New Huff Po Column, fresh out of microwave.
In the latest installment of my Huffington Post Column, I made lousy jokes about floppy disks, Lyndon Johnson and I think, medical devices. Somewhere in there.
This kind of wiseassery I plan to keep, along with the overall format. The execution needs work. It feels wordy, ostentatious, like I'm taking an hour to essentially say, "here are some authors on tour you should pay attention to and here's what's interesting in the book business this week."
There must be a quicker way without sacrificing the fun stuff (i.e. jokes about Jerry Stahl punching a nun) and my guess at this point has something to do with process. I usually write the column in a giant overheated rush, which, by necessity, has me falling back on cheap shots and light editing. Thinking if I gradually accumulated items for the column throughout the week, like mosiac tiles, instead of throwing fruit at the wall and then saying "look, fruit!", it may read more like what I want, a kind of Herb Caen-meets-Army Arched look at the business of books.
Herb Caen, btw, wrote an average of 5 pieces a week for 60 years and was quoted as saying, "I don't believe I've ever written the perfect column."
I've a long way to go.