A PERMANENT WRITER'S BLOCK

As I tentatively embark on the momentous risk of publishing a book, after only three decades of preparation, (yes, that’s thirty years!), I am reminded of the many quite famous authors who suffered disasters in the process. Herman Melville was doomed by his inattentive editor and publisher Richard Bentley, who without consulting the writer, moved passages and eliminated sections, of Melville’s latest effort “Moby Dick.” Renaming it “The Whale,” Bentley did everything in his power, intentionally or not, to sabotage the printing. The book sold only 3000 copies and Melville, although he continued to write, took a job as a customs inspector on the docks of New York, a position he held until his death. Our own favorite author Samuel Clemens writing as Mark Twain was forced to declare bankruptcy when he invested $170,000 on a printing machine with 18,000 separate parts, invented by James Paige. Clemens’ prior experience as a printer gave him confidence that the machine would succeed admirably, but Paige’s fixations doomed it to fail and be replaced by a simple model, the Linotype. Clemens spent five years touring South Africa, India, Australia and other countries delivering one man shows until he was debt free. Unfortunately, he endured personal tragedies with the death of his daughter Suzy and the toll of poor health the trip had on his wife Olivia. Edgar Allen Poe’s death was as mysterious as his writings. He was found semi-conscious on the streets of a strange city, wearing clothing that wasn’t his own. He died four days later. The poet and writer Sylvia Plath, writer of “The Bell Jar,” suffered from bouts of depression and took her own life. She was found dead in her kitchen with her head in the oven. For F. Scott Fitzgerald, his drinking problems were intensified by his move to California. His short stories, rather than his novels, provided his primary source of revenue. Initially his masterwork, “The Great Gatsby,” was not well received and his last royalty check was for $13.13. He died at the age of 44 from a massive heart attack, not knowing the praise that awaited him in the future. Do you know that Tennessee Williams, after a bout of heavy drinking, choked on a bottle cap or the cap of an eye dropper? He was the author of “The Glass Menagerie,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “A Streetcar Named Desire,” with the last one earning him a Pulitzer Prize. Sherwood Anderson wrote short stories in a different style and influenced Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner and Fitzgerald. Anderson accidentally swallowed a toothpick that punctured his internal organs. Tragically the leeches doctors used on Lord Byron to cure a fever caused his death. While walking on a country road in Maine, Stephen King was almost killed by a distracted driver and considered his recovery and years more of life “a gift.” So here I am risking life and limb by publishing a book, “Little Thoughts on a Big Planet.” What madness could I be contemplating? Horrors!

CHRISTIANE NOLL WELCOMES LIFE BACK MUSICALLY IN VIRTUAL CONCERT

For singer and actress Christiane Noll the long winter hibernation is finally over and she is emerging from her bubble again after being trapped for fifteen months. She is excitedly waiting for her audiences to return. Meanwhile she needs a map so she doesn’t fly blindly or keep making wrong turns. Christiane Noll considered herself “a revolutionary gal, trapped by chaos” and she will tolerate that no longer. She admires women who are crazy and strong and difficult to understand, but she is declaring the wild days are over and its time to make magic. That magic is musical and Christiane is marvelously “Coming Alive Again” until Sunday, May 30 thanks to the joint efforts of TheaterWorks Hartford and Goodspeed On Demand and you are invited to join in the joy “before the parade passes by.” Come be enchanted as this talented woman declares her independence and takes the stage again. She is reborn and brave and declaring “I miss my life.” Join her as she “changes for the better, for good” from “Wicked.” She is officially open for change, with hope and promise, singing “We Can Never Go Back to Before” and “Keep Moving On.” This virtual event is sixty-five minutes with no intermission, with Rob Ruggiero as director and William Waldrop as musical director. For tickets ($25), call TheaterWorks Hartford at 860-527-7838 or online at www.TWHartford.org. Just as birds sing out before the dawn to let their mates know they made it through the night, let the lovely music of Christiane Noll inform you that she too has made it through the pandemic and is here to welcome you to a new world that is “next to normal.” In the fall, watch for Christiane Noll to appear in the engaging Broadway hit “Dear Evan Hansen.”