I’m sharing this open letter to Marianne Rogoff, with whom I wrote ‘Men In Their Prime,’ hoping to hear from you. If you haven’t read our first chapter, check it out in my earlier blog posting.

Dear Marianne,

My, oh my … tonight I learned that Steven King writes 10 pages a day … damn, that has changed my view of writing as a work form. I’m game to go for the gold, illuminating character through dialogue, providing yummy, heartwarming glimpses of our Men/Women In Their Prime as they blaze trail away from civilizations hypnotic simulacrum, leading us with fast-talking, outlandish overgrown boy humor into the world of Women In Their Prime. Look out, guys, fun-trouble ahead!

Right now it is 9:40 a.m. in Lyons … 10:40 p.m. where I’m dining solo (my dear friend, master waiter Chip McAllister is guiding my gourmet experience), writing and languishing through an inspired French onion soup while sipping The Left Bank’s best Merlot, celebrating the opening of a surprisingly stunning art show at Hospice By The Bay my photo on canvas, ‘Work In Progress’ is displayed with some blazingly beautiful work by the magnificently talented hospice volunteers and workers, among them my favorite social worker, Laura Koehler ‘Lisbon 2009’, dear friend and fellow vigil sitter Jack Usilton ‘Sausalito Boat Builders’ volunteer coordinators Cheryl Wilkins ‘Grand Sunset, Venice’ and Kay McArthur ‘New Wing at the Nelson-Atkins’, then there’s Nadine Narita with ‘Come On, Get Moving’ internment camp collage and Ellie Cousineau’s controversial ‘Summa Apologia’, the devil weeping silver tears for the souls he’s taken, hung in the lobby …

Co-writing with you is great … an honor, a pleasure and a privilege. Both of us have multiple jobs …. And no $400,000 advance to live on (yet) all the while we’re dealing with multiple loving collaborations – the trilogy and one each where the question is time … will s/he be 24/2 ½ or 8/5 or not … can I/we find time for both soul work and an intimate relationship, all the while dancing on the edge? It is quite the challenge to mesh and braid full, loving, adult-empowered lives with the discipline of writing but we’re working on it. And doing well.

This wee difficulty in mind, no wonder that in my Rosen session the awesome Holly Aurell was loaded with what for? why for? (your lids are bursting, your girdle’s tight, and on and on as I lay there blowing up snow white camellia blossoms).…

In response to your push (push, yes, I said push, thank you) I’ve concluded that I will write five pages a day five of the seven days one week, then revise in the next week. You’ve seen the rough draft of one, “TISK, TSK” (about unclear communications) and heard me read the zany draft of “Cougar, Cougar, Gotcha!” (where (now) Liza and Jeb go at it). Writing 50 pages a month, with you writing, editing, weaving arc and asking me to rewrite certain pieces and on and on, Women In Their Prime at 250 pages will take five months for the first draft. Six months to conclusion (pinch me) versus the 2 ½ years for Men.

I hope you get some great mother-daughter bits from the salon with ruthless Minnette, chain smoking Diane and the girls …I’m regretful that I’ll be missing your grace and humor and poetry while I drive to Cayucos and back on a gorgeous Indian Summer day in my black Beemer convertible, music blasting, sun smiling, ideas percolating (I’ll lunch with Harry and Tovya in Moro Bay then dine later, if I don’t hear from you-know-who, perhaps solo, at one of my all time coastal favorites, Carmel’s Casanova, before rushing home to do two showings in Stinson on Sunday morning. (Just where the time will come for the three 5 page vignettes I’m working on is clearly in the hands of the gods).

Those next three pieces are tentatively entitled, ‘The Dirty Dozen’ a humorous hospice piece; ‘Matching Pictures’ about finding parking spaces in full, mature lives; ‘How Do You Survive’ about intention, meditation and art and soul sustaining interior dialogue.

I’ll take your response on line.

Posted by:Tom Verkozen