Seasons, love, me

In 1969, the Zombies' big hit, "Time of the Season," garnered widespread pop culture awareness and entered my listening life.  I knew nothing of love, but I had crushes, and girls were a glorious mystery that made every day both better and more frustrating.  I loved the spooky sensuality of the opening, the lyrics I did not understand, and, most of all, the promise that someday there would be a season for loving.



In 1996, I saw Rent on Broadway with its original cast.  My life had been nothing like the lives of its characters, yet watching that show tore open my heart.  Its take on seasons and love made the then forty-one-year-old me realize how profoundly short our lives are and how important it is to give all the love we can, realizations that only deepen with every passing year.



Stuck in my head tonight, these two songs.

Here's another thing

about Children No More: I'm more than a little afraid of it. To be more accurate, more than anything else I've written, I have a vision of this story that is so strong, so powerful, so vivid that I know I will not be able to do it justice. I also know I have to try.

Maybe that's always the way it is. And, of course, no matter how I feel, I'm going to keep going forward until I finish the thing.

When I first saw Rent in New York City (with the original cast), I teared up at the song "One Song Glory." My reaction was not because glory is my main motivation; it's not. I'm writing because I have to write. What moved me about the song is that the singer just one time wants to get it right, really right, before he dies. Don't we all?

Here, try it on for yourself.



Me, I'm going back to this book and do the very best I can to rip out what's in my head and my heart, put it on the page, and send it out into the world.