Well, dear readers, let’s begin our look back at 2023, shall we? A rather tumultuous year in certain ways but a very creatively rewarding year in just about every way. It began, a every year has begun for almost two decades, with starting a new novel, Preview Harvey. I knew going in that some people would love it, and some wouldn’t be able to get past the character’s way of talking. But I had to be true to Harvey and I would not waiver in that. I loved writing him and his parents and his boss at Wallichs Music City, although it’s always seen and told through his voice. In that regard, it was like writing something that was stream of consciousness and walking an endless tightrope to know how much repetition to use and when. I knew the guy it was loosely based on and I’ve known and worked with others on the spectrum, even though in Harvey’s case there was no spectrum or any name for that back then. I especially loved having folks like Blake Edwards and Jerry Lewis as characters. Muse Margaret really loved everything about the book and the only comments, and they were minor, were a couple of instances where she felt I had too many movies in a segment, and I cut those way down. And yes, some loved it, and some couldn’t even get through it and that’s all fine. In the end, you have to write the book you have to write and hope that people go along for the ride. I’m very proud of it. In the first three months of the year, David Wechter and I finished writing a screenplay, a thriller, which we sent to the guy who sold The Faculty for us. He really liked it, got it to a producer friend of his who really liked it and we did two rewrites for the producer, addressing his notes. Then it went to a huge talent agency to try to attach a name actor – when the Writer’s Guild went on strike, followed by the actors. And everything stopped in its tracks and stayed stopped. It’s now at another big agency but nothing’s happening during the holidays.
We did a few Kritzerland shows at the Gardenia because the room at Vitello’s closed. And I found instantly that the Gardenia just wasn’t going to work for us – no way to break even there or even come close. But the shows we did there were full and went well. The only other Kritzerland show wasn’t until June, when we did a big 95 birthday celebration for Richard Sherman at a new jernt called The Write-Off Room. We sold out there, it was a great show, but I knew that room wasn’t going to work for our normal shows. So, I decided that until we have a new permanent home, I wasn’t going to do any more shows, and we haven’t. I’m hoping that will change in January. There were no Kritzerland releases after February. I had to put the brakes on until we cleaned up a lot of messes. And then, out of the blue, I began thinking about something I’d thought about for well over a decade – the missing three years of my life. The Kritzer books covered through high school graduation and the first memoir picked up my life after I got married and moved to New York. But there were these three years from 1965 to late 1968 and they were such interesting, formative years for me that I finally took the bull by the horns and began writing what was then called Benjamin Kritzer: The Missing Three Years. Muse Margaret thought it was a great idea. I was worried about getting back into the very unique style of the Kritzer books, but I must say it was like riding a bike – I just got back on and just did it. While my memory is pretty great, Cousin Dee Dee had all her stuff from back then – dates, times, places, events, all of it, and that was a godsend and kept the timelines really accurate, except in a couple of instances where I moved things around for storytelling purposes. I absolutely loved being back in that world and the more I wrote the more I loved writing and about a third of the way through I changed the title to Kritzer World to have it be more of a piece with the first three books. The Muse loved it, but kept me on the right track about a few things that didn’t feel right to her even though they were things that really happened. She’s very protective of Benjamin, probably more than I am, so I rewrote those couple of sections to remove the stuff she thought hurt the character.
At the same time, David and I began writing another screenplay, this one a comic thriller. David had an idea long ago that we’d bandied about, but I was resistant to it because I felt it needed some kind of heft rather than just be an innocuous comedy. So, we came up with a good hook for the plot and we’re in the middle of writing it now. We’ll pick up the saga in tomorrow’s notes.
Yesterday was certainly yesterday. I got nine and a half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, and then ordered a Cobb salad from Stanley’s. That arrived and was very good. I did a few things on the computer, and then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I watched a 2023 motion picture entitled The Equalizer 3. I’d enjoyed the first two films, mostly because Denzel Washington is so good in them. This is the final film for him and while it won’t be winning any awards and while the violence is perhaps a little too over the top, it’s very enjoyable and does exactly what you want it to do. And it’s a reunion for Denzel and Dakota Fanning, who, as a young child, starred in Man on Fire with him. She’s very good in this and the action scenes are fun, you want the villains to get what’s coming to them and they do, and there’s a surprising amount of heart to this one.
Then I had some penne with pink sauce – just about five ounces of pasta – from a little nearby jernt I’ve wanted to try. It was pretty good and hit the spot. And then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and then I’ll relax until it’s time to go to dinner with Cousin Dee Dee and Alan to a favorite jernt of mine. After that, I’ll come home and watch, listen, and relax. I’m also dog sitting for the Darling Daughter for the next eleven days – the person who was supposed to do it flaked out and I was the only one she could turn to. I’m told that the dog just sleeps and goes out a couple of times a day and can be alone for three or four hours, so I’m sure it’ll all be fine, as I’ll be away seeing all three performances of our show’s closing weekend.
The rest of the week is writing, seeing another play reading, having a brush-up rehearsal, and then playing our final three performances. The matinee is already sold out, and Friday and Saturday are over two-thirds full now, so we’re hoping they’ll be completely full by show day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, relax, have a birthday dinner, dog sit, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, enjoying doing that was the year that was, part one.