{"id":20126,"date":"2024-10-22T19:51:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T23:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20126"},"modified":"2024-10-22T19:51:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T23:51:34","slug":"writers-update-dwindling-into-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20126","title":{"rendered":"Writer’s update: Dwindling into fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/
Photo credit: Jeremy Thomas, jeremythomasphoto. Unsplash license.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here we are. Autumn. <\/strong>A beautiful season, of which I\u2019ve never been very fond. Because \u2013 in spite of its initial glorious beauty \u2013 it always degenerates into winter, getting colder and darker and more monochrome as the days pass. It\u2019s like an annual reminder of aging and\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, no, no. Let us not go there. Normal people like autumn. Or fall. (In Norwegian they call it h\u00f8st<\/em>, which means harvest.) Why should I rain on their colored leaves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viking season is over, anyway. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I like Viking season. The string of reenactment events, slightly different every summer, in which I set up my Viking tent and sell my literary works. The Mankato event capped off a pretty heavy October \u2013 from Minot to Green Bay, to Moorhead (not a Viking thing, but a not insignificant drive), and then Mankato. I like it, but it gets harder every year. I\u2019m ready to have my weekends back \u2013 not that I get to rest on Saturdays. It\u2019s prime time for writing and translating. But at least I\u2019ll be off the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, back to the regular routine. Working on novels in the early morning. Working on the Norwegian heritage magazine I edit in the later morning. Translation in the afternoons and evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I listen to music when novel writing, but for the other stuff I need old TV. For some reason. Sometimes I like to have old movies on (mostly black and white mysteries), but it\u2019s nice to find a TV series I can binge. Just the right level of distraction if I want it, and ignore-ability if I don\u2019t. I found \u201cNewhart\u201d on Amazon Prime. Just the thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that I\u2019m talking about \u201cNewhart,\u201d where Bob runs an inn in Vermont, not \u201cThe Bob Newhart Show\u201d where he was a psychologist in Chicago. For some reason I never like \u201cTBNS.\u201d I suspect I\u2019m too neurotic to enjoy jokes about neurotics. \u201cNewhart\u201d is just surreal, and no threat even to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently I\u2019m still in the first season, where the show hasn\u2019t found its footing yet. I personally loved that first season \u2013 I liked the character of Kirk, the caf\u00e9 owner, who had an honesty problem: \u201cI\u2019m a habitual liar\u2026 No, that\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I liked the character of Leslie Vanderkellen, the rich girl they hired as the maid, for some reason. She was played by a very attractive actress named Jennifer Holmes. In the second season, the producers decided to go full Salvadore Dali, replacing Kirk with Larry, Darrel, and Darrel. And Leslie with Julia Duffy as Stephanie, the rich girl with no working skills whatever. It all became increasingly bizarre, and funny on a new level. It worked, I\u2019ll admit, and I relished it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I always felt sorry for Jennifer Holmes. She did nothing wrong. She was great in the part they wrote for her. And then they dumped her for a new concept. She\u2019s still working as an actress, according to IMDb, but her career since has been fairly obscure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It occurs to me that \u2013 essentially \u2013 they turned the show into a version of \u201cGreen Acres.\u201d Which I always hated. (Because, I think, I was self-conscious, as a country boy, about seeing country people caricatured.) But I love \u201cNewhart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, wait. I think it might have something to do with Mary Frann.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And here we are. Autumn. A beautiful season, of which I\u2019ve never been very fond. Because \u2013 in spite of its initial glorious beauty \u2013 it always degenerates into winter, getting colder and darker and more monochrome as the days pass. It\u2019s like an annual reminder of aging and\u2026 No, no, no. Let us not … Continue reading Writer’s update: Dwindling into fall<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,17],"tags":[254,5358],"class_list":["post-20126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-writing","tag-autumn","tag-newhart"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20127,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20126\/revisions\/20127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}