Was out last night at a bar called the Hideout, having a birthday drink with my writer friend Paul Engleman.
Deep into the evening, he remarked that all of the best stuff he's ever written has somehow involved his mother—as a character, as a subject, as an inspiration.
And the following thing came out of my mouth, came to me as easily as an exhale—and this is why we drink:
"Well of course, Paul. The real subject of everything we write is, 'Why I loved my mommy.'"
I'm not saying that's brilliant. But I do believe it's true. And that, at the more realistic age of 39, is enough.
(I did have a hilarious experience about this yesterday. Furiously writing a story in the morning, I started getting happy-birthday e-mails from people like Robert Holland, Les Potter, Mike Klein—great colleagues, but not people I expect to remember my birthday. First distracted thought: "My God, how is it that men are suddenly becoming so thoughtful about people's birthdays?" But even when I discovered Facebook was sending out the friendly reminder about my birthday, I sure appreciated the good wishes from these lugs.)
Comments (6)
After all your carping about Second Life and Twitter, it never occurred to me you might be on Facebook.
Just FYI - you aren't easy to find there - I searched and couldn't see you (maybe that's intentional?).
Happy Belated Birthday anyway!
Posted by Kristen | May 1, 2008 11:32 AM
Posted on May 1, 2008 11:32
Kristen, I established this as a way to replace my writing sample web site, www.davidrmurray.com. As with all things social media, the benefit was more in connecting with others than in showcasing my work ....
Thanks for the good wishes,
David
Posted by David Murray | May 1, 2008 11:42 AM
Posted on May 1, 2008 11:42
Facebook? Facebook reminds people of your birthday?? Well, I had it red-lined on my calendar, big guy! ;-)
Posted by Robert J Holland, ABC | May 1, 2008 1:04 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 13:04
I've been married for 25 years and sometimes I still can't figure out which day is my wife's birthday. Thank goodness for the Facebook news feed.
Posted by Ron Shewchuk | May 1, 2008 2:21 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 14:21
There may be a universality to the matriarchial figure in our lives and how the move through time. However, sometimes I think there is a more accurate theme to everything that is written. That theme? "You can never go back home."
Literature and film are littered with this theme. And, I dare say, so is corporate life. We can't go back and we lament the fact when we find it out.
Posted by Dan Grubbs | May 6, 2008 11:46 AM
Posted on May 6, 2008 11:46
There may be a universality to the matriarchial figure in our lives and how we move through time. However, sometimes I think there is a more accurate theme to everything that is written. That theme? "You can never go back home."
Literature and film are littered with this theme. And, I dare say, so is corporate life. We can't go back and we lament the fact when we find it out.
Posted by Dan Grubbs | May 6, 2008 11:46 AM
Posted on May 6, 2008 11:46