{"id":65,"date":"2010-04-24T10:04:15","date_gmt":"2010-04-24T15:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/?p=65"},"modified":"2011-08-18T16:22:42","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T21:22:42","slug":"author-author-on-being-a-real-one-for-the-past-4-months-april-24-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/author-author-on-being-a-real-one-for-the-past-4-months-april-24-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"AUTHOR, AUTHOR, ON BEING A REAL ONE FOR THE PAST 4 MONTHS   April 24, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbk_share\"><div class=\"fcbk_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cal Schwartz\"\ttarget=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbk_like\"><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/author-author-on-being-a-real-one-for-the-past-4-months-april-24-2010\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"button_count\"  share=\"false\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Actually, I originally\u00a0wanted to use this blog time to write about my cynical view of the world of central Jersey and where Rutgers University fits into things; all meaning how I&#8217;m<em> almost<\/em> willing to wager up an extra kidney, that Rutgers and the Big Ten Conference decided to marry around a decade ago; after all, these kind of decisions, effecting the historic course of a major University for the next hundred years, are not made lightly or without precious timely years to implement and move towards acceptable standards. But I&#8217;ll stop now and leave those that thrive on alma mater things, hopefully, thoroughly titillated. Promises before going back on the campaign trail, to finish the Rutgers-Big Ten theory, including why a new hotel was needed for George Street in sleepy New Brunswick.(If I had money to invest, why not a hotel ready to book ahead because Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are coming to town). Just when I thought I was free to move on to the real &#8220;author&#8221; topic, I get pulled back into this Rutgers-Big Ten talk.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On January 1, 2010, I officially became a published author, although I didn&#8217;t consider myself a writer, author, or anything different from what I&#8217;ve been the past thirty years (an eyeglass salesman) simply because that modicum of critique from within the hallowed halls of ivy, a real review of my words from a real book reviewer, never happened during the winters of writing\u00a0 &#8216;Vichy Water.&#8217; A few weeks into January, the first review came in and I was suddenly a debut, emerging accomplished novelist and I joined the special world of authorship. I was the same man; nothing changed; no dramatic weight change or alopecia, rapid loss of hair. But something subtle happened to the world around. I was in a glass Mason jar, people looking in, perhaps through tinted distortive glass (so I&#8217;d like to think). I don&#8217;t feel different but it&#8217;s a brave new world of perception; of being a cardboard puzzle piece, fitting into to almost <em>every<\/em> piece scattered over the living room floor. Those meeting me for a first time (a puzzle piece, continuing the metaphor), after the obligatory handshake, eyebrows raised and mouth going oval, they&#8217;d exclaim, &#8220;So you&#8217;re an author. Tell me what you wrote.&#8221; A cousin communicated to another relative the other day, &#8220;Do you think we&#8217;ve had a genius all this time and never knew it?&#8221; \u00a0There&#8217;s no genius in my cellular structure (I check all the time). You take all the words inside and put them together. But I&#8217;ve got a confession. It&#8217;s not the same recognition. An author means responsibility and being taken seriously. Somewhere, there&#8217;s a magic wand of socialization. People view me different. Quicker response time. Temptation exists to call a restaurant for reservations and say, &#8220;Calvin Schwartz. <em>Author&#8221;<\/em> And I get that special table for two near the fireplace. Selling eyeglasses never got a magazine to want to feature me in an issue. Sensitivity on my side of the Mason jar exists as well. In a social setting recently, interacting with agents and writers, I realized authors were in a special world of tuning forks, listening to vibrations, feeling and sensing, and needing to be aware of the entire world around us. Every day of my life now, there&#8217;s this serious responsibility of shoving as much information and as many words into my cerebral castle. I can&#8217;t take in enough. I started reading almost voraciously (I couldn&#8217;t wait to use this word). The old &#8220;anything I can get my hands on.&#8221; \u00a0Of course I pick up my novel a few times a day and look at my name and drift into the wide world of out of body experience. Every day of my author&#8217;s life now is like being in Disneyworld, jumping into my skin and onto the &#8216;Back to the Future&#8217; ride, shaking with glee and anticipation of adventure. I&#8217;ve gone back to the future, feeling like a kid, wondering why it took me so long to learn how to spell &#8216;ecstasy.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbk_share\"><div class=\"fcbk_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cal Schwartz\"\ttarget=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbk_like\"><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/author-author-on-being-a-real-one-for-the-past-4-months-april-24-2010\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"button_count\"  share=\"false\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Actually, I originally\u00a0wanted to use this blog time to write about my cynical view of the world of central Jersey and where Rutgers University fits into things; all meaning how I&#8217;m almost willing to wager up an extra kidney, that Rutgers and the Big Ten Conference decided to marry around a decade ago; after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1171,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/1171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vichywater.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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