A Couple Good Ones

I highly recommend the HBO/Max documentary on Billy Joel: And So It Goes. Everyone I know who has seen it says it is excellent, and I absolutely loved it. I may rewatch it at some point (though I said that about the Bob Dylan docu A Complete Unknown and have yet to rewatch ~ there are just way too many things I haven't seen). What an interesting person Billy is! And his talent is simply out of this world. I mean, I always liked his music, but I never really appreciated how great it was and how hard he worked until I saw this docu.

For my online book club I read The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. It's kind of half gothic mystery and half contemporary detective story. I wasn't sure I would like it, but it totally hooked me, both with the plight of the sad girls at a Vermont boarding school around 1950 and with the current day (2014) reporter Fiona who is trying to make sense of what happened back then as it may relate to the murder of her sister. Is there a ghost or isn't there? Doo doo doo doo. There's also a complicated love relationship to sort out between Fiona and a younger police officer Jamie. His father, the retired chief of police, also has a role to play in the drama, as does Fiona's father, a famous journalist. Four stars. 

I'm feeling paralyzed with too many choices for my free time. There are a million shows I could watch on TV, but usually when I choose one I dislike it, turn it off after 10 minutes, pick another, rinse repeat. Or I could paint, which I did on Sunday with meh results. Or I could read another book (usually the best choice). I could play a solo board game or a game on my phone. Peruse FB, IG, Bluesky, etc. None of that last bunch is particularly satisfying however. What about writing? I dipped a tentative toe back into the waters the other week on Substack, and it went well. (I wrote a poem about my hair for a friend's publication.) I keep thinking it would be cool to post some of my older poetry and flash fiction to see if it resonates with anyone ~ and I did, a week ago. I can't believe a whole week has passed already.

Funny thing... I was chatting with a friend on FB about those old 100 word stories some of us used to write, and then tonight my friend from the WP community sent me a story of mine she'd found in her email. This one was 99 words, and I really liked it! Sometimes my old stuff surprises me: I think wow I occasionally display a glimmer of writing talent, or omg my stuff is so horrible how embarrassing that anyone ever read this. One extreme or the other...

Anyway, now I have a desire to post 100 word pieces on Substack to see what happens.