Note to self

Compose cute apocryphal story about "how I did it" for use on talk-show gigs and press interviews. Make sure it involves: 1) sleeping in my car, 2) impersonating a celebrity, 3) food stamps and government cheese, 4) stalking, 5) head-spinning rapidity of success, and 6) smiles all around, no detractors, no jealousies, no naysayers (in short, behavior totally atypical of Hollywood). ;-]

P.S. Take another look at my picture. Overnight does not belong in the same sentence as success, when it comes to describing anything I've ever done or attempted.

My Inflatable Friend - online sample chapter

You don't have to speak Yiddish or even be Jewish to know what a boychik is. Anyone who has paid attention at the movies has heard the annoyed patriarch calmly lower his newspaper, clear his throat gruffly, and preface his lecture with: "Now you listen to me, boychik..."

One might suspect, therefore, that a boychik is someone deserving of a lecture. Moreover, he is a young male who, in treading on the borders of manhood, must be put in his place by the dominant male of the household. The boychik tests limits. He is an upstart, a smart-ass, a tyro, and a doofus. He is, in short (although he's heard size doesn't matter), one of us.

So, recognizing that the boychik is not yet, or might not ever become, the ball-scratching, remote-clutching stereotype of wannabe jockdom, let's follow the hapless Rollo as he ventures into the she-lion's den, there to tempt her to embark on life's adventure... [click to view PDF]

Boychik lit = hipper fratire

In the boychik-lit story…

• The male main character is looking for sex and is bewildered by emotional entanglements.
• He is a slacker and a hacker (a shlacker). He is clever and resourceful but chronically lazy.
• He’s a dropout who can’t hold a steady job.
• Far from being the hero with a single tragic flaw, the boychik is riddled with worrisome flaws, with one or two possibly redeeming qualities.
• The tone is observational and witty, sometimes sarcastic.
• The boychik tells his story in a confessional, first-person narrative.
• At the end of the novel, the hero has almost managed to undo the complicated mess he’s made in the course of the story and thinks he has learned important lessons, which may or may not be valid.

Examples? I just happen to know of a new one...