My Scandinavian Adventure: Stockholm

Next stop: Stockholm. (Sorry, davidly. Didn't have time for Malmö. Good guess, though.) As much as I enjoyed Copenhagen, I loved Stockholm. Loved it! A great European capital. It is a city of many islands and thus many bridges and canals. Wisdaughter and I stayed on Gamla Stan, the oldest island right in the center of the city. Architecture and layout is medieval. Cobblestone streets. Charming, magical. Again, AirBnB in a building built in the early 16th Century. Where we found the Danes to be urbane and cordial, everyone here was equally as sophisticated but also incredibly friendly. Coffee shop, sidewalk cafe, and pub chats were always amiable and enjoyable. Even at random grocery or clothing stores. Also, the absolute best coffee!! Swedes love their coffee. It's a thing there.

As with Copenhagen, we had no agenda going in. There were several things on our 'Must Do/See' list, but no strict timetable. Stockholm is not as bicycle accessible as Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but it is very pedestrian friendly. We walked for miles and miles every day exploring, shopping, stopping for coffee or beer or lunch at some random sidewalk cafe, soaking in the city vibe. We hit a couple of museums, but that wasn't the highlight. For me, it was the overall welcoming charm of the city and its people. (as always, click pics to embiggen)

This is the alley in Gamla Stan (Old Town) where we stayed. Gate on the right.

The oldest square in Stockholm where we would wind up our evenings. Home of the Nobel Museum across the way. We ate or had beer at every cafe here! Our alley is visible up the far street to the left. Red building was built in 1482!

Narrowest alley in Stockholm (on Gamla Stan). That's some Harry Potter-looking stuff.

Street view in Gamla Stan.

Vasa Museum. Large warship that sank less than 3 miles after christening and launch back in 1600s when Sweden ruled the Baltic Sea. On island of Djurgården. 

Nordic Museum of Scandinavian lifestyles through the ages. Djurgården. 

 King Gustav Vasa who presides over the Nordic Museum.

Yes. Abba has its own museum. Djurgården. Did not go in but had lunch in the cafe. Abba earworms are inevitable when visiting pretty much anywhere in Stockholm. Get over it. They were a great pop group.

I'll leave you with some lovely, moody vistas of the city and its always interesting skies.

My Scandinavian Adventure: København

I got to go to Scandinavia this summer. My first time there. First stop: Copenhagen with my daughter. The city is orderly, clean, cordial, easy to negotiate, lovely. A first rate European city. Everybody speaks English as a second language. Every place takes credit cards—did not have to exchange currency. The city is flat. Very walkable. There are more bicyclers than cars. Every street has one-way bike lanes, separate from either the sidewalks or the road. We rented bikes and explored the city for hours—off the beaten tourist maps. Never once felt at risk of being hit by a motor vehicle (or mugged). Every corner has separate bike stoplights, and the use of proper hand signals for turning and stopping is mandatory. As we were heading back to our AirBnB next to the Health Sciences campus of Copenhagen University (which is huge and has campuses all over town), next to the lake, we got caught in a torrential rain coming in off the sea. Didn't even care! We dined in old town, mostly. Charming squares. Also, breakfasted on great pastry and good coffee!!! (as always, click pic to embiggen)

Flights delayed, got in late, only kitchen open just across the lake: Southern cuisine! LOL. Great meal of pot roast and cole slaw. Daughter had wings and french fries. I kid you not...

...Oh, and local beer!

Biggest downtown tourist attraction: Tivoli. Did not make it inside. Nice gate though.

Charming, picturesque downtown.

Ditto.

Big David Lynch fans there, apparently.

Could've been from the House of the Undying, in Game of Thrones.

The port of Nyhavn is essential. It was a 15-minute walk from our flat.

Ditto with some sky drama.

Ditto with photobombing Danish troll?

Took a boat tour of the harbor and canal from Nyhavn. The opera house—Danish modern, I presume.

Not so modern Amalienborg Palace and Frederick's Church with the largest dome in Scandinavia, all of which we later toured on foot.

Beers by the lake after a day of biking and before getting drenched. Our AirBnB is just across the lake there.

Central Station. Taking a train. But where to?

Fizzles*: What I'm Reading—Silent but Deadly

My copy looks like this:

Evergreen Edition, Grove Press, 1976

Turns out, there's another edition. Looks something like this:

WTF?

Nice box and frontispiece:

Illustrated, no less:

Only 250 copies ever made. Saw one auction price of $30,000.

What's more? Jasper Johns was from Augusta, Georgia. Live and learn.

And to top it all off? There's even a soundtrack! Who knew?!

I wouldn't say that's the music I hear in my head when I read Fizzles. But your mileage may vary.

