This Crazy Tumble

“Only connect", the novelist EM Forster wrote. His character (Margaret in Howard's End) was suggesting a union of "passion and prose" (or the inner and outer life), but those two words - only connect - have become a rallying cry for the 21st century, expressing the importance of people relating to one another in an increasingly fragmented world.

But how does one connect with others through the written word?

It could mean digging deeper into one’s own experiences, not necessarily to reveal them, but in order to create a story or poem that resonates with others. It could mean remembering the first time you fell in love with words: the magic of discovering ways to wrangle vocabulary on foolscap, the thrill of it all.

But - how do you put goosebumps onto a piece of paper?

I try to answer that question in my story Uncle Ben's Sun-ray Club. It was a Runner-Up in the Writers Challenge as well as a Top Story. Save it for bedtime reading. Right now, let me tell you about my writing goals for 2024.

I want to hone my craft, which means learning how to communicate effectively through my stories, articles, memoirs, screenplays. And that means writing every day: choosing the right words, then weaving them into sentences that paint a picture and/or evoke an emotion.

Honing my craft also means knowing what to leave out, which is just as important as knowing what to leave in. Self-editing is a skill best developed by constantly rooting out excess wordage: sentences and paragraphs that get in the way of the story. "Kill your darlings" Faulkner said. Listen to Bill, he knew a thing or two about writing.

Stephen King has a formula for self-editing: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%

I will also be reading a lot in the coming year.

Feedback is instrumental in creating meaningful connection, whether online or face-to-face.

Howard Suber, UCLA film professor, has said that the greatest gift one human being can give another is "faith in their own potential". The best of us do this for our children but we must be sure to carry it on as they grow into rebellious teenagers and questing adults. Sassy teen or cranky senior, all people want and need encouragement. I'll have that in mind when I provide feedback.

Fortunately, I’ve had, and continue to have, wonderful cheerleaders in my life. The following brief memoir champions "faith in potential" by describing its opposite. That Time Doris Day Hit the Fan received a lot of empathetic response and made Top Story this past year. Save it for later when you've poured yourself a flute of bubbly or cracked open a tallboy.

Lao Tsu said that the greatest gift you have to give “is that of your own self-transformation.” And I say that writing promotes this transformation because it is a process of exploration, questioning, learning - mostly, if not entirely, about oneself.

I think that both the prof's and the philosopher's "greatest gift" statements are true, but if you want to know what to get me for Christmas, I like hats.

Okay, I’m not really fishing for material gifts. That was my attempt at humour, another skill I wish to perfect in my writing. I call it: "Hone the funny bone". (Sorry, Faulkner, I couldn't resist leaving that one in.)

When I originally posted The Way I Wear My Hat to Vocal, I thought the subject matter was frivolous and not as good as my more serious work. But with the positive response it got, including a Top Story designation, I began to understand the importance of joy in writing - both in the process and in the final product.

Which reminds me of the movie Sullivan's Travels (1941), wherein a successful director of comedies wants to do more serious work because he feels making people laugh is beneath his stature as a famous artiste. Through some hard lessons, he learns that laughter is essential, and he happily returns to what he's good at.

I published a few Christmas stories this past year that I wrote in a joyous frame of mind. I’d like to continue to infuse my work with that same spirit as we head into another complicated year on planet earth.

Don't save Humbug till the next yuletide season - open it tomorrow, as if it were a special present, and feel those good holiday vibes all over again.

As this year progresses I’d like to know more about the person who didn’t get a special present under the tree: a coveted eyeshadow palette or a fuchsia frock - maybe because they were supposedly the wrong gender for such gifts. In other words, I’d like to be a louder, bolder ally for the LGBTQ+ community.

Positive reaction to my article Love Harder, which became a Top Story in May of 2023, has helped shape my writing goals for 2024. Put this story at the top of your "To Read" list.

(I'm just going to go ahead and assume you have such a list and then I'm going to be presumptuous enough to think it's peppered with my work.)

You might have noticed that I like movies. So, I write about them and the artists who make them. I will continue to do so into this shiny new year, not only because I admire the artistry of cinema, but because I believe movies can teach us valuable lessons, sometimes about belonging (aka connecting).

In the movie The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1963), belonging is the goal of the main character, John Singer, played by Alan Arkin. Singer is deaf and lives in a time and a place that has no understanding of what it means to be deaf in a hearing world. Despite his outgoing personality and selflessness, his efforts to connect with others are ultimately thwarted.

At first, Singer has some success: in a scene with a diner proprietor (played by Hubert Harper) their two-way communication is through smiles, handshakes, nods, and for Singer, lipreading. As I watched this friendly exchange I became aware that I too was smiling. The scene contains all the warmth and positivity of meaningful connection between two living souls.

That's what I want for 2024 and beyond: for my verbs to be smiles, my nouns to be handshakes, my adjectives to be hugs; occasionally, my pronouns and adverbs might be a slap upside the head - but most of my words will conspire to be a gentle yet firm hand on my readers' shoulders.

In the long run I aspire to change people’s hearts and minds with my scribblings. That long run might be an endless marathon but I’m up for the challenge.

What a crazy tumble is life! And I want to represent the whole topsy-turvy ride with my writing: the sorrows and joys, the highs and lows, the despair and love, for it is in the sharing of common experiences that we truly connect.

P.S. Connecting with a cat is easy: scratch behind her ears or just pick up a pen to write in your journal; keyboard tapping will also work: you'll receive instant eye contact, purring and interference connection