I am cleaning my office. . .

. . .today because it is being usurped by clutter.  I am also subconsciously (right!) avoiding working on ARTHUR REDUX, although I did make some progress yesterday.  Well, as I cleaned, I happened upon a leather covered blank book that wasn't blank.  On the cover was a picture of a pretty girl superimposed over the Yin and Yang symbol, the central image on the poster for A GIRL OF TWO WORLDS.  I opened the cover and rediscovered about 30 pages I had written in late 1998 about writing and producing AGOTW.  The title was "The Coming of Age of Max McKinley, a memoir by Gregory Ellstrom."  I can't believe I was referring to myself as "Gregory" back then.  How stuffy of me!  I like the name Greg just fine, but Gregory should be reserved for popes.

     What I really loved finding again was the dedication below the title.  The memoir was for Christina, AJ, Sarah, Mark, Donna, Cacy, Laura, Colleen, Angela, Erin, Julianna, Sir Andy, Traci, Seth, Julia, Matt, Sara, Rachel, Heather and Heather, Jenny, Dave, the Horribs, the Heliums, the Preposterous, the Whichis Witches, Maligna and her minions, Andy's Other World Orchestra, the boys in the balcony, Linda, and Jan.  It's great to thank you all again, because AGOTW was my first, completely completed full-length piece of writing.

     This brings me to the topic of today's post:  Thank the Lord for the Invention of the Computer.  I would never have completed a single play or novel if it weren't for word processing.  A computer lets a writer constantly reread and rewrite, which I do constantly.  I read a newspaper article a couple of weeks ago about writers who still use old fashioned manual typewriters.  I simply don't know how or why they do it.