as a career, at least an avocation.  He looked at me and said, "Writing is something you should never do!"  

Well, what the hell could I do with that condemnation, that bit of false, insulting and presumed lack of skill or talent?!  I had always loved to write, stories, bits of poetry, nonsense to give life to my margin drawings and amateurish cartoons.  I simply did not care to share that passion with my classmates and contemporaries, for twin fears of embarassment and failing to fit in with the popular crowd.  Or worse -- a high school curse -- being labeled "creative," non-athletic and bookish!  

My father, a career government employee, a special agent in the FBI, insisted that if I had any semblance of a brain in my head, I'd pursue a career in government or public service, a job that guaranteed a pension at the end of too many years of tedium.  Naturally, I ignored that sage advice.  I became a writer, a journalist, eventually a self-employed free-lance editor and co-publisher at various times...  and most of the time, a writer!  And though I've loved most every moment of it, my "brilliant career choice" did not produce financial security, or that pension plan my father tried so valiantly to place in my thoughts as I plodded into the future.  (My mother wanted a doctor in the family!  Both parents were disappointed!)

I joined the military out of high school, being a conflicted, angry, rebellious and undecided youth.  I did some writing during that period, including a bit of re-write and editing copy, even some on-air time, for the Armed Forces Radio Service.  Four years later, I was accepted into a university and pursued another four-year stint in that institution's College of Journalism.

Never one to forge a master plan with intellectual mettle stirred into the crucible, after graduation, having achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree, I hit the road. 

I landed first in Colorado where I worked for a regional newspaper.  The publisher also owned a Legion Post newspaper.  I became editor and chief reporter and writer for both.  I had a brief flirtation with a newspaper in the south-central mountains of Colorado, before accepting a job with a daily in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  While in that fine city, I also did some radio and television newscasting, a brief stint as a UPI stringer, all of it feeding my passion, and adding the great benefit of learning my chosen craft well, gaining experience.

Further west, in Seattle, Washington, I worked as a newscaster for both a radio and a television station, then traveled south before returning to my Milwaukee base, where I became editor and chief writer for the community's Model Cities' newspaper, prior to joining a public relations firm.  As a PR counsel, I wrote press releases that were published nearly verbatim -- false modesty aside -- in several major US newspapers, and in major trade magazines as well.  

It's in the blood, I suppose...  writing.  In the passage of time, well, to be accurate, in the mid- 1970s, fortunes and employment opportunities being what they were and are, I launched a career as a self-employed, free-lance writer, and never looked backward, never returned to "un-self-employment."  (Well, maybe once, in the mid-90s!... for approximately 5 months!) 

In the mid-1990s, on the edge of "robust middle age," and not quite on the threshold of "GeezerHood," my father -- with whom I had always (not) enjoyed a contentious relationship, was beset by two forms of cancer -- one of which eventually claimed his life -- his condition further challenged by worsening dementia.  It fell to my older sister and me, with the indispensable help of my wife, SweetHeart, to become my father's principal caregivers.  His condition, his hospice care, lasted for nearly two full years.  Following his death, I felt compelled to write about the experience.

It started, at least in my mind, as a probable short story, but soon morphed into a full-length book, a "relationships story fused with a memoir" -- And Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women...  My book was read and edited by professional, published authors and editors who encouraged me to do my best to see it published.  I sent a great many query letters to literary agents, two of whom contacted me, interested in representation.  The first ultimately backed away, being more focused on handling "medical memoir."  The second was truly interested in the story, had promised we'd have a professional relationship, but sadly died before an author-agent representation could be forged.  

The world of publishing being what it is today, an opinion shared by many fellow writers, both published and struggling, memoirs are difficult at best to attract an agent, and much of what we read and see on bookshelves and in book shops by recognized authors, are...   well, so many of us wonder how in the hell they ever landed a publisher.   Sour grapes and envy, perhaps, but true in any case!

Eventually, I opted for self-publishing at the urging of family, friends, colleagues and critics.  I've had the good fortune to be favorably reviewed by many readers imbued with intelligence, professionalism and skill, including other writers, published authors and even a professional, career-long geriatrics caregiver.  It has been, to use a tired phrase, a most gratifying "journey

A brilliant young chap lounging in Jamaica, I'm reliably
told, perusing a superb volume.  He wrote a 5-Star Review!

of discovery."  Readers I'd never met praised And Good Night...  for its humor -- my father was a gifted comedian, humorist and storyteller -- its sensitivity and its revelations of elder caregiving methodology and coping mechanisms. 

