Forgive the brief absence but I had to take some time to pick myself up from the floor. Summer’s done! White ducks into the storage bin, sweaters out of the vacuum seal wrappers (really does work). They are canceling television shows as fast as I can record them, while some of my favorites “take a break”. How many TRUE BLOOD episodes am I going to have to relive online before Bill, Eric and Sookie come back to me? Well, I bit the bullet and not only got a land line but a DVR so I can watch more TV but fewer commercials. Time wise I guess it all balances out. I tend to hibernate in the winter.
I know everyone’s dying to know “Hey Cain, what about the foot?” Well, the foot is healing quite well, thank you for asking. I can walk without a cane but prefer walking with it so I don’t come across on the streets of New York as being feeble and easy prey for the predators. My cane can be perceived as a powerful weapon, or not. The foot pain of course is my ever present buddy. I’ve made peace with it in all of its many manifestations, and I am told by my doctor that it won’t be gone till the wound is totally closed. More vicadin please.
All the important people in my life did ok by me this summer in my time of crisis, in one way or another. Some more than others, and if they are reading this they know who they are. Never ever though did I hurt for love or support in whatever form it took. An e-mail, a Facebook posting, all meant a lot and served its purpose. Don’t ever think that a simple “How are you feeling?” isn’t speeding the healing process. It always helps to know someone cares.
I’m also saying bon voyage (good journey) to a dear friend and client. For over seven years I have been this man’s personal trainer in his building’s gym and later the New York Sport Club. I’ve been his life coach battling his demons as well as occasionally my own. He’s leaving for Florida and I’ll miss him, but no one stays away from New York for long. Many will come screaming back the same way they were screaming when they left. That’s New York.
This week’s offering is WARRIORS and it will always be special to me because it was the first time I learned the value of “backing up” what I write on the computer. The first draft of WARRIORS disappeared into computer hell, through no fault of my own, (really I swear) and I could not retrieve it. I literally took to my bed, devastated, as I felt at the time that it was the best piece I’d ever written and I’d never be that imaginative again. I never tried to recapture what I had written and moved on to other projects. Yes, I left it to die, languish, whatever.
Well years later I gathered up my courage and pulled out what was left of WARRIORS out of the archives (notes, lines, thoughts). Completely re-wrote it and am prouder of it now than I ever was. I introduced new elements into it that had previously not existed and cut down a lot of excessive description, preferring to let the reader picture in his own mind the beauty of the native village and its people.
My favorite scene in the whole story is the dance around the fire. I played on my ipod certain drum selections that played through my headphones as I wrote about the sensuality and overt sexuality between the men and women of the tribe, as they welcomed the conquering hero into their fold. WARRIOR unites western culture with a culture vaguely resembling Mayan in its beauty and simplicity. Our hero’s journey toward redeeming his life and entering upon a new phase, is touching, tender and at the same time both challenging and exciting.
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From The Groin 