Roy Edroso

Writer Editor Etc.

Looks like I’m updating this opening page pretty much weekly now. Good! Progress. Though being who and how I am, I wonder whether it’s wasted — or rather a wasteful effort. If you, Dear Reader, are enjoying it, then of course it’s not wasted. But am I “using or expending something of value carelessly, extravagantly”? Am I giving it away like a country girl in the big city (you’ll never guess from whom I got that turn of phrase!) when I should be putting my inspiration and effort into something marketable?

Nah. For one thing, a writer is always practicing — even and I would say especially in casual mode. Ordinary conversation, explaining oneself to a cop or a salesman, trying to act “engaged” in a business meeting, fighting with your relatives — all of that counts because, if you’re paying attention, it will show you different ways in which people communicate, and the different ways a specific person (i.e. you) communicates in different circumstances.

Also if you’re good enough you can slip a neat turn of phrase even into a doctor’s visit without noticing you’re doing it. (The doctor may not notice it either, but once you get past Chekhov and William Carlos Williams the medical community is pretty literal-minded. )

The great unmasking commences! It’s both good (I hope) and bad (I fear) — I wrote about that a bit. On Saturday the National Gallery of Art reopened, and I basked in the masterworks and company of strangers looking for aesthetic thrills. From that visit, the photo below. (Is my Instagram link on this page? Well, here it is again.)

See you soon!

Space space sp