"The boy aspired to disrupt the trucking industry and had empathetic eyes." What a sentence! And as soon as you mentioned the nose, I was waiting for the Gogol reference. You did not disappoint!
Oh yeah, I really like this. It’s very tight, with nice details. What do you call this type of writing? I aspire to do this kind of thing, to do it this well anyway, but I don’t know what the hell to call it.
Thanks Tom! That's a great question. What do you call this type of writing?! Stylistically I was trying to channel Lydia Davis or maybe Amy Hempel. The trick, for me at least, is all in the editing. This one started as a 20-minute freewrite that I proceeded to whittle, whittle, whittle down. Long sentences get cut off as soon as they start to feel "meh." Irrelevant details get cut. Bad vibes or snarky asides go on the chopping block (I had plenty here, ha.) Then I rework most constructions with "to be" verbs for tighter language (better verb choice, less gerunds, less passive voice.) I play around with the ending sentences a bit for rhythm. It wasn't until I'd scheduled to publish that I went back and replaced "a boy" "this guy" "him" with "Silicon Valley boy" for recall.
🤣😂 My gosh, when you land that one who is just a string of mishaps. Fortunately those experiences are lesser than greater in volume. 😂🤣 ... I agree with you on the 2010ish time. Can you believe it may have been 2006 I was seriously visiting properties and looking over condo purchase contracts?!? Glad I did not buy in when I think of what has become of SOMA. ... may we all keep our noses clean 🥂
Presidio is a wonderful location! Sans need for a cow bell. The majority of my walks through the Presidio followed a visit to the Marina around the Fort Mason area. When I think of the people I met in the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, I find distinction to the extent of NY boroughs. So many characters ❤️ … A French actor pal of mine, who played my French beau in a comedy, moved from the Marina to L.A. and admitted he missed the sound of woo-girls walking down the block after the bars close. I told him, when I visited SoCal I would be sure to stage a walk by woo for him. When I was in NYC, my young girl BFF nearly nightly partying buddy of the French Quarter showed up out of nowhere one night yelling, “Cracker! Cracker! Yo cracker, come down from your window and kiss me, cracker.” I knew this was my Streetcar Named Desire, and found my pale faced skinny blonde pal in street clothes hitched with her new Prince Charming and about to start college with FIT. I have not one friend from NOLA who was a thread less than hilarious. I have no idea how she tracked my address! Or figured how to find my window. The magic of finding a loved BFF 🔮💞ahhhhh. 🥰 cheers 🥂
Mountain View sounds about right...so close to Palo Alto and home to Google. This article made me think... of "its a wonderful life"... Ala Mr Potter - who is picking up the bargains in this market collapse?
Ah, yes, Mr. Potter! Great question. Though I'm happy people will be made whole, I do wish some of the various actors had suffered juuuust a bit more, if only to force some self-reflection...
Google-plex adjacent sounds right. It probably was Mountain View. :)
I detect a pattern. A penchant for stunningly beautiful women and a lack of clear intention in his professional life. I'm sure he'll end up a politician...
Oh thank you Terry, that's such a beautiful compliment! And LOL to your worst date ever. I, for one, am quite impressed at your ability to improvise just reading your piece. Her loss, clearly.
Thanks, Alicia. Yeas, I thought I did pretty well too. In retrospect I think I had a lucky escape: I'd have liked her a lot more if she'd been able to laugh at the situation. Still, never mind!
"The boy aspired to disrupt the trucking industry and had empathetic eyes." What a sentence! And as soon as you mentioned the nose, I was waiting for the Gogol reference. You did not disappoint!
Thank you so much Andrew!! Yes, that reference was irresistible 😅
You're a gem!
💗💗💗
Oh yeah, I really like this. It’s very tight, with nice details. What do you call this type of writing? I aspire to do this kind of thing, to do it this well anyway, but I don’t know what the hell to call it.
