dear eric,
it’s been a long LONG time i know. and yes, you were there when i broke the dial on your tv. which was old and on it’s way out, and didn’t even have a remote, (at least i dont remember it having one) but you did love watching it, a lot. a lot more than i was comfortable with.
and it was a stupid fight. (as fights tend to be)
i told you to go outside. it was sunny and you were lying on the couch as you often were, watching tv.
i was acting all mum-sy and i know it was ridiculously rude of me. but i was fed up.
i hate tv see. really really hate it. so i just walked over and turned it off and you got angry. i hit the tv. i must have been really really angry! it seems quite alien to me now, all that rage, but yes, the channel turning dail broke off onto the floor. a broken section of it, a broken large section of it that rendered the dial unusable.
why i was that angry still baffles me. and i felt really bad immediately afterwards. but i didnt let you know that. and i probably should have apologised right then and there. i dont think i did. at least i dont remember apologising. (hence this letter.)
and i was always impressed by your artistic talent. and no, i probably never let you know that either.
but i want you to know a couple of things. years later as it is. 8 i think if my memory serves me well. which it often doesn’t.
and that is this: i think you are a great writer. while i risk sounding like a complete sycophant, i loved your book. as much, if not more than your first one.
and i want you to know, now i have two copies. because, i should tell you i found your latest book in a second hand bookstore and i quickly snapped it up not because i wanted two copies, as i had already forked out full price for it at some bookshop whose name doesnt need my promoting, but because i didnt want anyone else seeing it so soon after being released in bookstores, to be available ’secondhand’ .
you deserve people paying full price for that work of art. damn it.
(that was exactly what my thought process was. well almost. well actually i tried to put myself in your shoes and i thought if i was eric dando, right now, would i buy this book so it wouldnt be seen in the second hand store or would i not.. i figured you would.. did i figure wrong???)
the thing is, i wanted more people to buy your book. ever since it’s release, i have been barracking silently for you. (and not so silently too. i mean, i havent made myself a knitted oink oink-scarf or anything, but yeah, i talk about it with friends. when they examine my bookshelf and see your two, well three books there, shelved side by side.
by side.
but now, im somewhat confused. and considering i just discovered a really easy way to contact you, through glorious time waster facebook, i can ask you…
what do you suggest i do with my spare copy?
it seems greedy of me now to have two…
and now i think, maybe i should have left that book in the second hand bookstore…
what should i do eric??
i mean i have two copies of slaughterhouse 5 but thats because they have very different covers, (one from the 70’s and one from the 90’s) and well, you more than anyone else i know, would understand my obsession there.
sigh…
so yes, i have been barracking, you could say, well before and well after the aforementioned unpleasant and somewhat unexplainable tv breaking incident.
and most of all, eric, want to congratulate you. on writing novel #2. it’s been a long time between chats, and i know now how hard and lonely and well, it’s hard to avoid the cliches of what a writer’s life is. but as i now know, it’s also quiet and calm and extremely tranquil at times too. sometimes, most times, well mostly tranquil.
til some housemate breaks your damn tv dial.
sigh…
so gosh, i hope you weren’t too disturbed by my television knob breaking outburst.
im really terribly sorry.
at best perhaps you can turn it into a short story.
or at the worst, i want you to forget it ever happened.
(if you had already forgotten, i regret reminding you…. )
i extend my hand in friendship and i would like to quickly remind you of something you told me which i will never forget.
you said, if you dress like a gardener you can get away with all sorts of things.
while you were not explicit about that these ‘all sorts of thing’s’ are, just between you and me, i have found this to be true.
so, thank you.
again.
i hope you have a new tv. or it broke on a channel that you like watching a LOT.
in friendship,
mazzie starr.
x
should i take the book back… should i not. should i post it on bookcrossing?
should i give it away?
shall i mail it to you?
am i thinking too much about this?
am i blogging at a stupid hour again.. at least to that i have an answer. YES.
sigh.
oh.. ive written a novel. im still working on a f*king synopsis. why is it so hard???
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