|
|||
Thanks to the book leave of Los Angeles Times columnist Hector Tobar, readers have been treated to a remarkable upgrade: the occasional piece by investigative reporter cum essayist Gale Holland. Whether musing on lottery hangover or Santa Ana winds, she’s simulatenously poetic and precise, with the rhythm and grace of a serious writer. The smart move would be to give her a permanent home on Page 2.
For writers serious and otherwise, Paris has always been a muse, the aesthetically inspiring place-feeling-energy that sends men and women of letters to their journal (or typewriter or, more likely these days, their keypad). We all have something to say about the world’s most beautfiul city — or at least we feel as though we ought to have something to say. It requires some measure of humility and equanimity to admit that everything one wishes one might write about Paris has indeed already be written. Much of it by a man named Gopnik. Read his book Paris to the Moon. Then go there yourself. Then see what’s left to be said. Which is not much. Then read the book again and be glad that writers as great as Monsiuer Gopnik share their insights and poetry with the world. 
I’ve been doing it all wrong, trying to get folks to talk about and desire my quirky, difficult-to-categorize books, trying to get the media’s attention. Recent events have demonstrated the truth about how things really work. I’ve got a new book out in 4 weeks about marijuana. It’s called “Reefer Gladness,” and I want everyone to buy it and, more important, read and think about it. So, hey!, hello! Everyone! Check it out: For Immediate Release: Author Michael Konik Pledges to Use DEA Chief’s Official Photo as Custom Toilet Paper; Says He “Won’t Stop Wiping” Until Pot is Legalized. Friends and confidantes worry that my “irresponsible” actions could bring harm to marijuana activists working to pass the historic Proposition 19 referendum. They say there will be repercussions. But you know what? Heroes don’t worry about repercussions; they do what’s right, because, you know, it’s right. Call me . . . → Read More: Attention All Media: I’m Doing Something Idiotic! 
Most of the people I’ve not met who recognize my name “know” me as a book writer, or as that guy who used to be on television blabbering about poker. A smaller subset might know me as the producer and proprietor of jazz records, or even as a former jazz vocalist. Those are all cool associations. But none of them fully address what it is I really aspire to be. For a several years I’ve had a secret. In a few weeks it will be completely out, a matter of the cultural record, and I’ll no longer be able to hide the truth: What I enjoy doing most is writing lyrics to music. It comes naturally and easily to me, with none of the labor or anxiety one associates with the blocked and tortured artist. I don’t mean that writing lyrics is easy, exactly. I mean that composing rhythmic, . . . → Read More: A Secret I’ve Been Keeping 
My new book, coming out in a couple of months, is about marijuana. Fans of my gambling and golf and dog books have been wondering what gives. Why this? Aside from not wanting to repeat myself, I sought a subject that’s moving to the forefront of our ongoing cultural conversation, a subject about which people feel strongly, even if they’re not sure why. And I wanted a subject about which I could add something new to the dialogue. For nearly 40 years I assiduously abstained from marijuana. I believed the lies. I was frightened. Then I decided to see for myself what everyone was so concerned about. What I discovered was a plant that seemed in many ways to be Nature’s gift to the human brain. It had many powerful effects on me, but I was struck by the main one: Cannabis made me feel better. Better . . . → Read More: Why I Wrote “Reefer Gladness” 
Those of us who suffer from Horizon Sickness — always looking ahead to the next thing instead of being fully engaged with the present — tend to be excellent planners. We maintain detailed lists; we’re fantastically organized; our desks are neat. We foresee everything. Sadly, after several decades of insisting otherwise, we must admit that no amount of color Excel spreadsheets and Post-It notes on the refrigerator can bring order to a chaotic universe. So much, alas, is beyond our well-meaning control. What you are reading is a from-memory transcription of something that got inadvertantly erased twenty minutes prior. I had a couple of nice paragraphs going, but know they’re lost and I can’t remember them. But I can simulate them. They were about how things never turn out quite how you expect them. Staying the course — remaining in what seemed at first to be the . . . → Read More: Planning for the New Year 
For the first time in the history of this space, we have a guest author. This person, who must remain anonymous for reasons that will soon be clear, has written what he calls “a report” about extraordinary events in the place where he lives. We’ve read the whole memoir, and it made us cry and laugh and wonder about this thing we call “the human spirit.” We’re honored to share. Please enjoy this sneak preview of what we can envision being one of the most talked about books of 2012, or whenever it gets published. CHAPTER ONE I understand that writing this down on paper without first obtaining the proper license is not permitted. I will be dealt with appropriately. You could say this report will be my suicide note. But at the risk of displaying what might seem like a horrible lack of appreciation, I feel . . . → Read More: Guest Author: “Chapter One” 
What do writers read when they’re not writing? Good writing. Great writing. Stuff that earns professional admiration and profound consideration. Thoughtful poetry. Arguments constructed elegantly. Wit. Lately I’ve found myself increasingly turning to the work of three writers, all different, all ingenious in their own way. If you’re a regular reader of this space, you’ll dig these cats. 1) Mark Slouka. The novelist’s recent essay in Harper’s about the decline of the Humanities in favor of mathandscience is one of the most marvelous, enlightening, provocative, smart, and necessary documents I’ve read. Ever. What an artist — and what a mind! 2) Derek Sivers. The guy is not a master stylist. He’s a masterful thinker who’s able to distill profound ideas into simple concepts. The founder of the iconic indie-music site CDBaby, Sivers offers consistently worthwhile mini-essays on his site. Music, art, relationships, work, innovation — when he has a . . . → Read More: Recommended Reading 
How bad is the publishing business? Not even best-selling authors with a consistent record of “earning out” advances (i.e., garnering more in wholesale sales than the amount paid in advance by the publisher) can count on seeing their most current manuscripts make it to print and occupying dear shelf space at Barnes & Noble. I know of what I speak. My literary agent is tenacious, comitted, passionate, optimistic, and determined. But short of performing fellatio on the Editorial Director at Knopf, there’s not much he can do to convince nervous publishers that foisting my books upon the world would be a good and noble idea. Granted, my work is not about cooking the low-carb way or about how to make money in real estate or about my affair with Nicole Kidman. Also, I am not the star of a TV show at the moment. But, deluded as . . . → Read More: On the State of Publishing 
First MySpace, then Facebook, and now Twitter. The idea of simultaneously communicating with hundreds or thousands or millions of “friends” has gone from clunky functionality to improved efficiency to instant success, “connecting” people no matter their geographic or spiritual distance. Finally, after much fretting and fomenting, we’ve overcome our existential solitude. We are one. That’s a great development, and further proof that technology may sometimes be used for congregating human souls, not merely annihilating them. At first blush, we should collectively celebrate a free service that allows those who care (for whatever reason) to know what we ate for breakfast, where our next errand will take us, and how that aforementioned breakfast is working its way through our digestive tract. Knowledge is power, and power, according to conventional wisdom, is good. Ergo, it’s all good (as the kids like to say). At the risk of sounding like . . . → Read More: All Atwitter |
|
||
|
Home | Thoughts Of The Week | News | Calendar | Biography | Books | Music | Visual Art | Store | Contact
Copyright © 2012 Michael Konik - All Rights Reserved | Log inWebsite developed by IESMMS |
|||