I decided to write his piece of shameless self-promotion as a means of giving and perhaps achieving some measure of empathy with others similarly bitten by the same bug, those of us who love to write, pursued almost ceaselessly by words and ideas demanding to be given voice.  Whether we scribble for our own amusement or belong to writers' groups and clubs, or hope someday to land a contract, we are, I think, a kindred group of the hopelessly obsessed.  

I now have three books in print, the aforementioned And Good Night..., Memoirs of a Geezer and An Awful, Beautiful Day...  Or, Me and My Chicken Pox!, the latter a sibling-produced and illustrated children's book.  

And Good Night...  is available via amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, booksamillion.com and Powells.com.  The other two published books are also available through amazon.com.  Maybe we could share!!  You buy my book, and if you're in print, I'll buy yours.  We'll likely never get rich from our passion, but the joy is in the creation of fine literature, the creative process itself!  Right??  Hell yes, right!!  

Humbly Submitted 06-05-19 -- Joel K.

    

                 



          

   

      

Chicken Pox and Imagination!... Kids Want to Know!... An Illustrated Children's Book!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:       Imagination!...  A "Stab" at Children's Literature!

Thrill to a Dancing
Pickle!...  this and so much
more:  Read:  An "Awful"
Beautiful Day...  Or, Me
and My Chicken Pox!

"From a bright pen they dripped away, 

Thin and filmy, whirling, elusive,

In the end but shreds, scattered and lost,

Caught on the breath of the wind..." 

          -- Anon.

With any passionate discipline, the imperative is action, movement...  an inexorable journey! If one is driven to write, for example, the pen or keyboard tends to fuse with fingers and mind! The writer is compelled to stab nouns with adjectives and send the pair skittering off with eager verbs... It's a kind of madness, some say, an obsession.  a thing that has to be done with compulsive regularity. Or is it a blessing? Who the hell knows what it is, and why the urge is so insistent, like eating, sleeping and other natural impulses. Within the vastness of words corralled in books and libraries, how many are actually remembered, cherished?  Very few, it's true... but, that's not the point. If you love to write, well then you just have to carry on...  For many it's not even a matter of choice, I suppose!

Yeah, Right!  More shameless self promotion!  But, you see,
it's my blog, so I get to throw these images in from time
to time...  You know, to edify...  to annoy! It's a swell book;
it contains a good story, funny and educative too!  Get a
copy:  www.amazon.com; www.barnesandnoble.com;
www.booksamillion.com; www.outskirtspress.com...

With the great success achieved with my first published work (stated with admitted sarcasm, tongue placed solidly in cheek!), I thought I'd try my hand at a book for children. It has now been completed, and includes wonderful illustrations created by an exceptional artist / collaborator, my brother, Kris. SweetHeart's deft hand, too, of course, always a superb editor and contributor! Why not?, I figure!  Other lunatics have tried writing and having books for kids published; many have even succeeded.  Why not one more delusional lunatic?!

Perhaps it's an ego-driven madness of sorts. I make no lofty claims.  I'm no prolific writer or oft- published novelist. I've not achieved fame; I have no bookshelf filled with hardcover volumes bearing my name. In fact, as I recall, there was a Jesuit teacher in my high school who, when asked if writing could be in my future as a possible vocation answered, "That's the last thing you should do!" In spite of that rebuke or because of it, I chose my profession... And thus I write, whether anyone reads what I write is another matter entirely.      

Possibly I should have been wisely counseled prior to embarking, but in any case...  The result of my latest effort -- accomplished recently, and well into my geezerhood -- is entitled, An "Awful" Beautiful Day...  Or, Me and My Chicken Pox! It's based on an episode experienced by my remarkable daughters, Alie and Bethie.  Well, perhaps I should reveal at least the beginning of the story, in its own words, just to demonstrate that the thing is indeed a fait accompli...

