Late Notes

I live in an old house and in the back yard it’s overgrown in places, and covered a bit was an old Bar-B-Q. Over the years I had thought it was a propane grill, and just left it overgrown while I used a charcoal grill. But then I found out it was a gas grill, that a pipe came out of the ground, and if I fixed it, I’d never have to bother with charcoal, propane tanks--nada--just turn the dial and go. I spent Monday and Tuesday looking for parts I needed. None of the new grills at the hardware stores had the same parts so I thought to buy a propane grill and hook it to the gas but the guy at Home Depot said converting propane to gas was a huge hassle. Plus the part that distributed the flame in the old one was all rusted and I couldn’t find another in the same configuration. I almost bought a new propane grill but checked the aisle one more time and found parts I could make work. Last night and tonight I grilled outside. What’s embarrassing is that I almost gave up trying to make it happen, buying a propane grill--one more piece of stuff blocking chi, filling up propane tanks. Ugh. That’s what really made me make that final push, to work through to the solution, knowing if I did, so much time and energy saved. Maybe that will be part of a novel, there’s way more detail to the overall story. And of course I’d end on how I grilled Ahi tuna with olive oil and slices of lemon.


I’m excited this late book is going to print. Leading up to publishing a book is like being forced to fly into a tunnel, set in the side of a cliff, hoping you make it out the other side in one piece. In some ways I can’t believe the way the last three years of life have turned out. If America is not meant to hold a federal convention, then thousands of people will know Hamlet and Macbeth. I will have kept and made true what I said when I was a kid. That I was going to change the world. I had wanted it to be with my art, maybe making films even, then I got caught up in the political stuff--not because it appealed to me, but because I knew that in the grand scheme of things, here on Earth, there should be at least one person like me every generation--someone running around trying to help cause a convention. If I had known Hamlet/Macbeth in my twenties it would have made a difference. It made a difference when I finally understood them in my thirties. So I don’t feel like a total failure, even though the political science project appears to have been defeated. People just don’t want a convention. In fact I can make arguments why we shouldn’t have one. At least I’ll be able to say I got Shakespeare out there. If life goes on like it is now, and 2012 comes and goes without any fundamental change, I’ll still read, write, and make art. And it would be really cool if the book is accepted, or catches on by word of mouth. 100,000 sales or more a year would be nice. We’ll see what happens, the third week of July I’ll finally have copies in my hot little hands.