40 Days of Writing Statement of Purpose

One of the primary galvanizing forces behind the conception of my facebook account was my inability to participate directly in a group that challenged writers to 40 straight days writing.  Everyday. I did, however, vicariously contribute, which made me aware of the group as I otherwise would not have been. The servers at the restaurant at which I am a host prepared for the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival by versifying, illustrating, and, in general, lyrically encapsulating wines, grapes and appellations, and posting, through the restaurant’s facebook, the choices results on the 40 Days of Writing page.

Since those first 40 days the couple behind the idea, on their honeymoon, came to our restaurant to interview us—the servers, hosts, and our general manager who first presented us with the idea—and to film our conversation; I have opened a facebook account; my duties as a substitute teacher, with the school year, have ended; I have begun writing pro bono for the local free first and third Wednesday Hometown Bulletin; and a second series of forty days, beginning the day after the last day of school, has been initiated. This is my writing for the first day.

Last year at this time I, likewise finished with school, began to write a book about a two-week trip taken in January (Bocce Balling on the West Coast). This past January I re-took the trip in promotion/celebration of the book/initial trip. There will be a second book (tentatively Bocce Balling on the West Coast 2: Bocce for Blood) that shall be primarily composed within the next 40 days.  Notions of community and co-authorship uncannily flourish in what I want(ed) the books to be about and what the 40 days are (were) about.  

In no particular order the essays and subjects I hope to tackle will ultimately number 40. The letters following the essays in parentheses indicate whether they will fall into the category of F (an on going discussion of the influence of facebook on myself, society and writing), B (the sequel to Bocce Balling on the West Coast), H (a story intended for the Pacific Grove Hometown Bulletin), or O(ther).

Day 1. statement of purpose (F)

Day 2. an account of riding along on a newspaper delivery route (H)

Day 3. "Prelude to an Argument for Literary Authenticity Via Natural Winemaking," the beginning of the typing up of BBOTWC 2 (B)

Day 4. A song written in honor of my mother's retirement, composed with my brother's girlfriend at her party.

Day 5. A day of planning, performing, discussing

Day 6. A discussion of collaborative writing via Richard Brautigan's story "1/3, 1/3, 1/3" (B)

Day 7. Typing up Day 2's story for the paper. (H)

Day 8. Writing "16 days before having a facebook account" in my notebook. (F)

Day 9. Typing up "16 days before having a facebook account" and uploading it at the library before going to work. (F)

Day 10. Editing "16 days before having a facebook account" at the library moments before going to work and not actually being able to save the 30 minutes of work put in. (F)

Day 11. No writing.  Editing rejection letters at work.  Bocce after work.

Day 12: Realizing that nothing was saved on Day 10.  redoing Day 10.

Day 13: A poem written upon visiting San Francisco (written in blank verse, you'll note)

On Monday in San Francisco / on the cusp of Dolores Park's expanse of grass / Alexandra tells me I should lean back / with her on the grass and look at the clouds. / I do and see a cloud above swirl / into a question mark before swirling / further into nothing like an epiphany.

Day 14: A brainstorm-as-essay about Wes Anderson movies, specifically Moonrise Kingdom

Day 15: Blackberry picking in the parking lot behind the St. Vincent de Paul and La Tortuga in Seaside as a metaphor for literary integrity on the first day of summer.

Day 16: A song about hanging out laundry on the longest day of the year

Day 17: Notes on the Terminator essays, Wes Anderson, etc.

Day 18: Polishing and posting various things thanks to internet access

Day 19: important email to my friend Jake re: taking shit seriously and getting it done.

Day 20: letter to my friend Emily

Day 21: letter to my friend Kimberly

Day 22: began “my scholastic failure” about my unfruitful application to graduate school (O)

Day 23: re-watched the Terminator movies and took extensive notes, began essay.

Day 24: Watched, Wine from Here, a film about the California natural wine movement; extensive notes taken, thoughts for future bocce essay.

Day 25: Tying up loose ends with internet access

Day 26: a day of adventures, written about on day 27

Day 27: An essay about my day off

Day 28: Notes on the Beatles Anthologies, video improvised

Day 29: my story "Throwing Papers" comes out in the Hometown Bulletin, 4th of July, no internet access.

Day 30:  Another day off, editing at the library, music-making at my house, reading my friend Jaymee Martin's handmade book delivered in the mail; finishing a five page letter in response at 3 AM.

Day 31: Writing and editing at home, no available computers before work, mailing the letter

Day 32: internet access before work, catch-up, etc.watching Mondovino, clarifying where wine, bocce, and writing intersect, how terroir applies to literary meaning.

Day 33: playing bocce at the beach, swimming in the ocean for the first time in 2012.

Day 34: Caught up at the library with what I have been doing on the days, briefly connecting with the world beyond me; philosophically finding myself distanced from facebook, not sure where to go.  Trying my best to write as much as I can.

Days 35-38: A critical appreciation of Carey Baldwin's http://placesiclipmynails.tumblr.com/ (O)

Essays unwritten in the 40 days...

Pump up the Volume as the ars poetica early 90s counter-culture (O)

at least a dozen chapters of BBOTWC 2 (B)

regular contributions to the ongoing “reflection of x days of having a facebook account” (F)

the music of John Stewart (O)

living in Carmel and Yardening (F)