             



  


















What the hell...  I'll include another, maybe even two more of the gorgeous illustrations...  I'm certain readers, devotees and others will be excited and delighted. Won't they? Here are more of the illustrations, with text even!:

























The story's central focus is on IMAGINATION! Quite a few readers have pronounced it "Fun and Funny"...  "Delightful Reading..."  "Entertaining..."  "...an Interesting Reminder of a Nasty Virus Kids Used to Get...  and about Which They're Still Quite Inquisitive!"... Yeah, say I!  That's the whole point, fer crying out loud!! Interested literary agents are most welcome to call or write! I must warn you, however, I'm quite discriminating!...  Anyone out there??!!  Hello??!!

Bethie (left) and Alie in their present
day manifestations.  I tried to give
them a kind of "cartoon-ie" look, in
keeping with the theme... 

Writing is a joyful and can be a somewhat lonely experience, but almost always gratifying, that carries with it a sense of accomplishment. Something you can step back and admire once it's done. And so I say to you, my friends, empathetic comrades and kindred souls, pick up a nib, a quill, a pencil or a keyboard and write something. Even if you and a family member or a friend are the only market or audience for your work.  

Oh yeah, one more thing.  There's a Chicken in the book, a rather large, cartoon-ie one! A truly glorious fowl creature to behold! It alone is worth a look...  Ba Gawk, Ba Gawk...  Buk... Buk... Buk! Its words are translated within the story, and that, too, should generate interest and readership

throughout the entire poultry farming community, agriculture in general... the entire planet, even the inhabited parts!! For those of you who many not be fond of chickens, we apologize, and remind you that there are many other redeeming parts of the book, Characters too, that you're certain to find enjoyable, possibly even memorable! 

[ Special Note of Dedication and Attribution:  The perpetrator extends giant thanks, and dedicates this writing to his beautiful, incomparable, fun and funny daughters for their unending gifts of themselves, their humor, support, understanding, patience and love. In addition, a special joint dedication to Brother, Kris, and to SweetHeart, my best friend, muse and cherished co-collaborator in life! (But not also dedicated to the pantomime chicken I met the other day in the mall!) Thank You, and Good Night...! ] 

(A Second Note:  "And Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women..." is available through www.amazon.com; wwwbarnesandnoble.com; www.booksamillion.com; www.outskirtspress.com! The Illustrated Children's Book -- "An 'Awful' Beautiful Day..." is not yet in print, but can be made available to interested parties...  Contact:    jkriofske@att.net    or    joel.mary@icloud.com!)     

Humbly Submitted, 01-16-17 -- Joel K.         

      

    

Great Adventures in Literature -- Writing, Publishing and Promoting a Book!

Memoirs of a Geezer!

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth 

to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:        What an Adventure!  Writing, Publishing...  
                                A Long, Rutted Road, an Exciting Journey into Literature!

I believe it began in 2008...  or thereabouts!  (When does Geezerhood actually begin?  Does *AAARPFGP make the rule, set the standard?)  In any case, I was certainly in the grasp when it began. The process of writing a book-length work of non-fiction has been and continues to be a great adventure, a humbling and, at times, arduous task.  Maybe even a kind of love affair, or perhaps merely an obsession! 
  
The photo at left is a kind
of professorial pose struck
by an author who is also
the Perpetrator of this Blog!

My wife, Sweetheart, and I, together with my wonderful and generous sister, Karen -- she who took the lead role, and who sadly died just this past year -- accepted the duty of providing hospice care for my aging father -- he who was suffering from two forms of cancer, and rampant dementia, a condition that heightens the challenge considerably.  As with other caregiving activities before and after my father's, it was extraordinary, intimate and a bit daunting as well.

Somehow, I knew I had to write about the experience.  My father's hospice period lasted a remarkable 19 months, so lengthy a time we had to have him re-certified for hospice care not once but twice!  It often seemed he simply refused to exit!  Cancer of the liver finally claimed his life in February of 1996 (twenty years ago this month!).  We had other challenges to face -- additional caregiving, my own personal demons and the necessity to earn a living intervened -- until finally I was able to begin the writing process, whenever time and discipline allowed.  