All that for a book that's only like 40 pages long.

UPDATE—8/28/17: Turns out there's a play about the Beckett/Johns so-called collaboration as well. Whodathunkit?

FURTHER UPDATE—8/28/17: Some videos as well. Irish at that. And recent.

Company SJ: Beckett in the City - Fizzles By Samuel Beckett from Shoot To Kill on Vimeo.

COMPANY SJ presents SAMUEL BECKETT'S FIZZLES; BECKETT IN THE CITY from Shoot To Kill on Vimeo.

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*Apparently, 'Fizzles' is a rather bowdlerized translation of the French title, Foirades, a word which means, roughly, "farts", specifically "silent or hissing farts", but also "failures" or "fiascos". So, all this art about farts. LOL, as the kids like to say.

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For the record, Fizzles is not a description nor is it a judgment on what's been happening with this blog lately. Or, maybe it is. Your call.

LaLa Land

Flying over the geometry of the Mississippi River. But where am I going?

Oh. Must be L.A. But why?

Daughter's MSW from USC! Congrats! So Proud!

Forever Felix!

And this must be Santa Monica!

Colorful ruins of Santa Monica.

That DTLA feeling.

Hiking behind the Hollywood sign.

Western Hikes are different.

Reward? Meh.

"But, Doc!" 

Drunk or merely recumbent. DTLA, again.

Too pretty to eat, Nobu Malibu (edible flowers, yo!). Celebratory dinner.

At sunset, no less! Chillier than you'd think.

Like I said, Western hiking is different. Bloom above Malibu!

Ditto.

Canyons (technically in the city).

Train Station, DTLA.

Leaving LA under a cloud. But where am I going?

Santa Fe? Is this New Mexico? And who is this Saint Fe you speak of?

No! It's the home of the Fathers! Petco Park.

San Diego. Whale's vagina or post-modern Kafka-esque hellscape?

SD Zoo was a bit disappointing, as are most zoos. But where else can you see a sad Mandrill so close?

Or a magnificently odd Giant Anteater?

La Jolla Cove, after diving with sea lions, banded guitar fish, horned shark, & Garibaldi in a kelp forest preserve.

And close out the trip with field level seats for a Padres game! (Fathers gave up 8 runs in the top of the 1st. Beer was good, though!)

Let's Talk Process

One of the most frequent questions you hear when you attend a Q & A session after a reading by a novelist goes something like this: "What was your creative process in writing this novel?" Here's mine for my just-completed manuscript of what I'm calling AUTO-DA-FÉ.

AUTO-DA-FÉ is the story of an aimless Southern boy who seeks to find his life's meaning with an extremist militia group intent on fomenting a revolution at the turn of the 21st Century.You might describe it as a sort of anti-Forest Gump.

I knew from the start how I wanted to end the novel and had a working title that captured the aim. And I knew I wanted to depict the underground origins and rise to the mainstream of what we now call the alt-right. To do so, I had to analyze both my protagonist's motivations and the history of these right-wing groups and then dramatize them. I had a timeline of historical facts and a psychological profile. Themes emerged and coalesced. Plots formulated. Chapters flowed.

To account for the increasingly shortening attention spans of today's social media drenched audience, I chose to write short sections—2-5 pages—within reasonably short chapters for the most part. This helped with both dramatization and concision of thought and expression.

I belong to a group of committed writers who listen to and comment on each other's works in progress. At some point about a quarter way through the drafting process, I started bringing earlier sections to the group. This provided me a structure for recursively editing previous portions of the book to maintain consistency with the directions I found the narrative taking.

This last point is important. It means that the completed draft I have now is much more advanced than a first draft.

Above is a picture of the manuscript I just printed out. Note that it is on three-hole punch paper. Note also the section dividers; there's one for each chapter.

Here are the basic facts of the manuscript:

• 278 Typed Pages
• 85,426 Words
• 23 Chapters

I've inserted the typescript into a locking D-ring binder. My plan is to read the novel straight through, cover to cover, just as I would any other novel. I do this for continuity's sake.

Up to this point, I've been drafting, editing, and revising successive chapters on my computer one at a time. This next step is to ensure the entire book is consistent and non-repetitive. To follow the narrative through-line. To gauge the pacing. To assess the structural/emotional feel of the whole.

As I go along I will make my changes on paper with my trusty Sanford Uni-Ball Deluxe Micro (pictured above). Then later, when I've finished, giving the manuscript one last going over, I will input the changes I've made onto the (stripped down, no bells and whistles) MicroSoft Word for Mac (Version 15) computer file. Lastly, I will run a SpellCheck. At that point, perhaps by mid-summer, my book will be ready for submission.

Comments? Questions?