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Letters of eclectic commentary featuring the wit and wisdom of a garrulous geezer and {Dana}, a persistent hallucination and charming literary device.
"An obsession with untold stories is a source of energy." -Greil Marcus
Dear Gentlereaders,
Normally, I have a spare column or two stashed in the lower right-hand drawer of my hooge, custom-made roll top desk for situations like this.
I've been wrestling with my muse over a subject that...well, I've finally given up on. The main problem was trying to distill it down. Too many words and too broad a hypothesis. Too broad a subject to fit into a mere column or two?
Might just be me. I am a garrulous geezer after all, but I really wanted to "get it out there." I became slightly obsessed.
{What's the difference between obsessed and slightly obsessed?}
Usually, if I abandon a notion for a week or two, the problem resolves itself. I return to it with fresh eyes (a refreshed psyche?), and the solution reveals itself. Sometimes the solution is to click the delete button, but that's okay. The sense of relief, irregardless, is almost physical in nature.
I'm told this is normal among certain "creative" types, no matter the art form, but since I find such people to be highly annoying, I refuse to acknowledge that (even if only occasionally) I might be one. Let us never speak of this again.
Big BUT, in my defense...
I became slightly obsessed with trying to finish the project because I kept getting this close. In the interim, I published the backup columns that were in the now empty drawer, convinced I would resolve the problems of the column from hell by last Saturday and publish the damn thing. No Joy.
The good news is that I tossed it in the burn barrel, and I've been accepted into a highly regarded rehabilitation program. Also, while rooting through the aforementioned desk in search of a lost receipt that I need desperately because... never mind, I found a couple of partially finished, vaguely related, random randomnesses that will be published/posted as a single (shortish) column in a day or two. Wednesday, 5/20/25 at the latest.
I've already begun working on the next column after that at the suggestion of Dr. Freidrich Puffendorfer, director of the Puffendorfer Center for (mildly) Obsessed Writers and Other Mostly Unsuccessful Artistic Types, a.k.a. P.C.(m)O.W.O.M.U.A.T.
MEM
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Copyright 2025-Mark Mehlmauer-All rights reserved
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