Thanks Tom! That's a great question. What do you call this type of writing?! Stylistically I was trying to channel Lydia Davis or maybe Amy Hempel. The trick, for me at least, is all in the editing. This one started as a 20-minute freewrite that I proceeded to whittle, whittle, whittle down. Long sentences get cut off as soon as they start to feel "meh." Irrelevant details get cut. Bad vibes or snarky asides go on the chopping block (I had plenty here, ha.) Then I rework most constructions with "to be" verbs for tighter language (better verb choice, less gerunds, less passive voice.) I play around with the ending sentences a bit for rhythm. It wasn't until I'd scheduled to publish that I went back and replaced "a boy" "this guy" "him" with "Silicon Valley boy" for recall.
That sounds strikingly like my process: I barf it out, then hack, hack, hack until I like it. I thought this one worked really well.
Great minds think alike!
🤣😂 My gosh, when you land that one who is just a string of mishaps. Fortunately those experiences are lesser than greater in volume. 😂🤣 ... I agree with you on the 2010ish time. Can you believe it may have been 2006 I was seriously visiting properties and looking over condo purchase contracts?!? Glad I did not buy in when I think of what has become of SOMA. ... may we all keep our noses clean 🥂
How lucky you didn't buy in!! What a city. I was over in Presidio Heights at the time. Worked nicely for this East Coast gal. :)
Presidio is a wonderful location! Sans need for a cow bell. The majority of my walks through the Presidio followed a visit to the Marina around the Fort Mason area. When I think of the people I met in the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, I find distinction to the extent of NY boroughs. So many characters ❤️ … A French actor pal of mine, who played my French beau in a comedy, moved from the Marina to L.A. and admitted he missed the sound of woo-girls walking down the block after the bars close. I told him, when I visited SoCal I would be sure to stage a walk by woo for him. When I was in NYC, my young girl BFF nearly nightly partying buddy of the French Quarter showed up out of nowhere one night yelling, “Cracker! Cracker! Yo cracker, come down from your window and kiss me, cracker.” I knew this was my Streetcar Named Desire, and found my pale faced skinny blonde pal in street clothes hitched with her new Prince Charming and about to start college with FIT. I have not one friend from NOLA who was a thread less than hilarious. I have no idea how she tracked my address! Or figured how to find my window. The magic of finding a loved BFF 🔮💞ahhhhh. 🥰 cheers 🥂
Mountain View sounds about right...so close to Palo Alto and home to Google. This article made me think... of "its a wonderful life"... Ala Mr Potter - who is picking up the bargains in this market collapse?
Ah, yes, Mr. Potter! Great question. Though I'm happy people will be made whole, I do wish some of the various actors had suffered juuuust a bit more, if only to force some self-reflection...
Google-plex adjacent sounds right. It probably was Mountain View. :)
Yes! People being made whole is great... as long as the hard-working taxpayers don't cover the bill. :(
Yep...
I detect a pattern. A penchant for stunningly beautiful women and a lack of clear intention in his professional life. I'm sure he'll end up a politician...
Ha! I wouldn't be at all surprised...
This is strange. I was thinking about Gogol's nose only yesterday, no idea why. Your article reminded me of my worst date ever (https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/my-worst-date-ever)
I love the way you bring your articles to a satisfying (in literary terms) conclusion. Your writing is wonderful, Alicia -- always brings a warm glow.
Oh thank you Terry, that's such a beautiful compliment! And LOL to your worst date ever. I, for one, am quite impressed at your ability to improvise just reading your piece. Her loss, clearly.
Thanks, Alicia. Yeas, I thought I did pretty well too. In retrospect I think I had a lucky escape: I'd have liked her a lot more if she'd been able to laugh at the situation. Still, never mind!
You did dodge a bullet. Sense of humor is important!
"Dodge a bullet": 🤣 I left another comment on your male bonding post btw, in case you miss the notification.
Oh thank you!! Just getting home from an afternoon leading an Irish sing a long. :) I'll check it out.
I've just started a book of Irish short stories 😁