Waldorf to your Astoria: March 2011

Five Reasons Why the Rockies Will Win The World Series

I am officially the Boy Who Cried Rockies.

Last season, I picked the Rockies to beat the Red Sox in the World Series. This did not happen. In fact, neither the Rockies nor the Red Sox even made the playoffs, although that had more to do with injuries than ... well, it doesn't matter, does it? There are no excuses in baseball prognostication.

In '09, when they won the Wild Card, I picked them to contend but miss the playoffs.

In '08, I know I had them winning the NL West (fortunately that was on my old blog, no longer online). They didn't make the playoffs.

So based on my track record, it isn't particularly good news for Rockies fans that I am making the following prognostication: the Rockies will win the World Series in 2011.

Mar

"Draw It Up!"

I'm writing a pivotal scene that takes place in a uniform store for my YA novel, "I, Hank/Henry." For those of you who have been following my saga, this is the novel that was sold to Dutton in 2008, but was then canceled last summer after my initial editor left the house, orphaning the project to an editor who didn't care for it.

I am making it a totally different novel, based on comments about the book. Before, it was about a kid who gets kicked out of football camp for gambling.

Mar

"Your book helped me through so much!"

Here's an e-mail that I received in the last week from a terrific young man who, by the way, writes very well, don't you think?

--

Well, where do I begin? I guess I am just like Bobby in almost every way. I am pretty athletic, pretty straight-acting, and don't put too much into gay culture. All of that changed after reading your book. Basically, i knew i was gay when i was 13. I came out to my parents around that time too. They were okay with it, as far as I know.

Mar

Allen Stevenson Talk

Here's a podcast of my talk at Allen Stevenson School in New York, from this past Monday, March 14.

I had such a good time there, and I think the talk went really well. It was for the 6th-through-9th grade boys there, and while there was much anxiety and hand-wringing on both sides (I actually spoke to the faculty for about an hour the previous Friday about follow-up and general issues), the boys seemed to be perfectly comfortable, for the most part.

Mar

Me and Mary Cheney

Once in a while, I like to break out a true story from my annals, something about which the kids know zilch. Here's one that I'm pretty sure even my Chuck doesn't know anything about. That's how long ago this happened.

Before I came out while working at ESPN, I nearly began the gay face of one of the most notoriously anti-gay companies in American history.

It was back in the late 90s, and me and my 70s porn mustache were living in Denver.

Mar

Story Maps

I had the pleasure of attending Tara Ison's workshop this weekend at the Desert Nights, Rising Stars conference. Tara is a new professor in ASU's Creative Writing program.

I had never met Tara, and only knew of her.

Wow.

I'm usually not a huge fan of "templates" for fiction. Generally speaking, I don't want to try to fit my writing into any such template, and my hope is that I naturally create an arc that is appealing and interesting to read.

Mar

David

In ninth and tenth grades, I had a friend named David. Or at least, I'll call him David here. He and I used to like to play stickball and basketball together. He was bright and funny. I can't recall if he moved to my high school from California, or if that's where he moved away to, after tenth grade.

David was, for a time, one of my closest friends. These were difficult times for me. I knew I was different, and, based on what I knew back then, not in a good way.

Waldorf to your Astoria