The result:   And Good Night to All the Beautiful Young Women:  A Tale of "Episodic Dementia" -- The Parent Becomes the Child...  It's not a bad book, my dears, or so I've been told!  In fact -- false modesty aside -- we're reliably told it's quite good!  And funny too, owing in large measure to my father's comedic personality!   

Since its publication, Sweetheart and I have engaged in what our literary advisors urged, 

encouraged and term, "shameless self-promotion."  I / we have used facebook, word of mouth, Email, press releases, a television appearance on WTMJ-TV's The Morning Blend, an "Author Event" (presentation of the "backstory," chapter descriptions, a reading, Q&A session and book signing!), consignment sales and other methods and media.  It has truly been a grand adventure...    so far...

We anticipated some 32 bodies at the "Author Event" held at Boswell Books on Downer Avenue in Milwaukee.  More than 70 actually attended!  We deemed it highly successful and

The anticipated "throng" of 32 or so
eventually turned into more than 70
attendees at the "Author Event"!

gratifying, especially given the time and effort devoted to the entire process of writing, editing, deciding on the publication method and subsequent promotion.  At this juncture, I must pay tribute and extend enormous gratitude to two phenomenal editors, Kurt C. and Sweetheart too, of course, both of whom kept things heading in the right direction!... Wonderful, thoughtful and endlessly bright and patient editors!  Giant thanks to my good friend, Larry L., as well, who has been a source of great inspiration, at times lending his literary brilliance to the project.

I also extend thanks to all of those wonderful people who wrote and posted reviews on Amazon

and Barnes & Noble, the two commercial "bookseller" web sites on which the book is available for purchase.  In particular, I thank Donna P. and Peg R., both of whom offered great support and encouragement and marvelous reviews, not to mention the dual gems of their love and friendship.  The list should also include brother, Kris, as well, for his most welcome support and encouragement.  He is one of my favorite people, favorite brother, too!  And Jaynie, of course.  I thank her most sincerely for her love and constant support.  And, oh yes, my beautiful cousins whose places of residence include nearly every region of the country.  They really are beautiful cousins, smart and talented too!

Finally (in the spirit of the Academy Awards) I wish to thank my publicist, producers, hair stylist, costume designer and everyone in Boise, Idaho.  Oh yeah!  My agent...  I love ya, Baby! 
   
So now what?  We've been talking about "book tours," and agonizing a bit, well, quite a lot to be truthful, over the probable or improbable efficacy of such an undertaking.  We've tentatively targeted Dallas, New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York -- or somewhere on the East Coast -- or possibly Florida, other key markets.  I don't know??!!  Affordability is a major factor... We'll give it more thought, lots more thought!  

And what about foreign markets?  I mean, Chinese people have aging parents, don't they?!...  or are aging parents!  Russians, Europeans, South Americans, Australians??  Or is all of this merely colossal, self-delusional presumption??!!!  But what the hell, one can't be blamed for dreaming, even fantasizing!

Perhaps we need a gimmick!  A pet goat!  A dancing wallaby!  Or a monkey, maybe!  We could all wear little red fez's, or brown felt fedoras like G-men wear.  (My father was a G-man, you know, an FBI guy!)  
"Step right up, people!  Watch the monkey play the bassoon and ride a goat...  and then buy a book..  or two, even!  Mustn't dawdle, only a few copies left...!"  (I'll have to work on my "sidewalk pitch" routine!!)

Another brilliant thought!  Maybe it's the second book that sells the first!  I just gotta keep

working on that mystery novel.  In the meantime, suggestions are most welcome.  Sweetheart

and I will continue to consider ideas, no matter how ridiculous.  (Hey!...  Can writers attract "Angels"? You know, like Bialystock and Bloom?...)  Stay tuned!  This adventure is far from over!! 

* American Association of Almost Retired or Possibly Fired 
   Geezer Persons!  

Humbly Submitted 02-29-16 (Leap Day!) -- Joel K.

[Special Note:  The perpetrator of this blog posting offers special notes of gratitude to several remarkably fine and talented co-conspirators...  maybe collaborators is a better choice of words... whose names are listed in the body of the above writing.  So, for those of you mentioned, you'll simply have to suffer through the entire passage to find your specific note of gratitude.  Thank You, and Good Night to All You Beautiful Young (and Older) Women, and Men!]