Robert, seems this song was written for you and Karen!...
"You were meant for me.
And I was meant for you.
Nature patterned you,
And when she was done,
You were all the sweet things,
Rolled up in one"
...from Singin' in the Rain

Randi: As I wrote, SITR is one of the greatest movies ever made. Tell me, do you and Mr. Randi ever dance together. Or how about this: do you and Mr. Randi and the the robot ever dance together? Is the robot programmed to sing in the rain? Now that would be quite a robot. A Gene Kelly robot. I'd pay to see that.

Robert...I like that, a Gene Kelly robot! Perhaps we could program him to do a little breakdancing as well. The horah would be nice. By the way, Donald O'Connor (Make 'em Laugh) wasn't so bad in that movie either.

Randi: Donald O'Connor was a genius. Why don't you have Mr. Randi build a... Donald O'Connor Robot.

"I have the urge to reveal to Karen that even when I was going out with other girls, even when I liked them, even when I thought that I could love them, her image always pasted itself over their faces and I was left with the sinking feeling that I was doomed to a life never to be lived."

This is exquisite. Is there anything more beautiful and profound than writing from the heart?

Sometimes dreams do come true.

Yes Stacey, it appears that dreams do come true. It is nice to see. It is easy to smile at stories like this.

Stacey: Thanks so much for you generous comment. It's odd, but writing from the heart is so difficult. harder than most anything else. Telling the truth demands precision and the veracity of emotions, well, it literally keeps me up at nights, worrying if I've done justice to the emtions described. Sigh. I do my best.

Jack: Glad I can make you smile.

"it literally keeps me up at nights, worrying if I've done justice to the emtions described. Sigh. I do my best." Robert...you can get some sleep. You've done more than do justice to the emotions described. I think any one of your readers would agree, it's as if we are "inside" your love story...feeling what you feel. And all because of your beautiful writing. (Your typos are another story, though!)
Randi

it literally keeps me up at nights, worrying if I've done justice to the emtions described. Sigh. I do my best.

Robert,

You are a very fine writer. It makes me feel better to read that because there are many times I feel exceptionally frustrated with how I have expressed myself or should I say how I have not.

Too often I feel like people really do not understand the depth of emotion in what I am trying to say.

Your writing is clear and the words roll off the page quite easily. I have yet to see anything that looks awkward to me.

Randi: Thanks so much. But the typos keep me up at night too.

Jack: Very kind of you. But you know, most good writers spend their lives being dissatisfied with the words they use to express themselves. I don't know one good writer who is happy with his work. Not really happy. They just consider it...abandoned.

Robert, may I please beg to differ...?

Are the "most good writers" to whom you refer namely published authors or "closet writers"?

Writing is an art; it comes more naturally to some, yet should also be a learned skill.

Personally, I prefer the "art" aspect, thus being more free-form. Sometimes I reread articles or poems of mine that might have gotten published -- or not! -- and I can't believe I wrote this stuff...not because it's bad, but because I've so eloquently managed to capture an idea, a feeling and clearly painted it for others. Or more importantly, I've managed to paint it for myself.

Yes, I, too, have abandoned writing projects or have just written titles and ideas on scraps of paper, but have not ventured into elaborating on them. Perhaps one day...or not!

Robert, I have a similar feeling of "not having done justice" when writing my blog. Often I post a piece because it's time to post it already, even though I'm still asking myself, "Is that really what I mean to say?" But my husband told me once that in the technical world there's an apt expression: Sometimes you need to shoot the engineer and get the product to market.

Very interstingly, I've found many times that the pieces with which I've been least satisfied, and have posted just in order to finish and move on, are those to which I've received the kindest comments and which cause readers to open other pages of my blog in order to read more of my story.

Go know.

Sara

Pearl: I'm referring to screenwriters and novelists I know. To a man/woman, they all feel that they could have done better. It's pretty rare for a writer to say, "Wow, I nailed it."

Stacey picked the line I think, and exquisite is a good word for it. I remember you writing about how you told kids you addressed, slowly and deliberately, that "writing is rewriting." I think that's true. More than changing words I think it's often about taking out cluttery words.

Yup, writing is rewriting. At the moment I'm rewriting a script. Taking out a subplot that just doesn't work and replacing it with... well, a whirlpool of emotion. It's hard to explain how this happens. But I am taking out clutter and the script is vastly improved because of it.

Interesting discussion. I think poems can be perfected, but with more linear writing like novels it's practically impossible, there is a law of diminishing returns at a certain point. This is why I like making pictures (art, not moves!) most of all- you can literally see when they are just right. Prose depends more on the reader than most genres, especially dramatic prose, which people are going to be bringing to life by acting it- maybe that's some of why. Also maybe because good stories (even true ones) live forever, changing a little each time they are retold, as if they actually exist outside the text. Getting better all the time, but never perfect, a bit like us humans- it's the journey, not the getting there!

The hard part sometimes is not falling so far in love with your words that you are unable to adjust them.

It is a failing that I admit to having. But I'll refocus the spotlight back on you Robert and say that what I appreciate and enjoy about your writing is that it is not cluttered.

Far too often people fail to convey their thoughts because they use "too much salt in the soup."

Jack: Because I have written movies for over twenty years I've learned that less is always more. I've carried this style over into my novels and into Seraphic Secret. Most people use too many words--for everything. Most books are too long, short stories are usually far too long. Most everything that written is just too darn long. Even movies need to be edited. I like brevity. Undisciplined people write long; they don't bother to edit--mostly because they have no idea what they want to say. When Brian DePalma and I were working on "Body Double" together he said to me, "If you can't say it in 90 minutes, then you shouldn't bother saying it at all."

"Brevity is the soul of wit"...William Shakespeare...(that's all I will say about that!)

I hope you don't mind me asking you this (and I am also asking other bloggers whose blogs I'm reading regularly), but would you be willing to put a link to my site on yours? My site is seriously lacking in Jewish readership and I could use the increased traffic (and more importantly, the feedback) on topics that I am writing about on the blog, and I don't know how to attract more Jewish readers. I'd appreciate any suggestions you have, and I've enjoyed reading your site since I came onto the blog world in March. Thanks. -Zoe

Attributed to Mark Twain and others:

"Sorry about the long letter, but I didn't have time to write a short one."

I wanted to comment, but all I can say is *deep sigh* Thanks so much for sharing. This is such a wonderful and heartwarming blog.

I wanted to comment, but all I can say is *deep sigh* Thanks so much for sharing. This is such a wonderful and heartwarming blog.

Rabbi Fleischmann: Great quote. Very true. Thanks.